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Fun With a Poncho. . . multitasking

  • Thread starter Deleted member 67185
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Deleted member 67185

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As I was pondering about non-COVID things, I wondered what kind of multitasking master list we could come up with for the lowly poncho.

  • A shelter lean-to. (A bit of cord and trekking poles make it even more independent in setting up.)
  • A sun shelter, it can be rigged up to provide you shade in hot climates.
  • Ground cloth: Under a tent, or a survival shelter, a poncho can protect you from the damp ground. If you are in a cold damp climate, this can help you stay warm.
  • Wind Break: While a poncho without the liner does not have much insulating qualities, you will be warmer if you wrap up in the poncho in windy weather, this will help protect you from wind chill.
  • Privacy -- great emergency privacy screen when needing to do some 'elimination' business and natural coverage of bushes or tall grass is scarce. It also works when needing to change pants or shorts.
  • Sit pad. When taking a break and sitting surfaces are damp.
  • Mattress cover.
  • Can make an emergency backpack or carryall.
  • Windshell to add a bit of extra warmth to layers. Great for cool, early mornings when you need something that can be quickly removed after you have warmed up from walking.
Your turn :)
 
New Original Camino Gear Designed Especially with The Modern Peregrino In Mind!
  • Water collector for a solar still
  • Line a depression in the ground and fill with water to make a foot bath/wash tub
  • Mobile sweat lodge (who hasn't worn a poncho and been wetter on the inside than the out?)
  • Privacy screen (2) curtain for the lower bunk dweller

  • (depending on quality of poncho and weight of occupant) makeshift hammock
 
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Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
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As I was pondering about non-COVID things, I wondered what kind of multitasking master list we could come up with for the lowly poncho.

  • A shelter lean-to. (A bit of cord and trekking poles make it even more independent in setting up.)
  • A sun shelter, it can be rigged up to provide you shade in hot climates.
  • Ground cloth: Under a tent, or a survival shelter, a poncho can protect you from the damp ground. If you are in a cold damp climate, this can help you stay warm.
  • Wind Break: While a poncho without the liner does not have much insulating qualities, you will be warmer if you wrap up in the poncho in windy weather, this will help protect you from wind chill.
  • Privacy -- great emergency privacy screen when needing to do some 'elimination' business and natural coverage of bushes or tall grass is scarce. It also works when needing to change pants or shorts.
  • Sit pad. When taking a break and sitting surfaces are damp.
  • Mattress cover.
  • Can make an emergency backpack or carryall.
  • Windshell to add a bit of extra warmth to layers. Great for cool, early mornings when you need something that can be quickly removed after you ave warmed up from walking.
Your turn :)
Cover the banket if feel cold in bed.
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
Mobile sweat lodge (who hasn't worn a poncho and been wetter on the inside than the out?
Love, love, love this. So freaking true.

😄 That sure can be the case, just as with rain jackets.

A lot depends on the poncho used, its ability to maintain airflow, and how it is worn. I know that even compared to my eVent WP/b rain jacket, I stay much drier from interior condensation with my poncho.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
If the right color, a poncho could be staked to the ground to indicate where the rescue helocopter should land to pick you up when you see you have developed a blister.

If a camouflage design, wear it when the "petitioners" who can't hear you and can't talk to you approach so they won't be able to see you either.

Spread it on top of pits to trap elephants.

Have two friends hold a poncho up when entering albergues, museums, etc. to get "buy two, get one free" admissions.

Have four friends hold the ends to provide a hammock.
 
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As I was pondering about non-COVID things, I wondered what kind of multitasking master list we could come up with for the lowly poncho.

  • A shelter lean-to. (A bit of cord and trekking poles make it even more independent in setting up.)
  • A sun shelter, it can be rigged up to provide you shade in hot climates.
  • Ground cloth: Under a tent, or a survival shelter, a poncho can protect you from the damp ground. If you are in a cold damp climate, this can help you stay warm.
  • Wind Break: While a poncho without the liner does not have much insulating qualities, you will be warmer if you wrap up in the poncho in windy weather, this will help protect you from wind chill.
  • Privacy -- great emergency privacy screen when needing to do some 'elimination' business and natural coverage of bushes or tall grass is scarce. It also works when needing to change pants or shorts.
  • Sit pad. When taking a break and sitting surfaces are damp.
  • Mattress cover.
  • Can make an emergency backpack or carryall.
  • Windshell to add a bit of extra warmth to layers. Great for cool, early mornings when you need something that can be quickly removed after you have warmed up from walking.
Your turn :)
All stuff I learned as a Boy Scout
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
I'm in the rain jacket camp, so can offer no suggestions from experience. But I have been thinking of making myself a sort of short cape to replace the rucksack cover and deal with the rain down the back issue. The pattern would be an egg shape with a face hole near one end. If laid flat, it would just about work as a the top half of a bivvi bag provided I kept my knees bent..............
Or perhaps not.
 
While using it this "main" way, one rainy and windy day, my poncho nearly turned into a sort of kite, trying to lift me right up and off.... Sadly, this did not turn out to become a free ride.

That can be a pain :) Fortunately, there are techniques to keep such things from happening.
 
I'm in the rain jacket camp, so can offer no suggestions from experience. But I have been thinking of making myself a sort of short cape to replace the rucksack cover and deal with the rain down the back issue. The pattern would be an egg shape with a face hole near one end. If laid flat, it would just about work as a the top half of a bivvi bag provided I kept my knees bent..............
Or perhaps not.

