Hiking

Image by Sergey Yeliseev via Flickr

Whatever The Weather

Convertible hiking pants are fantastic, you know what I mean by convertible right? They’re those nifty pants with a zipper around each leg so you can take the bottom part of your pants off and just wear shorts. What a brilliant idea, I wish I’d thought of it. Anyway, convertible hiking pants are terrific . . . you can keep your legs covered in the mornings when it’s a bit chilly, or when you are hiking through brush and need a little protection, then just take them off as the sun warms up and get a well deserved “blow-through”, especially in the knee area. By the way, I couldn’t find any images of convertible hiking pants, so I thought you might like this photo of a short eared owl instead . . . good isn’t it? I had a close encounter with a Barn owl once, it sort of swooped over my head as I was hiking along a trail at dusk . . . magical! Anyway, back to the pants . . . .

Convertible pants are great for hiking, backpacking, camping, weekend slobbing around the house . . . convertible pants are great for lots of different things. Convertible pants do need other features though, to make them suitable for backpacking, camping, hiking, climbing and other activities . . . apart from having detachable legs!

• Comfort is important for all hiking gear, and hiking pants is certainly no exception. The zippers need to be slim-line so that they don’t hang too heavily around your legs.
• High quality materials for durability. Hikers, climbers, backpackers . . . they’re not exactly gentle with their hiking pants you know, scrambling over things, through things, past things . . . they can get caught up in all sorts of stuff and don’t need any rips or tears.
• Convertible hiking pants need to pack up small for when you’re not wearing ‘em, especially when you’ve zipped your bottoms off, you’ve got to carry them somewhere.
• Easy zippers for quick on and off activity. Not necessarily the pants, just the legs bit. Convertible hiking pants are getting much better at this, nowadays there are even color coded zippers to make sure that you’re not trying to fasten the left leg to the right side of the pants . . .it’s gotta’ be easy to gets your legs on and off again.
• Lightweight hiking pants are best, both for when you’re wearing ‘em, and when you’re carrying ‘em in your backpack.
• Breathability is important for all hiking gear, who wants a sweaty crotch . . . not me thanks!
• Zippered or velcro bottoms are an important feature on some convertible hiking pants . . . making it easy to get the bottom half of your leg on and off without having to untie your hiking boots.

Never stop testing, never stop improving . . . no wonder this hiking stuff just gets better and better every year!