Pants or shorts
I will be hiking the Long Trail End-to-end this July/August. Can I get away with just shorts, or will I need long pants as well?
Shorts... unless your legs are realllly ugly. Zip offs are good for evening cover up against bugs or cool evenings.
On my '07 thruhike, I only recall a few short stretches - all in the far north beyond Rt. 15 - where the brush was thick in a few places to scratch the legs. I'd stick to shorts with long pants for evening as Deadeye suggested.
Wear shorts. Your rain pants can double as pants for warmth if needed. You will be way too hot for long pants 95% of the time.
Which of course assumes you bring rain pants! I have some very nice golite rain pants that I carried in the bottom of my pack for years. I've never worn them, and on the LT, I no longer even bring them.Originally Posted by DavidNH
I find these to be useful in extremely buggy conditions when it's too hot to wear long pants. Spray them well with permethrin and they should be good for the entire length of the LT.
As I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn back from his way and live. Ezekiel 33:11
Long pants, all the time, 100% of the way - even if it is 90 out!
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Same here. In fact SAME pants whether it's 10 or 100. Well, if it's 100 it better be out west.........
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
+1 on the shorts. I wore convertibles last August and never attached the pant legs. At the end of my hike, I had a pair of ragged shorts and a set of brand new pant legs!
The only thing you might want pants for are the insects, but they'll be mostly gone by late July. In the east, you do NOT want to hike in pants when it's 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity!
Why? No a snotty why, just a curious why?
Yeah, I always wear long pants too. I live out west though. Trails are scratchy and overgrown, there's lots of poison oak, and I just don't like being eaten by flies or mosquitoes. It's also more comfortable to be covered up when it's hot than to put on sunscreen.
Some knew me as Piper, others as just Diane.
I hiked the PCT: Mexico to Mt. Shasta, 2008. Santa Barbara to Canada, 2009.
<long pants all the time..>
Mostly to protect my legs from all the things which can bite them, scratch them, cause rashes and make them dirty. Plus, here in New England, its not often that it is hot enough to justify shorts. I will on occasion go to shorts, but its got to be really, really hot and humid and trail well cleared for me to do so.
You will note that most everyone who says they wear shorts all the time come from predomitally very warm parts of the country and haven't hiked on many of the lesser maintained trails of New England.
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I can tell some of you have those gossebumped skinny white chicken stick hiking legs! Pants when it's 100* No way! I flirt my gams!
If I felt the absolute need for rain pants I would like those Montane Featherlites!
Did you ever think about carrying shorts and tights or perhaps shorts and UL thin thermal bottoms. Takes some getting use to but hiking tights can really attract the does!
I use synthetic convertables or zip-ons. Shorts durring the day and zip on the bottoms for a bit of warmth at the end of the day,
I hike on the LT all summer and most backpackers I encounter are wearing shorts or convertible pants. This is especially true of the AT hikers I meet on the trail during July and August. I prefer the nylon long pants with SPF protection (got them in the fishing section at LL Bean) and I wear them along with low gaiters. They dry so quickly that I stopped carrying rain pants entirely. Rain pants are not needed unless you want you use them for additional insulation at night or for "town clothes" while you're at a laundromat.
The nylon pants are cool when it's hot and warm when it's not. And they protect against bugs and thorny branches.
Convertible fan too, but mainly hike early or late in the season. A couple cold nights or buggy campsites and you appreciate the zip ons.
KILT!!!
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