When I did use rain jackets, I never used a backpack cover during rain. I had a waterproof liner inside the packbag, like a garbage compactor bag, and also used lightweight waterproof stuff sacks to contain sleeping gear and clothing. I didn't worry about the backpack getting wet.

As to the potential of water down the neck, a hat with a broad brim in back will help divert water.

One of the reasons that I decided to start using ponchos, after decades of using rain jackets while backpacking, is that I can quickly pull it out of the side pocket of my backpack and slip it on over my backpack. I do not even have to stop. I usually do pause for the ten seconds it takes to put on, though, because I am a bit clumsy :) I do not need to take my backpack off, put on a rain jacket, put the backpack back on.

This is a huge factor for me when it rains. And as is often the case, when it rains off and on during the walk. Periodic sprinkles and showers can eat up a lot of time and energy with a rain jacket IF you take it off and put it on based on the immediate conditions.

With a poncho, I can respond to conditions within seconds. I can whip off the poncho as soon as the rain has slowed or stopped, and not question "should I wait to see if it starts back up?" Keeps condensation way down.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Join our full-service guided tour and let us convert you into a Pampered Pilgrim!
When I did use rain jackets, I never used a backpack cover during rain. I had a waterproof liner inside the packbag, like a garbage compactor bag, and also used lightweight waterproof stuff sacks to contain sleeping gear and clothing. I didn't worry about the backpack getting wet.

As to the potential of water down the neck, a hat with a broad brim in back will help divert water.

One of the reasons that I decided to start using ponchos, after decades of using rain jackets while backpacking, is that I can quickly pull it out of the side pocket of my backpack and slip it on over my backpack. I do not even have to stop. I usually do pause for the ten seconds it takes to put on, though, because I am a bit clumsy :) I do not need to take my backpack off, put on a rain jacket, put the backpack back on.

This is a huge factor for me when it rains. And as is often the case, when it rains off and on during the walk. Periodic sprinkles and showers can eat up a lot of time and energy with a rain jacket IF you take it off and put it on based on the immediate conditions.

With a poncho, I can respond to conditions within seconds. I can whip off the poncho as soon as the rain has slowed or stopped, and not question "should I wait to see if it starts back up?" Keeps condensation way down.
I have used both, and find they each have their own good and not so good features. Too bad there is not a perfect miracle rain covering. I suppose the Altus combines the two quite well...most people who own one seem to really like them.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
I like this game . . . Hiking Poles
  • tent/tarp pole
  • washing line across window frame
  • cat hole digging stick
  • makeshift triangular pack frame
  • fencing foil
  • drum major mace
  • snorer prodder
  • leg splint
Snorer proder! Love it! Of course, I never snore -- it's unladlylike and always someone else! :)
 
Technical backpack for day trips with backpack cover and internal compartment for the hydration bladder. Ideal daypack for excursions where we need a medium capacity backpack. The back with Air Flow System creates large air channels that will keep our back as cool as possible.

€83,-
As I was pondering about non-COVID things, I wondered what kind of multitasking master list we could come up with for the lowly poncho.

  • A shelter lean-to. (A bit of cord and trekking poles make it even more independent in setting up.)
  • A sun shelter, it can be rigged up to provide you shade in hot climates.
  • Ground cloth: Under a tent, or a survival shelter, a poncho can protect you from the damp ground. If you are in a cold damp climate, this can help you stay warm.
  • Wind Break: While a poncho without the liner does not have much insulating qualities, you will be warmer if you wrap up in the poncho in windy weather, this will help protect you from wind chill.
  • Privacy -- great emergency privacy screen when needing to do some 'elimination' business and natural coverage of bushes or tall grass is scarce. It also works when needing to change pants or shorts.
  • Sit pad. When taking a break and sitting surfaces are damp.
  • Mattress cover.
  • Can make an emergency backpack or carryall.
  • Windshell to add a bit of extra warmth to layers. Great for cool, early mornings when you need something that can be quickly removed after you have warmed up from walking.
Your turn :)

I slept under my poncho one spring in the Roncesvalles albergue when one of my clients forgot to bring her sleeping bag. I gave her my bag and the ALTUS kept me toasty warm!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Though not in the market immediately, I have looked at the Helikon and Snugpak offerings of the combo, Poncho / Blanket. With the two together, perhaps a sleeping bag is not needed.
 
I like this game . . . Hiking Poles
  • tent/tarp pole
  • washing line across window frame
  • cat hole digging stick
  • makeshift triangular pack frame
  • fencing foil
  • drum major mace
  • snorer prodder
  • leg splint
Snorer prodder - haha
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
As I was pondering about non-COVID things, I wondered what kind of multitasking master list we could come up with for the lowly poncho.

  • A shelter lean-to. (A bit of cord and trekking poles make it even more independent in setting up.)
  • A sun shelter, it can be rigged up to provide you shade in hot climates.
  • Ground cloth: Under a tent, or a survival shelter, a poncho can protect you from the damp ground. If you are in a cold damp climate, this can help you stay warm.
  • Wind Break: While a poncho without the liner does not have much insulating qualities, you will be warmer if you wrap up in the poncho in windy weather, this will help protect you from wind chill.
  • Privacy -- great emergency privacy screen when needing to do some 'elimination' business and natural coverage of bushes or tall grass is scarce. It also works when needing to change pants or shorts.
  • Sit pad. When taking a break and sitting surfaces are damp.
  • Mattress cover.
  • Can make an emergency backpack or carryall.
  • Wisndshell to add a bit of extra warmth to layers. Great for cool, early mornings when you need something that can be quickly removed after you have warmed up from walking.
Your turn :)
My poncho actually has reinforced holes around the base for tent poles in case shelter is needed.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-

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