In February I took my granddaughter Hattie to Mammoth Cave in old sneakers and a thin poncho, and we turned back after about a mile. Her socks were wet, she had a blister on her left heel, and the poncho tore on a branch. That night I ordered five things in one Amazon order. One of them was the Columbia Youth Glennaker Rain Jacket, and it is the item that decides whether we walk at all.
The Glennaker is a nylon shell with a hood, a zip front, two slant pockets, and no insulation. Hattie wears a Youth Medium, which is a size up on purpose so a fleece fits underneath. It has been on about 30 Saturday walks since the first Saturday in March, through spring, a hot summer, and into fall. Here are ten reasons it earns the space in her pack, and one honest list of what I would skip.
The jacket that lives in the pack, rain or not
A nylon shell with a hood, a zip front and two slant pockets. Rolled up in the main compartment of Hattie's pack on every Mammoth Cave walk since March.
Amazon Check today's price on Amazon →Rain stops being a reason to cancel the Saturday
Since the first Saturday in March, we have not once turned around because of rain. The jacket is rolled up in the pack before we leave the driveway, so the decision is already made before we look at the sky. That sounds like a small thing until you have stood at a trailhead with a child who is dressed wrong. The one time we did turn back, in February, it was wet socks in sneakers, and the jacket was ordered that night.
It rolls small enough to live in the pack, so nobody has to remember it
It goes in the main compartment of Hattie's CamelBak Mini M.U.L.E. on every Mammoth Cave walk, rain or not. That is the whole point. A rain jacket folded in a closet at home is a jacket you do not have when the rain starts a mile out. Rolled up, it takes one corner of the compartment and leaves room for the binoculars, the journal and a snack.
Her top half stayed dry in the one real downpour
Late April, at Mammoth Cave, the rain came in about a mile from the car. Twenty five minutes walking back. Her top half was dry when we reached the Forester. Her pants were soaked through, because she had no rain pants, and she laughed the entire way back. I want to be plain: the jacket did its job and it did not do the job of rain pants. That is a thing to know before you buy, not after.
It is a shell, and that is exactly how I bought it
The Columbia Glennaker is a nylon shell. It has no insulation and it will not keep a child warm on its own. I bought Youth Medium a size up on purpose, so a fleece goes under it in March and a t-shirt goes under it in May. Read that as a feature and not an apology. One jacket that covers three seasons earns its hook by the door better than three jackets that cover one each.
The hood does what the old poncho could not
The poncho tore on a branch about a mile in, and after that it was a wet rag around her neck for the walk back. This hood is attached at the collar and the zip runs the full front, so there is nothing to adjust in a wind. One honest note: without a hat underneath, the hood sits loose on her head. In ordinary drizzle it stays where she puts it. In a real wind I would want the hat under it.
An 8 year old can run the zip and the pockets herself
Zip front, two slant pockets, both of them hers to use. Hattie is eight and in third grade and she manages all of it without help. That matters more than it sounds on a trail. A child who has to stop and ask an adult to fix her jacket stops walking, and stopping is how a two mile walk turns into a complaint. She keeps a leaf or a feather in a slant pocket and it is still there at the car.
Clay mud wipes off and the washer does the rest
Clay mud gets on everything at Mammoth Cave. The shell is 100 percent nylon and the care instruction is machine wash, so I wipe the worst of it off at the back door with a damp rag and it goes in with the towels. Eight months in there are no tears and no worn spots at the shoulders. It is a plain jacket, plainly made, and it is holding up like one.
The long sleeves are the one sizing fault I forgive
The sleeves run a little long on her, which is what happens when you size up. She pushes them back at the wrist or lets them cover her hands in the rain, and either is fine. Half a thumb of growing room is what I was buying in February, and she still has it. If you want a trim fit for this fall and nothing beyond it, buy her true size and skip the extra length.
It keeps the whole pack coming out of the closet
This is the benefit I did not see coming. Because the jacket lives in the pack, the pack keeps coming out, and the pack is what carries the binoculars and the spiral notebook. Hattie's bird list is at 31 species, and every one of those came off a Saturday that happened. Wet Saturdays used to be blank pages. Now they are pages with a date and a species name written at the top.
It is the one item from that order I would rebuy without thinking
Nothing from the February order has been replaced. But if the jacket went missing off the hook tomorrow, I would order another one that night, because it is the item that decides whether we go. Columbia has been making this shell for a long time and it shows in small things, like a hood that lies flat at the collar when she is not wearing it and does not bunch under the pack straps.
What I'd Skip
I would skip buying this as a warmth layer. It is a shell, it will not do the work of a fleece, and a child standing still in one on a cold morning will feel every degree. I would skip the thin poncho entirely, since ours tore and spent the walk back as a wet rag. I would skip sizing it exactly to her in September if she is still growing. And I would skip expecting one jacket to cover her legs. Hattie's soaked pants in April were a rain pants problem, and nothing about a top half fixes that.
Her top half was dry when we reached the car. Her pants were soaked. The jacket did its job, and it did not do the job of rain pants.
Pack it before you leave the driveway
Eight months, about 30 Saturdays, one real downpour and one soaked pair of pants. The shell did its job.
Amazon See the Columbia Youth Glennaker on Amazon →