Tag Archives: backpacking in rain

Honey I Forgot the Tent – When Backpacking Goes Wrong

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Hiking, Backpacking and an attempt at Tent Camping in the Rain in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this overnight backpacking trip, Sara and I decided to do some summer backpacking with our dog on a section of Great North Mountain, a 50 mile long mountain ridge that runs along the border of West Virginia and Virginia.

Despite the threat of a quickly approaching storm, we decided to forge ahead with a modest 3 day, 7 mile backpacking trip. Our plan was to keep the itinerary relatively simple in hopes that we could get to camp in time to beat the rain. And then we ran into a slight complication. Actually, it wasn’t slight at all. It was quite possibly the biggest backpacking mistake I’ve ever made…

White Rock Cliff Loop Virginia – Route Overview – Sintax77

There is no parking fee or backcountry camping permit required for this section of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.  More details regarding dispersed camping can be found on the official GWJNF website here.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, water sources, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

This trip video was sponsored by RevolutionRace. Use code 15sintax to get 15% off their entire Amazon store site until 9/11/21 here.

Trailhead Used: Sulphur Springs Parking Area Forest Road 1725
38°58’31.4″N 78°34’03.5″W
FR1725, Maurertown, VA 22644

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Lost in Linville Gorge – Hammock Camping in Heavy Rain

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3 days of Hammock Camping in the Rain and Solo Ultralight Backpacking in the Linville Gorge Wilderness.

For this backpacking trip, I headed down to North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest for some hammock camping along the Linville River.  The particular section of river I chose was surrounded by the Linville Gorge, the upper ridges of which stand an average of 1,400 feet above the river banks below.  This terrain, combined with a dense network of  unofficial trails without signage or switchbacks, and often uncrossable river, can make for some rather challenging and exciting hiking.  Add in a forecast of fog and hiking in the rain, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some true southern outdoors adventure.

Despite the rain, my mid-June temp range for this trip was relatively warm at 70° – 48° or so.  This allowed me to get my backpack’s base weight down to around 9 lbs by leaving my puffy jacket, base layers, warmer hat, gloves etc at home.  I simply packed a long sleeve shirt and a buff and used my rain gear for supplemental warmth at camp.

I went with a fairly minimalist hammock camping setup for this trip.  There are plenty of trees and fun unofficial campsite gems to be found in the Gorge that make ideal for hammocks.   Water is obviously of minimal concern for the lower regions of the gorge.  This allows you to save some weight on trails in those sections, but make sure to stock up when your route heads up towards the ridge.  Especially if you’re looking to camp in one the beautiful ridge side campsites up there.  The extra planning and water weight is well worth the views.

A free permit is required on weekends and holidays from May 1st through October 31st each year. You can find more information on the NFS Grandfather Ranger District website here.

If planning your own trip, I would highly recommend visiting LinvilleGorge.net for maps, info and extensive GPS data including official and unofficial trails, campsites, water sources, etc. Due to the nature of my trip and the fact that their data is so darn good, I didn’t package my own GPS file for this trip, but I did make an overlay map image from their track data that can be downloaded here. Just unzip it and copy the image file to your Garmin’s /Garmin folder if you’re using a Garmin GPS like me, or follow whatever instructions pertain to your particular GPS device. 

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