Things To Bring On a Hike, Part 2
Don't despair, for there is a simple solution. In moderate to hot weather, I have come to really appreciate my cargo pants with the removable legs. These things are awesome. I can start my hike with long pants. When the temperature rises to the point of discomfort, I can stop, unzip the legs, stuff them in my day pack (or even my pockets) and I have comfortable hiking shorts. Converesly, when temperatures drop in the evening and shorts are no longer warm enough, I can zip the legs back on.
The brand I have are Great Northwest. I believe I bought them at GI Joe's. If you've never owned a pair of these, you should give them a try. I think you'll end up us hooked on them as I have.
Now for the upper body. The strategy here is to layer. I start with a tee shirt. In hot weather, that (and some sun screen) might be all I need. Depending on the weather coditions, I will add a flannel shirt over the tee shirt. In cold weather, I often double up on tee shirts before I add anything else. Over the flannel shirt, I wear a sweatshirt if necessary. If it's cold enough, I wear a padded vest or jacket (or even both) over the sweatshirt.
Here's the advantage of layering over just wearing a shirt and a jacket or heavy coat. With the coat, it's either on or off. While you can zip or unzip the coat for some control over how warm you are, it really isn't enough. By layering with lighter materials, you have far greater control over how warm you are going to be. By adding or removing one layer at a time, it's easy to maintain a comfortable body temperature.
Depending upon where you hike at what time of year, raingear is also something you should consider. Now, I've been on many a drizzly hike without raingear. I've also been soaked to the skin several times. I was just never very interested in the hassle of lugging a raincoat around in the woods.
Fortunately, there is a wonderful solution to this problem that I stumbled upon a few years ago. I think I was at the Burlington Coat Factory. I was looking at, what else, coats. Then I saw this item called a pouchable. It is a very light rain jacket that folds up into a pocket-sized pouch when you
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