Hiking in the Rain: How to Stay Dry on the Trail

Rain is not a reason to stay in. It is the default state of a British hill for a good chunk of the year, and if you only walk on dry days you will barely walk at all. Staying dry in the rain is a skill, and most of it is behaviour on the trail rather than the label in your jacket.

This guide is about doing it: when to get your waterproofs on, how to keep the things that matter dry, what to do about your feet, and how to stay upright on ground that has turned to grease. For what to actually wear, the autumn and winter layering guide covers the system top to bottom, the best waterproof jackets covers shells, and the best waterproof hiking trousers covers overtrousers. This piece is what you do once the sky opens.

Why staying dry actually matters

Getting wet is not just uncomfortable. In UK conditions it is the fastest route to being cold, and cold is where hiking stops being fun and starts being a problem.

Water pulls heat out of you far quicker than air does. A soaked base layer against your skin, especially cotton, sits there wicking warmth away every minute you keep moving, and worse the moment you stop. On an exposed ridge in wind, a wet layer plus a breeze is the classic recipe for hypothermia, and it does not need to be anywhere near freezing for that to start. Wind-driven rain on a Brecon or South Downs day in single-digit temperatures is plenty.

So staying dry is a comfort thing on an easy low-level walk and a safety thing the moment you gain height or exposure. The colder, windier and more remote the walk, the more it matters. Get this right and rain is just weather. Get it wrong and it becomes the reason the day goes sideways.

When to put your waterproofs on

The single biggest mistake is waiting too long. People carry a good jacket and then leave it in the pack because they do not want to overheat, or because "it is only spitting", and by the time they admit it is properly raining the layer underneath is already wet.

The rule is simple: get your waterproofs on before you are wet, not after. A shell keeps rain out. It cannot dry a base layer you have already soaked, and once that layer is wet it stays wet for hours. You are then wearing a waterproof over a damp jumper, which is the worst of both worlds.

The trade-off people are trying to avoid is overheating, and that is real, a waterproof shell traps sweat as well as rain. The answer is not to leave the jacket off. It is to manage the heat once it is on: open the pit zips if your jacket has them, drop the hood when the rain eases, undo the front zip on the climbs, and take a base layer off underneath before you put the shell on if you know you are about to work hard. Vent, do not strip.

Same logic for overtrousers. They are a faff to put on over muddy boots, so put them on at the first proper rain, not once your legs are soaked and cold. If the forecast is wet from the off, start the walk in them.

Keeping your pack and phone dry

Most rucksacks are not waterproof. The fabric may be coated, but water gets in through the zips, the seams and the opening, and a pack "raincover" stretched over the outside helps but does not seal it. Rain runs down your back and in under the cover, and covers blow loose in wind. Treat the outside of the pack as something that will get wet, and protect the contents from the inside instead.

The reliable method is to line the inside of the pack. A dry bag, or a roll-top liner sized to your rucksack, sits inside the main compartment and holds everything that must stay dry: spare insulation, gloves, hat, first aid, and anything electronic. Roll the top down, clip it, and the contents stay dry even if the pack itself is soaked through and the cover has blown off.

Your phone deserves its own small dry bag or a zip-lock freezer bag inside the liner. It is your map, your camera and your way of calling for help, and a wet touchscreen stops responding long before the phone actually dies. Keep it in the liner, not in a hip-belt pocket or a jacket pocket where rain tracks in.

Are gaiters worth it?

For a lot of UK walking, yes. Gaiters wrap the gap between your boot top and your trouser leg, and they do two jobs: they stop water, mud and grit dropping in over the top of your boots, and they keep the lower leg of your trousers out of the worst of the wet undergrowth and bog.

They earn their place most on boggy, overgrown or snowy ground, the kind of tussocky, waterlogged moorland where every step splashes and long wet grass soaks your shins. On a dry, well-made path they do very little and mostly just make your calves hot.

They are not a substitute for waterproof footwear and they will not keep your feet dry on their own. What they do is stop the top-down soaking, water running down your leg and pooling inside the boot, which is one of the main ways feet get wet even in a waterproof boot. If you walk a lot of rough, wet ground, a pair is worth having. If you stick to firm coast paths and forest tracks, you can probably skip them.

