An overnighter in Wales led to new levels of humble.
Heading to UK for a friend's wedding, I got that idea that it might actually be possible to do an overnight camping trip. In November. In Wales.
The hike started innocently enough, although the rain and soaked ground made me quickly realize that these are the conditions that lightweight waterproof boots were made for. Meandering past farmhouses, we enjoyed the occasionaly run-in with sheep and some quick-running streams that had accumuled (foreshadowing) from uphill.
As the hike wore on, conditions worsened rapidly.
Pouring rain, 45+ mph winds, 10' visibility as we hit elevation, and conditions that I would describe as "vertical swamps" created some of the worst conditions I've ever hiked in. The Welsh, as it turns out, have never heard of switchbacks, so the trail (which was also quick-running stream due to the heavy rain) climbed at fun 45 degrees the 2,000' of gain we had in front of us.
The weather conditions called for extreme caution with our backpacks which acted basically as a big sail every time the wind kicked up. Communication was difficult with the deafening, howling wind. Although not cold, the temperature dropped as we climbed. We had made slow progress with the trail being nothing more than a stamped down grass area about 10" wide that did nothing to help traction and everything to encourage water to come down it like a waterfall. Walking next to the trail wasn't better - huge puddles and quick-sand like pits looked like they could bare weight but in fact would collapse into a quick-sand like loamy/sandy mix that was hard to step out of.
Looking around us we were surprised to see sheep, staring at us incredulously. They chewed away at the luscious grass without much concern for safety, comfortably warm in their wool coats and standing on sturdy hooves.
After hitting the first peak, we made the call to bail, concerned about the wind and narrow paths that crossed a saddle between two major peaks. Poor visibility meant that if we lost the trail it would be very difficult to simply backtrack.
We hiked down invigorated from the attempt. Fun it was, but personally relieved we didn't make the decision to go on. You have to know when to fold em'.
Lessons learned are straightforward - no matter how experienced a hiker you are, it's easy to be humbled in a new environment.
Shoes: I've hiked in trail-runners in rain, but own only warm waterproof boots. The decision to wear even aggressive trail-runners came from numerous section hikes of what I condier "rugged" mountain conditions and finding that boots weren't a dramatic improvement in most conditions and dried out faster in wet conditions.
That said, my Topo trail runners tread simply wasn't aggressive enough and lacked support in the horrible conditions. If I had infinite budget, I would use micro-spikes in warmer weather, or fully waterproof lightweight boots in colder weather. Given the conditions, one could easily justify a lighter mountaineering boot.
Jacket: In that environment you simply need next level water protection. High end, well-conditioned rain shell and (basically) waterproof pants. Ponchos that are useful in regular rainy conditions turn into windsails in tougher ones. The weather was cold, but a wool sweater and medium jacket was sufficient while hiking.
Backpack: Waterproof backpack would've been preferable as a waterproof liner made access a bit annoying.
Poles: I rarely use poles, but in these conditions, I could easily reccomend them as worth the weight.
Pants/Layers: I see why locals favor wool. I had a wool sweat and it kept me warm, and dried quickly. My lightly waterproof snow/cold weather pants were not sufficient for heavy downpour. Full rain pants would've been better given the sustained rain.
As you can see from recommendations above, the real solution to weather like that is simply NOT BE IN IT AT ALL. Unless your objective is life or death, it wasn't worth it. That said, locals can probably justify building out much better rain/wet weather hiking/mountaineering kits that would have their cost justified through use. As someone from a mountain/desert state with a good amount of experience hiking, I learned my lesson. Always something new to learn, and frankly, humble you.
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