Introduction

When I’m backpacking, hikers often ask, “Why are you carrying an umbrella?” An umbrella seems out-of-place in the wilderness. It’s for city folk, not for macho backpackers. However, hiking with an umbrella is not as foolish as it looks.

I’ve used umbrellas on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail. Umbrellas have also protected me during my treks across Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula jungle, Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains, and Ukraine’s tallest peak. In addition, they’ve served me well during my thru-hike across the Pyrenees and El Camino Santiago. I’ve used rain jackets, but in general, I find an umbrella superior.

Rain Protection

Umbrellas protect backpackers in rainstorms (and even snowstorms), offering more rain protection and ventilation (delaying overheating) than a jacket. For example, on the Appalachian Trail, Lisa Garrett (my hiking partner) wore a rain jacket, but by the time she got to the top of a mountain, she would be soaked – in sweat, not rain. That moisture would help take her down the path of hypothermia because of the cold winds at the summit. An umbrella helps regulate your temperature because it lets the heat that your body generates while hiking evaporate quickly. Even “breathable” rain jackets trap a significant amount of heat and water vapor. With the umbrella, I just needed to slip on an insulating layer near the top, before my body began to cool on the descent.

Lisa discovered that I was staying drier than she was, so after 200 miles, she sent her rain jacket home and used a GoLite umbrella for the 12 remaining states.

Furthermore, I love umbrellas for off-and-on rain periods. A rain jacket wearer has to either go through a complex, time-consuming ritual every time he removes or dons his rain jacket. Meanwhile, an umbrella user can effortlessly whip out or stow her umbrella during intermittent rain.

Sun Protection

What did your mom tell you to do when it was cold outside?

“Put on a hat!”

OK, my mom didn’t say that either, but she should have.

It’s smart to put on a hat when it’s cold. You lose heat from any exposed body part, and a hat is extremely effective at keeping that heat to yourself. That is precisely why I prefer an umbrella over a sunhat when the sun is beating down. The sunhat just traps heat in, offsetting most, if not all, the benefits of the limited shade it delivers. Without a wide brim, the hat doesn’t offer that much shade, and a wide brimmed model risks being blown away by a gust of wind.

An umbrella provides a ton of shade (usually down to the knees) and lets heat escape from your head, keeping you cool. Moreover, you can shed layers and walk around shirtless (or in a sports bra, if you’re a woman) and enjoy the airflow and shade. Hiking under shade all day will dramatically lower your water needs, especially on hot days. If you don’t have an umbrella, you’ll need to carry at least an extra liter of water to make up for the sweat-related water loss. You’ll have to carry more sunscreen to protect a greater portion of your body. All this extra weight will be more than a lightweight umbrella.

Other Umbrella Uses

• Micro-shelter: When it’s pouring rain, it’s awkward to study a map or to prepare a meal, but an umbrella’s canopy makes it much more pleasant. It’s also nice to be able to take a shady break in the desert, where there’s no shade if you didn’t bring it.
• Eyeglass protector: If you wear glasses, umbrellas let you gaze around easily without getting the glasses wet. A rain jacket’s hood forces you to stare at the ground or have wet glasses.
• Tarp hole plug: If rain is sneaking into your tarp (because you did a sloppy set-up), an umbrella can plug that hole.

• Anchor point: I’ve sometimes used an umbrella as an anchor for my tarp when trees were lacking.

• Windbreaker: Need to light a match or protect a stove from brisk wind? An umbrella can help.
• Spider web destroyer: When you hit the Appalachian Trail early in the day, you run into spider webs often (until you bump into someone going the opposite direction). An umbrella is more effective than sticks at clearing your path.
• A poor man’s pack cover: It won’t help much in constant heavy rain, but an umbrella will protect a significant portion of your backpack during a drizzle or light rain – which means your backpack won’t gather water weight.
• All-purpose stick: A poor man’s ice axe. A short stick to balance on when fording a river. A way to defend yourself against a snake.
• Privacy barrier: Are you a woman hiking with men? Need a desert pit stop? It’s nice to have instant privacy.

Don’t you need a jacket anyway?

Probably, but unless you’re hiking in freezing temperatures, an ultralight (sub-4-oz / 113-g) jacket is good enough. Despite all the advertising, there’s no such thing as a truly breathable rain jacket, while breathable shell jackets are much more breathable and lighter. My ultralight soft shell jacket weighs 3.5 ounces (99 g). The lightest rain jackets weigh 8 ounces (227 g), but they aren’t very pleasant in truly rainy weather. To get a good rain jacket that will keep you dry in a sustained downpour, you’ll need something that weighs closer to 12 to 16 ounces (340 to 454 g).

Compare that to an umbrella and soft shell jacket: 8.0 + 3.5 = 11.5 ounces (99 + 227 = 326 g). A good rain jacket can easily weigh 25-50% more than an umbrella and soft shell jacket combo.

