Originally Posted by
Doug64
While drying the rain fly and tent as soon as possible is a a good idea, it is may not be possible. I carry a couple plastic grocery bags stuffed in one of my panniers. If my fly, tent or ground cloth are wet I separate the tent, which is usually the driest, and put the rain fly and ground cloth in the other bag. If conditions permit, I'll try to dry it out at lunch time or if the weather is bad, wait until the tent is set up later in the day. Our tent has been wet for several days at a tine, and that is usually a good excuse to dry it in a motel room
Ditto this. If I can't find time to dry a tent out for several days in row, that means all my other insulation is probably damp and needs a good drying out in a laundry or motel room somewhere. Or a large fire if I'm in the backcountry. I can manage with a wet tent, but not so much with the sleeping bag. I've learned my limit for non-stop rain and condensing fog is four nights.
My tent is a single-wall silnylon job and only needs a few minutes of sun or wind to dry. And it packs in about a minute.
That's another tip for quick packing--look at a Tarptent.
I keep one pack dry, everything else can get wet. Stuff like the tent, tool kit, food bag, and rain gear can stay wet. Insulation, maps, electronics must stay dry.