Pants?
Need em? don't need em? rain pants? what did you do on your thru hike?
I wore long trousers on my whole AT thru. Kept the ticks, mosquitoes, sun, and poison ivy off. I carried and used rain pants in the high country in the springtime, but not for the rest of the hike.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
I wore zip-off pants at the beginning and end of my hike so I could adjust for the weather. From Pearisburg to Glen Cliff I wore a pair of running shorts.
I carried rain pants for years and never used them. If it's cold enough to be tolerable to wear them, it's below freezing and I don't need them. I carried and used often a silnylon "rain wrap", which is just a simple wrap skirt of silnylon that joins with velcro. Very light weight and very effective, while allowing plenty of air circulation.
~~
Allen "Monkeywrench" Freeman
NOBO 3-18-09 - 9-27-09
blog.allenf.com
[email protected]
www.allenf.com
I carried a pair from Springer and sent them home at Neels Gap because they were heavy and I never wore them. I wore running shorts that I cut the netting out of and a pair of compression shorts underneath. If it was cold, I wore my under armor pants under my shorts. I was very comfortable and never cold while hiking. It rained two days on my short hike and my legs were never cold while I hiked.
The Tech pants work best for rain pants - some talk about taking rain pants to wear when hitting the laundry at a trail town...Honest I would rather take a cheap Tech pant and spray the hell out of the thighs area with silicone spray and be happy.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Haven't thru hiked the AT, but have done long-distance hiking, and have completed well over half the AT in sections.
I used to carry convertable pants (REI Sahara) they were nice, but I seldom used the legs. Since working to lighten my pack the past several years, I now carry wool long johns (or silk or PolyPro, depending on conditions expected) and a pair of very light (3.5 oz) wind pants. This combo packs much smaller and is lighter, and warmer, plus when my shorts get wet from hiking in the rain, I can change out to completely dry camp clothes instead of just zipping the legs onto the wet shorts - nice.
To answer your first question, yeah, you need something for your legs besides just rain pants. It can get awful chilly just sitting around camp, plus you'll want something to keep the skeeters away.
Ok Lyle what would you recommend?
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Originally Posted by Wise Old Owl
Duhhhh. Read post #6 maybe?
Yeah, rain pants. Mine are ~13oz and I carry and use. No, you don't need them for the summer shower but for three days of rain this past March in the Smokies I was happy to have them. Wear light weight base layer underneath in cool weather. Rain pants also might save some skin on slippery sections in case of a fall. Wear 'em in the rain and your shorts or long trousers will be dry in your pack when the rain stops. The entire pictue = Full lower body wardrobe is 2lb 6 oz made up of rain pants, lw base, long tech pants, lw boxers and ripstop shorts for a 3 season hike.
Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other.
—M. C. Richards
Yup missed it.... oh well
What brand of wind pant.
Last edited by Wise Old Owl; 04-21-2012 at 22:11.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
I carried a pair of vary basic WP/B rain pants on my thru hike. They were the only pants I carried, sent home poly bottoms when the weather got warm. This year on my LT hike I''m carrying a pair of golite wind pants and a rain wrap. Summer months I've found it generally too warm to hike in rain paints so I'm going to give this set up a go. I like to carry pants of some sort.
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