[pct-l] Clothing questions...et al...

[Scott Williams]

I used an extremely light (4 oz if I'm remembering right) pair of nylon gym
type pants, and then a pair of really light running shorts sans the
underwear which I cut out.  The glare off snow for 4 weeks or so is simply
not to be underestimated if you get some typical spring warm days.  The week
before my group began the High Sierra, another group of folks came out at
Kearsarge Pass to resupply as they had eaten twice the food they had
planned.  That week was really sunny and warm, and I've never seen so many
2nd degree sunburned faces and legs.  They were all fried.  On of them was
Slim, Olone Indian, good dark skin, fried to a crisp.  His lips, face and
legs and arms were blistered and he was hurting, and actually sun sick.
 Sunscreen was not enough against a Southern California sun when it actually
comes out over snow.

My group entered just as they came out, and the forecast changed to
unusually cold for the entire month of June.  The melt off slowed down, snow
firmed up, and we were really cold, not hot.  You need to not skimp on
clothes given the range of conditions you may encounter during this leg of
the trip.  I sent a lot of stuff home after the High Sierra, and didn't have
half of it in the deserts.  But as the weather reports and long range
forecasts start coming in, you'll be able to really plan more accurately.
 At this point it's too early to know, and a lot is just conjecture.

As for mosquito head net, it weighs almost nothing, and when they're bad,
think Yosemite, Trinities and Oregon for us, it is worth it's weight in
gold.  Much quicker to just drop it down than to fumble with a new coating
of Deet.

Shroomer