I use a soft shell jacket for light protection against wind, rain, cold, and mosquitoes. If it’s warmth you’re wanting, a fleece or insulated jacket will do a better job than a rain jacket, and if you want to stay dry, the umbrella trumps the rain jacket too, especially if it’s warm enough to make you sweat with the rain jacket on.

Do your arms get tired holding the umbrella?

I never get tired of holding the umbrella, and I often have it deployed for ten hours a day. There are two secrets to guard against fatigue:

1. Get a light umbrella (10 oz / 283 g or less). I prefer the GoLite Chrome Dome, which weighs about 8 ounces (99 g).
2. Lean the umbrella against your body and switch hands occasionally.

Often the angle of the sunlight allows you to rest the umbrella shaft against your shoulder. While you still have to hold the handle, the weight is distributed against your body/chest/shoulder, so it doesn’t feel heavy at all. If you do get fatigued, just switch hands, angling the umbrella across your body/neck as needed to protect the exposed side. When the sun is setting in front of you, you have to hold the umbrella out in front of you. This is the most taxing position, but it rarely lasts long, since the sun sets, trees block it at that angle, or the trail changes direction.

Lastly, even when there’s no sun, I often put both hands under my backpack’s straps, around my chest. This alleviates a little bit of the pressure on my shoulders from walking with a backpack for 12-14 hours a day. Moreover, when I have my hands at my sides, blood tends to accumulate in them, which is uncomfortable. Having my hands under the straps keeps my hands from swelling, and because my hands are already at my chest and under the straps, it requires practically no extra effort to hold the umbrella’s shaft right there.

What about fixing the umbrella to your backpack so you don’t have to hold it?

Although some hikers like to jury rig a place to prop their umbrella on their pack (so that they don’t have to hold it), the umbrella is then fixed, while the sun’s position and trail are constantly changing. Adjustability provides optimum shade. If you’re going to carry a half-pound piece of gear, you might as well use 100% of it, not 25% of it.

Unless the sun is directly overhead, propping the umbrella will provide sub-optimum coverage. If the sun is at an angle, then an umbrella that is pointed straight up is only protecting your head from the sun, whereas a tilted umbrella can cover 80% of your body (often, the only unprotected part of my body was just below my knees). If you’re interested in only protecting your face from the sun, just get a wide-brimmed hat.

What about umbrellas with reflective canopies?

I have put thermometers under an umbrella with reflective material alongside one with black material. My tests were not scientific, but I was disappointed with the results. Yes, the reflective umbrella is cooler than the black one, but the difference is small, just a couple of degrees. Perhaps it’s just psychological, but it sure feels cooler under a reflective canopy. Despite the only minor temperature difference, I recommend the reflective canopy. It’s only $10 more, and the umbrella will last for many years. You’ll appreciate those extra degrees when you’re walking across a hot desert.

One thing is clear: any umbrella has a dramatic effect on shielding you from a hot, dry sun, more so than a sunhat, which has smaller coverage and traps heat. While traversing 44 kilometers (20 miles) of exposed beach in Costa Rica, I bumped into a red man. He was sunburned and said that he had heatstroke the day before after just 5 kilometers (3 miles). When he saw me, he said, “Duh! Now that’s what I should have taken!”

If umbrellas are so great, why don’t people use them more often?

1. Some hikers can’t let go of their trekking poles. Himalayan Sherpas carry far more weight than the typical backpacker, and their joints don’t let them down. If you lighten your total pack weight to under 10 kg (22 pounds), then you may discover that trekking poles are no longer necessary. Try it. Drink so much water that your pee is always clear – this means you’re well hydrated. Many joint-related injuries could be prevented if people were better hydrated.
2. Backpacking gear manufacturers don’t want you to consider umbrellas. A nice rain jacket costs $300. A nice umbrella costs $30. You don’t need an MBA to figure out why the backpacking industry doesn’t want to encourage hikers to use umbrellas. If umbrellas could somehow cost $400, more manufacturers would promote their utility. Even GoLite, one of the few outdoor companies that makes umbrellas, buries their two umbrella models deep in their catalog. Part of the reason they do that is that there’s simply not that much demand for umbrellas. We should be grateful that they haven’t eliminated umbrellas from the product line.

Don’t umbrellas break?

Good ones are hard to break. GoLite and other backpacking-specific umbrellas (like MontBell models) are different than the standard $5 collapsible umbrella. The reason so many people believe umbrellas are weak is that they’ve only used cheap umbrellas. It’s like someone believing that all cars are slow, but they’ve never driven a Ferrari. Although my GoLite umbrella has never broken despite 20,000 km of backpacking, it can happen.

Just as every other piece of gear you own can break. Your tent poles can break. Your stove can break. Your inflatable pad can puncture. Your sleeping bag can get soaking wet. Your backpack’s straps can snap. And yes, even your rain jacket can break. The jacket’s zipper may fail, or the fabric tears in a fall or gets snagged. Wear and tear took down one of my rain jackets: