planning an ultra light trip and normally bring a whole set of extra clothes. For a week long trip, what's your wardrobe redundancy?
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Happy National Bugs Bunny Day (1938)!❓⬆️👨🏼⚕️
Pants?
- Thread starter Black_Fly
- Start date
Information needed: What time of year and where?
Late May, borderlands. Warm weather stuff is a given - shell, woolies, gloves, hat - I'm just wondering about underwear, pants, shirts, socks, etc. Pants are going to get wet, for instance, but they are quick drying. If I stay away from beaver muck...
And without bugs, nudity is always possible during warm spells in camp, eh?
And without bugs, nudity is always possible during warm spells in camp, eh?
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Late May in Northern Ontario is not always warm. In fact, it is routine to have temps only slightly over freezing. Ice didn't go out until May 15th last year. So if this thread is tied to your other thread, lol, bring more clothes than usual. Marino wool or some kind of a complete underwear set for sure. As for pants, I only bring two pair, on either a two day trip or a 14 day trip. One pair is for loafing around the camp, the other pair is for daily use.
I wear run-of-the-mill work pants - Big Bill is the brand I typically buy. Super tough and will dry out in about 15 minutes, and relatively cheap. I bring Stanfields polar fleece long undies - as well as serving as my cold-weather layer, they are also my lounge/sleep-wear.
I don't know where borderlands is but if it's anywhere north of the great lakes then the only thing you can count on in May is you can't count on the weather in May. You sound like you'll already be prepared.
Can't go wrong with a couple pairs of long merino. I find them comfortable under shorts as well as long pants. Quick dry pants work well, especially on those inbetween days with sunny skies and cold brisk wind. I love an old fleece pullover for the same reason. All under garments are quick dry. The cotton stays home.
Oh, and you'd better like bugs is all I can say.
However bugs aside portage trails are nice this time of year. Lots of plants in flower.
Can't go wrong with a couple pairs of long merino. I find them comfortable under shorts as well as long pants. Quick dry pants work well, especially on those inbetween days with sunny skies and cold brisk wind. I love an old fleece pullover for the same reason. All under garments are quick dry. The cotton stays home.
Oh, and you'd better like bugs is all I can say.
However bugs aside portage trails are nice this time of year. Lots of plants in flower.
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G
Guest
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Whatever the clothes I want to be able to easily add or subtract a layer.
Fully layered cold weather gear in camp would be wool socks and liners (always a dry pair), long underwear tops and bottoms (Capaline or Merino), fleece tops and bottoms (quick-dry pants & shirt while paddling), down vest (actually I think it is synthetic fill), and breathable raingear tops and bottoms (for windblock warmth). And of course warm hat and gloves. In the coldest of times I have doubled up on fleece pants (winter in Maryland or further south, not the frozen north)
Beware uber-warm long underwear as a base layer; I have a set of heavy-weight lined Capaline that is perfect for sitting motionless on a frigid day, and too dang warm for much else.
When I get sweaty exerted (or, if I’m smart about it, before I get sweaty exerted) layers come off, starting with the hat and working downwards. That Michelin Man layering does mean that the outermost layers are bought extra large and loose, both so they fit and so I don’t find myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPeXTh5tcVU
I have some summer weight quick dry pants, but haven’t found any tough, quick-dry winter weight pants that I liked. Double knees would be nice, and as usual I have other peculiar design, fit and flexibility criteria.
Fully layered cold weather gear in camp would be wool socks and liners (always a dry pair), long underwear tops and bottoms (Capaline or Merino), fleece tops and bottoms (quick-dry pants & shirt while paddling), down vest (actually I think it is synthetic fill), and breathable raingear tops and bottoms (for windblock warmth). And of course warm hat and gloves. In the coldest of times I have doubled up on fleece pants (winter in Maryland or further south, not the frozen north)
Beware uber-warm long underwear as a base layer; I have a set of heavy-weight lined Capaline that is perfect for sitting motionless on a frigid day, and too dang warm for much else.
When I get sweaty exerted (or, if I’m smart about it, before I get sweaty exerted) layers come off, starting with the hat and working downwards. That Michelin Man layering does mean that the outermost layers are bought extra large and loose, both so they fit and so I don’t find myself
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPeXTh5tcVU
I have some summer weight quick dry pants, but haven’t found any tough, quick-dry winter weight pants that I liked. Double knees would be nice, and as usual I have other peculiar design, fit and flexibility criteria.
