Cheap Homemade Rainproof Backpack Cover (That Also Saves the Planet)

Don't you just love backpacking? What, you don't? Well you do now! The only thing that could possibly get in the way of you enjoying a nice backpacking trip is rain. You hear that? Yep, it's rain. Look outside if you don't believe me. I know that you are hardcore enough to not care about getting wet, in fact sometimes you take backpacking trips straight through lakes because your that awesome. The real problem is your stuff getting wet. What's the point of hiking 27 miles through the worst thunder storm in history if you toothbrush doesn't stay dry? You could just buy a backpack cover, but paleeze. Buying things is soooo last week. Lucky for you, I exist. I learned this trick in the the Boy Scouts and it's so simple it almost isn't worth mentioning, but why not? The worst that can happen is death.

 First step is to find a trash bag about the size of your backpack. Usually ones with the little doodahs that pull the top shut are better.

Huzzah! Your done with step one. Go outside and shout as loud as you can, "I'VE FINISHED STEP ONE!" and run through the streets banging pots and pans.. 

If you followed the last step exactly, keep reading. If you ignored the last part I put in there I am very disappointed in you.

So getting out of jail. Because you only committed a misdemeanor you can probably just pay the bail and get out. If you resisted arrest burned a house down during your little episode you're looking at some time. I suggest tunneling out. You'll need several pairs of spoons, an extra pair of pants, and a back hoe. 

I never run into these problems because 1, I don't listen to my advice and 2, I carry around the card in the picture above. Those things can really be a life saver. If your abroad I suggest bringing one in the language of the country your visitng.

Now put your trash back over your backpack. Mark with a sharpie where the straps are on the backpack. Then take your handy dandy scissors and cut you trash bag according to the marks you just made. 

In slow motion, put the trash bag over the backpack. Pull the straps through the holes you made. Wear the backpack. Be awesome. 

When you're done using it for one trip, use it for the next! Never throw it away. If you keep reusing and reusing it over the course of twelve years, you have saved nature from 13,092 cubic meters of trash. Using a trash bag instead of buying a cover means that you prevented some factory on the other side of the world from emitting a little bit of toxic gas. You are saving the planet, one backpacking trip at a time.