Golite Poncho review.

[Woods Walker]

No I have not but don't know everything made so who knows? I think there would be some problems with that if connected as one. It might condensate badly and be heavy. But I have seen poncho liners modified with to work as a liner with a neck hole. The term poncho liner is kind of a misnomer beyond the infamous ranger roll.

[Bster13]

Wanted to see if I could improve on my pitching skills tonight.

I wanted to see if my poncho tarp could give me more shelter in a cruddy storm and this is what I came up with.

Originally I wanted to pitch all three sides to the ground, but my feet and sleeping bag would run against the inside of the tent (I am 5-9), possibly letting condensation wet my down bag. So I figure I'll pitch one of the width ends to the ground and into the wind, then put my head there. The other end will be a few inches off the ground to give me more leg room. I'll then hang my rain jacket over the trekking pole (if it's not too windy I guess. I used my down sweater for the pic) to add a "beak" of sorts for additional coverage. We'll see how it work. I think I'll carry one hiking pole with me on this trip.

Old way for wind and possibly rain:


New way I worked on tonight, should provide more coverage if bad weather:
(Sorry for the image quality, only had my Blackberry on me.)

[Woods Walker]

Looks good and hope to hear how it works out. That first photo looks to be near the 10-mile river lean-to but hard to tell based on one privy and tree. There is a group camping area just a bit north of that area. Sometimes I stop there before walking into NY. Nice spot and has good water near the Lean-to.

[Bster13]

The goal is to rock that setup during our winter camping trip in February up in the Adirondacks. Previously I have been using my two person silnylon tarp for extra room.

The first pic of my tarp in semi lean-to mode is from this trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2073990&id=17506531&l=3d1221e4a1

Are we talking about the same site on the AT?

[Jamie]

Are we talking about the same site on the AT?

Yup, about 1 mile south of Bulls Bridge...if you head away from the Housatonic, you get to the lean-to, which is nice because the Housatonic makes for nasty drinking water...

Jamie

[Woods Walker]

Are we talking about the same site on the AT?

Yup, about 1 mile south of Bulls Bridge...if you head away from the Housatonic, you get to the lean-to, which is nice because the Housatonic makes for nasty drinking water...

Jamie

Yes and it's a nice lean-to at that. It is maybe 200 yards south from his poncho tarp camp. The water pump and above ground privy are GTO. The group camping area is about 1/4 mile north from the lean-to.

[Jamie]

Are we talking about the same site on the AT?

Yup, about 1 mile south of Bulls Bridge...if you head away from the Housatonic, you get to the lean-to, which is nice because the Housatonic makes for nasty drinking water...

Jamie

Yes and it's a nice lean-to at that. It is maybe 200 yards south from his poncho tarp camp. The pump and above ground privy are GTO. The group camping area is about 1/4 mile north from the lean-to.

We check out the group camping area on our walk out, and were surprised that anyone would pick that spot, given the other nice spots to camp...it is close enough to the powerlines to still hear the hum/crackle, it is not in view of the rivers, it has a toilet out in the open...we cooked at the leanto and camped down by the Housatonic during the big storm, and got our hammocks blown around like crazy all night, but it was pretty...

Jamie

[Woods Walker]

Are we talking about the same site on the AT?

Yup, about 1 mile south of Bulls Bridge...if you head away from the Housatonic, you get to the lean-to, which is nice because the Housatonic makes for nasty drinking water...

Jamie

Yes and it's a nice lean-to at that. It is maybe 200 yards south from his poncho tarp camp. The pump and above ground privy are GTO. The group camping area is about 1/4 mile north from the lean-to.

We check out the group camping area on our walk out, and were surprised that anyone would pick that spot, given the other nice spots to camp...it is close enough to the powerlines to still hear the hum/crackle, it is not in view of the rivers, it has a toilet out in the open...we cooked at the leanto and camped down by the Housatonic during the big storm, and got our hammocks blown around like crazy all night, but it was pretty...

Jamie

All true but has less foot traffic. Lots of people roll though that field and lean-to but often the group area can get overlooked. I like the whole area though. It's a bit like a little city on the AT.

[Bster13]

So how does everyone propose I stop rain water from dripping down the pole, down the guy line, and into the underside of the tarp where it can drip on me?

[Woods Walker]

Is the line/pole inside your poncho/tarp?

[Bster13]

No, it's not inside my tarp, but gravity tells me, the guy line travels down from pole where it is wrapped around...then down to the tieout point on the tarp and the tieout point is fastened under the very edge of the Silnylon. Bad news I'd think.

Is the line/pole inside your poncho/tarp?

[Woods Walker]

When I have issues with water running down a line into my shelter will use a drip line to redirect to flow way but not sure this is applicable here or even if you will have a problem. Maybe setup the poncho during rain and see what happens before using it in the field.

[Bster13]

Yeah I'll have to test w/ some water. I want to pitch the tarp tonight anyhow to see what I can do to close off as much as the open side of the tarp as possible and a beak of sorts with my windshirt and 4 or 5 of these:

[img]http://s7d5.scene7.com/is/image/Staples/s0228378_sc7?$sku$[/img]]

[Woods Walker]

I have two small sil nylon awnings that are sometimes used with a poncho/tarp shelter. I may have a photo of it setup in the back yard if yea want to see.

edit.

Ok I will find the photos.

[Bster13]

Sure. Are they homemade or readily available through an outfitter?

[Osiris Risen]

I'm trying to find one of these, but all I'm coming up with are these for $80, any idea where I can find the old version?

[Bster13]

I think it's more expensive because the 2010 is new and lighter than my version. But check out Campmor, they have one for around 50 bucks and 9.5oz.

[MikeM]

Sure. Are they homemade or readily available through an outfitter?

Anti-Gravity Gear used to sell them, but I do not know if they are still available.

-Mike

[Woods Walker]

Here are those photos of the awning attached to my Golite poncho.





It was made by Ron Bell back from his Ebay days. MLD no longer sells them. I have been looking at the Gatewood Cape but don't own one.

http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/shop/shopexd.asp?id=45

[Vagueleyzen]

I use my GoLite syl poncho on ultralight backpacking trips as my only cover. I wear it as a poncho, and sleep under it at night. I use an army poncho liner with a slit cut in the middle as my warm jacket. It works well. I have sat around in the low teens wearing that combo and been very warm. I also clip the liner under my hammock to keep my but warm instead of a pad.

[Bster13]

@Vagueleyzen - I use a Golite poncho as my tarp as well, but I carry a light wind/light rain coat while hiking because if I get caught in a downpour, I don't want to take the time to remove all the guy lines from the poncho when I used it as a tarp/shelter the previous night, nor do I want to reattach the guy lines when I'm tired after a night of hiking to setup my tarp. How do you get around it?