Rain coat or poncho?

[Wild Bill]

We'll be walking the Camino in Sept. and Oct. Which is better, raincoat and backpack cover or poncho?

[HuskyNerd]

Hi Again Wild B ~

You may have already read my opinion on this, but here goes again. I know there are those who disagree and you'll likely hear from them momentarily . . .

The problems with rain ponchos are: a) they're only good for keeping off rain, and b) they don't breathe very well, resulting in pools of sweat for poncho wearers that are almost as bad as the rain itself. The values of a breathable jacket and pack cover are: a) the jacket is there for you as a windbreaker/additional warm layer when/if needed, and b) a breathable, water resistant jacket does a pretty good job of keeping you dry, too. Along with a pack cover it provides good relief from the wet.

In either case you're likely to get wet from the thighs down in a Camino downpour. I just feel that a breathable (read "Gore-Tex") jacket is more useful in the dry days and more comfortable in the wet ones. I chose the lightest weight Marmot jacket available at REI for my Via de la Plata this year and never used it for rain, but boy was it handy on cold mornings.

Have a great Camino!

[Covey]

Being an ex-soldier, I pack all my clothes in plastic bags inside my pack, so I have no need to carry a waterproof pack cover. I tried one on my first Camino, and it was not very effective, and in a strong breeze, kept blowing off.

If you want some amusement, just watch the poncho wearers trying to get their ponchos on in a breeze. It is a definite two man job to get it on and over the pack. I did see one poncho which had pockets sewn into the bottom hem so you could fill them up with stones to stop the poncho billowing up all the time. In my opinion a good Gortex rain jacket is the best thing to carry.

That said, if it starts to rain, I just keep walking and get wet anyway. The clothing I wear is all high-wick quick dry stuff and when it stops raining, I am dry in 30-40 minutes. Most of the time, it is not worth the performance of getting the rain kit on and off.