Managing wet feet on the trail

Here is the reality: in sustained rain, over enough hours, your feet will probably get damp. Water runs down your legs into the boot, sweat builds up inside a waterproof membrane with nowhere to go, and puddles get deeper than your boots are tall. Chasing perfectly dry feet on a wet all-day walk is usually a losing battle. The job is managing it.

A few things that actually help:

• Start with the right footwear for the ground. Waterproof boots with a good height keep splashes and shallow water out for longer. A proper walking boot buys you more dry time than a low-cut shoe in wet conditions, though nothing keeps water out once it comes in over the top.
• Keep water from running in over the top. This is where overtrousers worn outside the boot, or gaiters, matter. Trousers tucked into the boot funnel water straight in.
• Sort your socks. A good wool or merino sock keeps some warmth even when damp, which cotton does not. If your feet are wet and cold and you have a spare dry pair in the pack, changing them at lunch is a genuine reset.
• Deal with hot spots early. Wet skin blisters far more easily than dry skin. The moment you feel a rub, stop and tape it. Do not walk on it hoping it settles.
• Keep a dry set in the car. Dry socks and trainers waiting at the end turn a grim, squelching finish into a non-event. It is the single best morale move for wet-weather walking.

Damp feet you can manage. Cold, blistered, ignored feet end walks. The difference is dealing with them early rather than pretending they are fine.

The glasses and cap tip

Even if you do not wear glasses, a peaked cap under the hood is worth it. It keeps rain off your face, stops the hood collapsing onto your forehead, and lets you look up into the weather without getting it straight in the eyes. A hood alone tends to slide forward and cut your vision; a cap holds the peak out where you need it.

Drying your kit after

What you do at the end of a wet walk decides how your kit performs on the next one. Wet gear left in a heap smells, loses loft and, in the case of a waterproof, wets out faster next time.

• Get it out of the bag the same day. A soaked jacket balled up in a rucksack overnight is how kit turns musty. Hang everything as soon as you are home.
• Dry it slowly and cool. Hang waterproofs, fleeces and base layers somewhere airy. Keep them off radiators and away from direct heat, which can damage membranes and coatings.
• Dry boots properly. Take the insoles out, loosen the laces, open them up, and stuff them with newspaper or a boot dryer to draw the moisture out from inside. Do not put them on a radiator or in front of a fire, direct heat cracks and shrinks the leather and can lift the glue.
• Wash and reproof when it wets out, not on a schedule. If your jacket has stopped beading and is soaking through, it needs cleaning and reproofing rather than binning. See how to reproof a waterproof jacket so your shell actually keeps water out, and how to clean and waterproof walking boots for footwear.

A tip worth stealing: keep a spare bag in the car for the wet, muddy kit you strip off at the end, so it does not soak everything on the drive home.

Staying safe on wet ground

Rain changes the ground as much as it changes you. The surface you skipped across in summer becomes something to respect.

Wet rock, roots and boardwalk are the sliders. Wet chalk on the South Downs, polished limestone, tree roots and timber steps get treacherous. Slow down, shorten your stride, and put your feet down flat rather than pushing off hard. Trekking poles help a lot here, giving you extra points of contact on greasy descents.

Descents are where people fall. Most wet-weather slips happen going downhill, when your momentum is already carrying you forward. Keep your weight over your feet, take small steps, and on steep, greasy ground turn side-on or come down slowly with three points of contact.

Flooded crossings deserve real caution. A stream that was a trickle in the morning can be a fast, deep torrent after a few hours of hill rain, and rivers rise faster than you expect. Never wade a flooded crossing where you cannot see the bottom or judge the flow. Moving water only knee-deep can take your feet from under you. If a crossing looks doubtful, find another way over or turn back. No summit is worth it.

Visibility drops in rain and low cloud. Heavy rain and hill fog cut how far you can see and make navigation harder, so know where you are before the cloud comes down, and do not rely on your phone alone in the wet, touchscreens stop working when soaked. Carry a map and compass and know the bail-out routes off your walk.

Tell someone your plan. Wet, cold days are exactly when things go wrong, so leave your route and expected finish time with someone before you set off.

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