[pct-l] Clothing in general.

[Gary Wright]

On Mar 12, 2009, at 5:37 PM, Sean Carey wrote:
> How many pairs of shorts do people generally bring with them up  
> front? I was
> thinking two pairs. Do I just need one pair?

I had one pair to hike in and another lightweight
pair of gym shorts to wear in camp, bed, town,
while doing laundry, and so on.  It is nice at
the end of the day to be able to get out of stinky
hiking clothes. If you are lucky, you are near
water and can wash up a bit.

> Also do I even need to bring a
> pair of pants with me at first? Or should I just send my pants ahead  
> to KM?

A common mistake by PCT hikers is to assume that
the southern part of the trail is always 'hot'.
It is quite easy to encounter below freezing
weather, rain, snow, or sleet on the southern
part of the trail, especially when the trail
climbs up over 6,000' (Lagunas, San Jacintos,
San Gabriels, Tahachapis).

Don't leave your water bottles out on a cold
night!  Sleep with them in your bag so you
don't wake to frozen bottles.

> Ok also something I keep coming back to. Will a pair of good ole  
> long johns
> suffice as your night clothing? Or what are other people using for  
> their
> sleeping clothes?

It really depends on what you like to sleep
in. I already mentioned a light pair of shorts.

Some people sleep in long underwear as a way
to keep their sleeping bag clean in addition
to staying warm.  I've used a silk bag-liner
in the past because I don't like sleeping in
long underwear unless it is really cold and
I want to keep my bag clean.  It is easy to
wash the liner in town, not easy to wash a
bag.

> I am almost positive there is something better and more
> lightweight.

Of course the obvious solution and the most
light weight is to just wear your birthday suit,
which works best if you have a bag liner to
avoid getting your bag dirty with your body
oils and sweat from the day.

> The shirt part will be easy to figure out, but I am also wondering  
> how many
> shirts people bring with them up front and what they mail ahead to KM?

One long sleeve shirt, one short sleeve
shirt, long underwear top, rain jacket,
Marmot Dri-Clime jacket.  I added a medium
weight fleece at KM.

I think it is a mistake to try to fine-tune
clothing on the PCT *except* for perhaps a
little warmer jacket for the High Sierra.
Other than that you can encounter cold weather,
and rain anywhere on the PCT. It is a mistake
to think that it won't rain until Washington
or it won't be cold except in the High Sierra.

> Depending on where I am money wise here in the next few weeks. I  
> might be
> hitting the thrift stores here to get a lot of my clothes. I hear a  
> lot of
> decent hiking style shirts can be found there.

I've seen many people hike in a 100% synthetic
dress shirt.