Hiking Shorts

Hiking apparel is not about making a fashion statement. And with good reason because you'll only have mouthless trees and lipless birds for fashion critics out there in the woods. In fact, every inch of cloth and leather that you wear when you go hiking is laced with practicality from your heavy, hiking boot up to your huge bandanna.

But often, when talking about hiking apparel, people only think about what goes to the head and what goes to the feet, and hardly anyone thinks about what they ought to cover their bodies with. And to think that, unless you want to go Tarzan when you go hiking, the clothes you actually wear on your body is just about as important as your shoes and head wear.

While we won't be talking about the merits of wearing pants and shirts in this article, we are however going to be discussing just why hiking shorts are preferred by most sunny day hikers.

Now, of course, you can't wear hiking shorts when it's going to be cold and rainy out there. For that, you can wear jeans. They're tough, durable, and reasonably warm if they don't get too wet. In the spring or fall, you can expect breezy days and medium temperatures. The jeans are still fine, but hiking shorts can also be worn too. However, if you're going to hike on a hot day, do yourself a favor and wear hiking shorts.

Hiking shorts provide cool comfort on hot, sunny days. Wearing hiking shorts will improve the hiking experience by keeping you cool and comfy as you trudge on the trail.

By opposition, jeans tend to become uncomfortable as the days wears on. If, for instance, you start out in the morning and the hike takes well into the afternoon, the temperature change can make your jeans awfully hot and uncomfortable.

So, as a solution, bring two pairs of garments for the lower body – a pair of pants and a pair of hiking shorts. It could work, but it can be quite a hassle as well. If you want a picture, just try to imagine yourself getting into a pair of hiking shorts from jeans while standing on one foot in the forest. Plus, you don't want your hiking partners or whoever else is on the trail to see you there in your underwear, so you have to change into your hiking shorts real fast.

However, it's not time yet to despair. There is a simple solution to this potential problem. If you are not sure that the weather's going to last, you can try stringing along a pair of cargo pants with the removable legs. That actually eliminates the need for bringing both jeans and hiking shorts when you hike.

Like we said earlier, the weather can change through the course of the day. What started out as a cool, breezy morning perfect for hiking on a pair of hiking shorts can change into a dark, rainy afternoon that requires something a little more weather-resistant than hiking shorts.

With a pair of cargo pants with the removable legs, you can start the day wearing hiking shorts, then when the climate changes, you can just re-attach the legs back to your hiking shorts so you'll be wearing long pants.