Let’s talk about gear. I am a beginner hiker. Mt. Fuji was my longest hike to date. All the other hikes I’ve been on were just a few hours long and didn’t really require much in the way of gear. Fuji was different. We needed headlamps, warm layers, rain layers, first aid kit… you get my drift, things that I never really needed to think about on the previous hikes I’ve done.
A few weeks before the hike, I thought I was all prepared. Got myself a new hiking backpack that was water bladder compatible, water repellent with its own rain cover AND big enough to hold all the things I needed to take with me. Actually it was too big but it was nice knowing that I had extra room if I needed it.
I knew my rain gear was starting to wet out because I use it a lot going to and from work. So I needed to re-water proof it. I did some reading online and bought myself a bottle of wash in wax water repellent. Soaked my jacket and pants in the liquid for much longer than I needed to. I was ready to go. Especially with my brand new Columbia hiking boots labeled as waterproof. Let the rain come! I was prepared. Or so I thought…
After four hours of hiking in the mist of the clouds everything was still holding up pretty good. But then the rain started with about two hours left in the hike. First, my phone and the paper map in my rain jacket pocket got wet. Then I realized that the backup paper map in the pocket of my running pants were damp. My shoes held out the longest, probably until I said the famous words ” My feet are still dry” (insert face in palm) At that point we only had about 30 minutes left in our hike so it was not so bad.
When we finally got the Yoshida Subaru Line 5th station and were able to get out of the rain. I started taking things out of my pack and realized EVERYTHING was damp. The only things not damp in my bag were my spare socks which I had the foresight to put in a ziplock bag, my first aid kit and the snacks because those were deemed important enough to get a ziplock bag.
So the very important lesson that I learned this trip was don’t trust the waterproofing and I immediately bought dry bags. So that on our next hike, regardless of the weather forecast, I am putting everything that I want to stay dry in dry bags or ziplock baggies. I also bought a new rain cover for my bag. Is it overkill? Probably? But better safe than sorry, right?
