Layers for hiking camping 50/20F°

[Irate Mormon]

Re: Layers for hiking camping 50/20F°

I spend a good deal of time getting wet, and I can tell you that I never wear cotton while doing so. I have some clothing that dries quickly...don't know what it's made of but if I'm gonna get wet that's what I wear. Some kind of woven microfiber fabric or something.

[Happy Joe]

Re: Layers for hiking camping 50/20F°

I agree about wet, although wet is mostly preventable when not in a rainforest, IMO.
When backpacking (back in the stone age/before getting old) I used to carry a large trash bag (expedient light weight poncho) for me and a smaller one for the pack...
...Got to pay more attention to ventilation with non-breathable ponchos etc. though... easy to get sweat soaked...
Dry/mostly dry beats wet hand down, IMO.

Proper footgear is right up there near/at the top of my list too!

Enjoy!

[toedtoes]

Re: Layers for hiking camping 50/20F°

So for those great "quick drying" clothes, how do they hold up to a steady rain? I suspect they will be just as wet as cotton.

Quick drying only matters if the wetness stops. If you're caught in the rain, you're going to be wet. If you have to hike through the rain to get back to camp, you're going to be wet. Doesn't matter how quickly you clothes dry if you're in the rain.

So the only time the quick drying clothes help is if you fall in the water or you sweat profusely while hiking far away from civilization. Other than that, there are many more important factors to pay attention to (such as not trying to camp in a park closed for the winter, not making stupid choices to wander in a forest, etc.).

Again, backpacking is different. Hiking in the middle of nowhere is different. But for basic campground day hikes, you're not going to be that far away - as long as you use common sense as to the rest of your choices.