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How to Keep Your Wallet Dry While Hiking

Introduction

Nothing can quite ruin a perfectly good hike or camp quite like a torrent of rain or an accidental spill into a lake, river, or stream.  And being underprepared for the threat of rain and accidental water can not only leave your items and valuables soaking but may even render them obsolete and inoperable.

And if you happen to be carrying your wallet with you, you’ll definitely want to take some precautions to ensure that both your wallet and the contents within your wallet stay dry.  Below, we’re going to review how to keep your wallet dry while hiking and camping.

Why It’s Important to Invest in Water Resistant Hiking Gear

Water is, without a doubt, the main source of life for nearly all things on earth.  However, being unprepared for a torrent of rain or an accidental spill into water can leave you drenched and have your gear, items, and valuables both drenched and potentially unusable.

To avoid such a predicament, it is highly recommended to invest in water resistant hiking gear.  While water resistant hiking gear won’t protect you from an accidental spill into a body of water, it will protect your gear and valuables from a torrent of rain.

While camping or hiking, whether for one night or for a month-long trip, you will generally only pack items which are absolutely necessary and crucial for both survival and convenience.  As-such, you should go to great lengths to ensure that those items are kept safe and protected.

And as rain and water are natural occurrences, you should invest in gear which will offer additional coverage and protection from those elements.  While the gear may be a bit more expensive, ensuring that your valuables and items are protected will be a smart long-term investment, particularly if you plan on completing multiple hiking or camping trips in the coming years.

How to Keep Your Wallet Dry While Hiking

Keeping Your Wallet and Valuables Dry While Hiking

While on a hike, it is important to ensure you carry a hiking backpack which is both waterproof and contains multiple pockets and coverage from the rain.  While many hiking backpacks are built to be waterproof, not all of them contain additional pockets to store valuables from the water.

That is why we wholeheartedly recommend the Skog Waterproof Floating Backpack.  This backpack is the perfect solution to withstanding rainfall while hiking. 

Offering superior protection from both rainfall and accidental spills into a body of water, the Skog Waterproof Floating Backpack is made from a heavy duty 420-denier ripstop nylon and coated with TPU to seal out the elements with watertight, welded seams.

In addition, the Skog Waterproof Floating Backpack has an airtight front pocket, which provides IPX-7 protection for all your sensitive documents, items, and valuables.  IPX-7 protection means that the backpack can be submerged underwater up to 1-meter, or 3-feet, for up to 30-minutes without  any leaks or droplets of water entering. 

We highly recommend the Skog Waterproof Floating Backpack for your next hike.  And whether you are looking to protect and keep your wallet, your cell phone, or any other valuables dry while hiking, then this backpack will do a superior job and will ensure maximum coverage and protection.

However, if you are looking for double protection to keep your wallet and any other valuables dry while hiking, then we would recommend purchasing a waterproof bag.  These bags are generally clear in design, allowing you to ensure your items are safe and remain in place.

For wallets specifically, we highly recommend the Nite Ize Runoff Waterproof Pocket.  Large enough to house your wallet and any other valuables you may be carrying, this waterproof bag is rated IP67, meaning it offers similar protection against rain and water as the Skog Waterproof Backpack discussed above.

And, in addition to being waterproof, this clear bag is also dust and sand proof, ensuring that your wallet and valuables remain not only dry, but also clean and free from dirt and debris while out on your hike.

While the Nite Ize Runoff Waterproof Pocket is sufficiently sized to house both your wallet and cell phone, we found it difficult to use our cell phone for taking pictures with while inside the bag.  Therefore, we recommend investing in a separate waterproof bag for your cell phone which will allow you to still use your phone, even while housed away.

We recommend the Hiearcool Universal Waterproof Phone Case to protect your phone from water while still allowing you to take pictures, videos, and make calls.  This waterproof phone case comes in a pack of two and is sufficiently large enough to house nearly any sized phone.  We tested it on our iPhone 12 Pro Max and found that the phone fit nicely within it without any issues.

How to Keep Your Wallet Dry While Hiking

Keeping Your Wallet and Valuables Dry While at the Campsite

While you will want to invest in both a waterproof hiking backpack and additional waterproof bags for your wallet, phone, and valuables while on a hike, you should also take a few precautionary steps to ensure your wallet and valuables are kept dry while at the campsite.

Firstly, before you even unpack your bag and setup your tent, you should evaluate your campsite.  Ideally, you will want to pick a campsite that is higher in elevation as to avoid water runoff and accumulation.  As water will pool at the end of a hill, picking a higher elevation campsite will provide you with some protection from flooding.

Similarly, look to invest in a high-quality, waterproof tent.  While many tents claim to be waterproof, they do a poor job of keeping water out.  And while you will want to keep your wallet and valuables protected from the water, you will also want to keep yourself dry and warm as well.

That’s why we recommend the KTT Extra Large Tent for your next hiking trip.  While, admittedly, a large and somewhat expensive tent, this tent is perfect for keeping your wallet and valuables both safe, dry, and away from the water.  With a double layer of waterproof polyester and a high-density mesh design, this tent will keep water out no matter how hard it comes down.

However, if you don’t need such a large tent, then we would recommend investing in a tarp to place over your tent.  A simple tarp will provide added protection and coverage from the rain and is an easy and simple solution to keeping your valuables dry.

Conclusion

Nothing can quite ruin a good hiking or camping trip like a surprise rainfall or an accidental spill into a body of water.  And although you should always check the weather conditions, being prepared for a potential rainfall will help you to ensure a successful and fun hiking or camping trip.

Being prepared means investing in waterproof, high-quality gear.  Not only will this gear keep your wallet, phone, and valuables safe and protected, but it will also keep you warmer and drier while out in the great outdoors.