Hiking with an umbrella to put on a backpack?

Text and drawing by Frits Ahlefeldt

I stumbled across the futuristic umbrella design of the “Nubrella” ( Nubrella.com ), and wondered could this design be adapted for hiking?

Hiking with an umbrella works great in some, not too windy, not to rough trails, where it can both give shelter from the rain, the sun and give you a chance to avoid encapsulating yourself in multi-coated, seamed, layers of synthetic materials.

Wearing the umbrella, on the backpack so it would both protect you and your backpack seems like something that is just waiting to be drawn up. And there could be several new umbrella types of it out there I haven’t been able to find.

But looking for alternative rain protection solutions I think the Nubrella design might work for long distance hiking.  Not least because, according to the inventor:  Alan Kaufman, behind the design… it also works in the wind.

Then (long distance ) hikers just need for the design to be adapted the last little bit, so it can be used for hiking with all kinds of backpacks… and better protect the backpack (and you? ).

A bit like this maybe:

Would it work for long distance hiking?

Wonder if this very different approach to keeping out of the rain, instead of keeping the rain out might have a huge potential for hiking, combining a design logic that has been used for many years in  dome tents, with a hand free, wind proof wearable umbrella idea.

Wonder if it would work on the trails. Let me hear if any have experience with this.