Foldback Clip
Hiking Hack
Every so often when you are out hiking you are presented with a situation where you wish your equipment would perform just that tiny bit differently than it does; but no matter how you adjust it it doesn’t quite get there.
In my case it was when I was out hiking and the torrential rain and heavy winds set in. The rain would often drive into my face and as a result, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings.
Stage two saw me wearing my peaked cap under my rain hood which I did for a few years and this made a big difference. But I still found the peak would get wet if the rain was heavy enough and the water would wick into the rest of the cap. I started to think ‘if only there was a way I could get the peak of the rain jacket over the peak of the cap’.
So I decided to try using a fold back clip (19 mm) to hold the peak of my rain jacket to the edge of my cap. After a few short try outs I decided what better way to test this out than on a five week long hike where I only had eight days without rain. As weird as it looks this 2.52 gram clip which costs around 90 cents worked a treat. It turns the jacket hood into a ‘porch’ and even on those days I had heavy rains and strong winds, I stayed relatively dry.
The best 90 cents I’ve ever spent on a piece of hiking gear! This hack may not work with every rain jacket hood but it’s worth giving it a try.
The 19 mm foldback clip. This clip permanently lives on my cap and ready to go in case of rain
Clip on jacket and cap holding the hood out from the face
Clip on the front of my rain jacket