[pct-l] Too much clothing!?

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Regarding clothing, I wore a long sleeved "desert" shirt and long  
pants the entire distance. I just do not feel comfortable exposing my  
skin to sun and bugs. I did wear shorts on my last day on the trail  
and promptly sunburned my calves.

You can layer your rain pants (I had chaps) over shorts/pants for  
added warmth in windy, cold or sleeping conditions. You can do the  
same with your rain jacket. Yep, you can use rain gear for warmth!

I usually wore a tank top under my long sleeved shirt, mostly because  
it had a built-in bra. I always hoped for conditions where I could go  
with just the tank top alone but never experienced such conditions.  
In Oregon mosquitoes ate me alive through my long sleeved shirt and I  
ended up trading my tank top for a T-shirt from Shelter Cove. The  
tank top left my shoulders exposed and the Oregon mosquitoes were  
able to bite through my desert shirt. The California ones didn't seem  
capable of such oppressive behavior.

Other than what I've mentioned, I also wore a long-sleeved synthetic  
shirt under the desert shirt for portions of the trail. I bought this  
hideous item at a thrift store in Mammoth and although ugly and full  
of runs and other problems, serves me well even to this day.

For jackets I liked having a Houdini and down sweater. Either down or  
fleece is good but you won't need both at the same time. I thought I  
needed sleeping clothes/long underwear but I sent those home and  
never missed them.

When it comes to clothing or virtually any gear, what you can do on  
the trail is send items home you don't need. If you are not sure, you  
carry them for a while. If you want to try something new but aren't  
sure, you carry the new thing and the old thing and then send home  
whichever you don't like. The trail becomes a huge gear-testing  
experiment! You don't have to have it all figured out. You can figure  
out lots of stuff as you go. I changed my mind about virtually every  
single thing I brought or believed in.

Diane