Originally Posted by
indyfabz
In the right condtions. I just did a nine-day across PA. A couple of nights were chilly and moist. Nothing dried. Not even my synthetic Pak Towel. One morning eveything I left out was wetter than it was before I went to sleep.
I generally don't find putting on damp clothes to be a big deal. I do a mitigate the problem a few ways though. First I don't leave stuff out to get dew on it. Second when stuff is still wet and it is cold, I warm the clothes in my sleeping bag a few minutes before getting up and dressed. Third, if I expect it to be really cold (like below freezing) I don't wash clothes, wearing clothes without washing for several days isn't a big problem in cool weather IMO. I don't mind putting off the washing a bit if it isn't a good time to do it.
Sometimes, I get stuff as dry as I can before bed time and them lay the damp clothes over me in my sleeping bag where they usually dry pretty fast. Since I turn in really early they are usually dry before the night turns cold. Also getting into camp and washing stuff early enough so it can be in the sun helps.
How much of an issue drying is varies widely with the locale. Often away from the coast in much of the west stuff dries super fast in the low humidity, while things seem to never dry much of the time in the muggy damp of the east.