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Gear Review: Granite Gear Cloud Cover
I always carry a pack cover. Packs leak in the rain, and the pack cover has other uses as well. I’ve owned a series of pack covers. They have gotten increasingly light over the years. Some early ones were constructed of fairly heavy material and included stout stuff sacks.
This year I picked up a Granite Gear Cloud Cover pack cover. It has a very minimal design, being basically a simple cover with a stretch drawstring and a small built-in stuff sack. Constructed of silicon coated nylon, my size medium (the largest available) weighs just under four ounces and takes up almost no space in my pack.
I encountered light rain a few times this summer, so I did have an opportunity to try it out. The first time was as I approached Duck Pass in the Sierra Nevada near Mammoth. The weather changed quickly and I was caught slightly unprepared. Normally I will put on the pack cover once it looks like it might rain soon – better safe than sorry. However, for some reason this time I thought I’d make it over the pass before (or if) the rain started. I was wrong. All of a sudden I could see sheets of rain across the valley and by the time I stopped near a tree and got my pack off it was already raining pretty hard. Fortunately, the Cloud Cover is easy to attach. Simply spread it over the back of the pack and cinch the drawstrings.
This simple cover did a fine job of keeping the pack dry – or, more accurately, kept it from getting any wetter.
There are only two minor concerns I have with this piece of equipment. First, not unexpectedly with such light gear, I suspect that the Cloud Cover will require me to be careful so as to avoid ripping the lightweight material. This is not so much a criticism as it is a recognition of one of the trade-offs inherent to ultralight gear. Secondly, I wonder why Granite Gear chose to make this only in white. This type of nylon already has a tendency to pick up dirt and the white color will only accentuate this.
***Bottom line:
I’m glad I picked up this the Granite Gear Cloud Cover. It is lighter and smaller in my pack and it does a fine job of protecting the pack from rain, at the expense of perhaps being less durable than some of the heavier alternatives.
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Ferns at Quicksilver
Ferns. Almaden Quicksilver Park. September 5, 2005. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.
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Changing Seasons
It is the beginning of September, the time of the year when I begin to watch for signs of autumn.
Until a few years ago I still thought that autumn would actually begin in September. Ignoring what the calendar says, in central California it doesn’t. We’ll have warm weather for another 6 weeks or so. Two supporting facts: September is the sunniest time of the year in San Francisco, and September and the first half of October are the peak fire season in California.
However, by now there are a few signs that things will change before long. As early as the last week of August I spotted a few plants starting to change colors in the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite. Last week I noticed a few trees turning yellow/brown and losing leaves in the coastal California hills. Today I noticed that most of the grasses here have started to go from the summer’s golden color to autumn’s gray.
And, for those of us who are weather-obsessive, there are forecast discussions like this one:
MODELS IN AGREEMENT IN DROPPING A CUTOFF LOW DOWN THE WEST COAST TUE
AND WED WITH THE CORE OF THE LOW OVER THE SFO BAY WED NIGHT. THE
ONLY MODEL THAT IS ANY DIFFERENT IS THE NAM WHICH HAS THE CENTER OF
THE LOW OVER THE NRN SAC VALLEY. MODELS HAVE VERY LITTLE MOISTURE
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM AND EXPECT ANY PRECIP OR POSSIBLE
CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY TO REMAIN TO THE NORTH OF OUR CWA AT THIS TIME.
WE WILL LIKELY ONLY SEE SCT CU OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN IN THE COLD
UNSTABLE AIR ALOFT ON THU. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS DROP AN INSIDE SLIDER
DOWN THE COAST ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY TO BRING A MUCH COOLER AIRMASS
TO THE REGION. A SYSTEM OF THIS NATURE IS TYPICALLY DRY AND DONT
EXPECT ANY PRECIP ON SAT OR SUN AT THIS TIME…HOWEVER ANOTHER SHORT
WAVE TROUGH DIGS SOUTHWARD OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA BEHIND THE
INSIDE SLIDER ON MONDAY…WHICH MAY BRING THE FIRST CHANCE OF
APPRECIABLE PRECIP TO THE DISTRICT SINCE JUNE. HAVE KEPT PRECIP OUT
OF THE FORECAST FOR NOW BUT IF MODELS MAINTAIN CURRENT SOLUTION
PRECIP WILL HAVE TO BE ADDED FOR EARLY NEXT WEEK.
What that cryptic weather-speak is saying is that the storm track is just beginning to drop south.
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Quicksilver Oak (Sept. 5, 2005)
Oak Tree. Almaden Quicksilver Park. September 5, 2005. © Copyright Dan Mitchell.
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September 8, 2005 Posted by gdanmitchell | Commentary | Comments Off on SidebarSierraSitesList