Heck, that's what I usually carry in N MN. I want to save weight, but I guess I'll have to keep looking. I want to use a smaller pack while carrying the canoe, save some wear and tear on my knees. I don't see how anyone gets by with one pack.
Redundancy=zero except for socks.
I'd start the trip in a pair of pants, t-shirt, and however many more top layers to stay warm. I'd have a pair of long underwear bottoms to wear in camp/sleeping and as many, mainly thin, upper layers as I thought I'd need for the coldest weather. But there wouldn't be two of anything and each layer would get a little bigger so as to fit under what's underneath. The coldest weather would find me wearing all my clothing, including my rain jacket, with no clothes left in bags.
Alan
For a spring trip of a week I would check the weather forecast just before departure, if the temps are predicted to be below normal I would consider a pair of wool pants as my second pair. If temps where predicted to be average I go with two pairs of Propper BDU pants. They are 65/35 polyester/cotton, reinforced at the knees and butt, have cargo pockets and are rip stop tough as nails. They dry reasonably fast and are cheap, maybe $25. They won’t melt around a fire like those overpriced nylon quick drying pants and they give you more warmth than nylon.
I carry a pair of waterproof nylon pants shell I bought at Eastern Mountain Sports years ago. They offer added warmth and rain/wind protection and I have had good results restoring the waterproofness with Nikwax. They cost more than the pants I wore at my daughters wedding, money well spent.
This is what I have gone with on quite a few spring trips of a week or so.
Propper BDU’s
nylon wind/rain pants
I carry a pair of waterproof nylon pants shell I bought at Eastern Mountain Sports years ago. They offer added warmth and rain/wind protection and I have had good results restoring the waterproofness with Nikwax. They cost more than the pants I wore at my daughters wedding, money well spent.
This is what I have gone with on quite a few spring trips of a week or so.
Propper BDU’s
nylon wind/rain pants
Even on a three-day trip, I take two bags. I like the carries here in the east and just plan my trips accordingly for the carries. Sometimes the woods are more interesting than the paddling. That and I don't think I want to try to stuff everything into one heavy bag, carry that, the canoe and paddles in one trip. I think that would be worst on my knees.
Find some better knee braces.
Find some better knee braces.
That's what I'm thinking. I may get funky but if I'm warm and can suffer a few more portages it will be worth the stink.
No change of clothes on a 7 day spring trip? I’m looking forward to see how it went.
No changes for a 6 week trip last year, including for the flights in and out. Everything we showed up with was on our backs on the portages. All of us washed our clothes occasionally. Temps varied from t-shirt and hot portages to subfreezing. All of us were in synthetics (didn't use fires, so not an issue) except one--he had some poly-cotton pants that he used until they got wet--he learned something.
Do you guys who wear the same thing week after week bother to use bug repellent? Or do the mosquitoes just drop out of the sky stone dead when they get close enough to smell you? 
Do you guys who wear the same thing week after week bother to use bug repellent? Or do the mosquitoes just drop out of the sky stone dead when they get close enough to smell you?
We used very little--I only used it on my hands during portages. Head net and bug shirts when we needed them.
You fellas that wear the same thing for weeks on end ever get SWAS (sweat arse) or SWALLS (figure it out on your own)? Just asking for a friend.
Nope
Nope
My tripping outer clothes come from thrift stores, so I have a selection of both honest to goodness cotton and special polywhatsitsname quick dry. Last I looked at my attire I had 2 prs of both shorts and pants in the special category and a whole drawer full of the cotton. Shirts are whatever I find. Undergarments are always new and quick dry. Cotton is dandy but poly is handy. For those inquiring minds wanting to probe the question of clammy environs south of the equator all I can say is there's nothing like stripping off like a Plaid Prancer at the end of a port and letting Mother Nature do her best. Quick dry undertheres perform well in this instance.
And just to set the record straight I was always taught:
Horses sweat,
Men perspire,
and Women glow.
And just to set the record straight I was always taught:
Horses sweat,
Men perspire,
and Women glow.
