Ramblings: Map, compass, flashlight ... umbrella?

Is the backcountry any place for an umbrella?

First, consider this: Back in the day — about two-plus centuries ago — if you were male, it wasn't even cool to be seen on the street with an umbrella.

In England, an umbrella was viewed as "a screen commonly used by women to keep off rain" (from an English dictionary, 1708). Guys had nothing to do with them until some fellow named Jonas Hanway turned the umbrella into the manpri of his day.

A vintage history text from the early 1900s quaintly reminds us that trendsetting has never been easy: "Hanway is said to have been the first man to have carried an umbrella through the streets of London in rainy weather, about 1750, and he was booted and jeered at by boys for his fears of a wetting."

Hanway endured years of ridicule, but by the late 18th century umbrellas finally filtered into the mainstream and even reached America. "But their use at first was confined almost exclusively to women," one historical account says, "as it was considered very effeminate to carry one."

None of which bothers Chris Bell, director of operations for the nonprofit Washington Trails Association. He routinely packs an umbrella on backcountry excursions.

"I hate to get wet," says Bell. "I think I'm allergic to water.

"Now, I know that manly men, and womanly women, are loathe to show any sign of pampering themselves while on the trail. For them, the more uncomfortable the experience, the more meaningful it is.

"I am not in the category," concedes Bell, 66. "I am a wimp. I have a great fear that I will dissolve and wash away if exposed to drenching rain. And that is why I often will bring an umbrella in my backpack.

"You can buy the best rain gear that REI or Pro Mountain Sports may offer, but I have found nothing yet that will keep me dry when rain is pouring down. So while my companions may be shivering and soaking wet, I remain relatively dry and therefore in the best of humor."

During this rainy winter, in this traditionally rainy region, the notion of toting an umbrella on a backcountry jaunt has grown oddly logical to me. This is new thinking, something I approach warily. Unnatural, yet fascinating.

I ask myself: Why not take advantage of this ... technology? An umbrella is strangely seductive to a backpacker. It's a lightweight, portable roof — a rainfly on a stick, for Pete's sake. How cool is that?

Then I think again. Umbrellas are for urban landscapes, aren't they? You leave that stuff at home when you go backpacking, right? Wouldn't the sight of a backcountry bumbershoot present another glaring reminder that the wilderness is becoming infiltrated with way too many civilized gizmos?

"I have hated the darn things since getting poked and prodded by them while crossing Red Square at the UW during my college days," says Gary Paull, wilderness and trails coordinator for Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. "I do not, and never have, owned one."

Yet Paull recalls one late-winter hike up Mount Si following a six-inch snowfall. "The sun had come out and the trees were dripping and dropping clots of snow all over the trail," says Paull, equipped with a hat but a hoodless jacket.

"I remember getting a few snowballs down the back of my neck. It was about then I encountered a smug-looking gentleman with a festive umbrella. I was momentarily jealous. He definitely had the right equipment for the day."

Outdoor photographer Dave Schiefelbein of Seattle uses an umbrella as a storm shield for his gear and as a sunscreen when he's doing macro work. He has toted one on rigorous, multiday trips along the Ptarmigan Traverse and Vancouver Island's West Coast Trail.

"It's an easy and quick way to cover my backpack and head," says Schiefelbein. "It's much quicker than pulling a Gore-Tex jacket out of my pack or pulling out a packcover."

Guidebook author Mike Woodmansee ("Trekking Washington") is not persuaded. He can even recall the brief lifespan of an all-time piece of dork gear: head-gripping umbrella hats.

"I had one gearhead friend who bought one and actually wore it — once," says Woodmansee.

"Face it: If you're in the rain and moving, you are going to get soaking wet," he says. "If you're under an umbrella and the direct rain doesn't get you, the water splashing off puddles will get you, the soaking brush will get you, setting your umbrella down to do anything with both hands will get you. The rain will get you.

"I'm going to steal a line from an old-school hiker/climber buddy who not only went on weeklong trips in the Cascades without an umbrella, but with no raingear at all: 'I hear skin is waterproof.' "

The umbrella-toting Bell figures it's all a matter of personal preference, and he knows his. "I may not be a manly hiker," he says, "but if I am a reasonably dry and comfortable hiker, then that's all that counts."

What's your opinion? Terry Wood, an editor at REI, welcomes your feedback at farhiker@rei.com."Ramblings" replaces "Trail Mix" while columnist Ron Judd is on assignment covering the Winter Olympics. Judd returns in March.