The argument for rain pants in the summer kit

Depends on what summer means in the area you hike. If you hike in an area with high rainfall and winds, then hypothermia is possible, and happens, in above freezing air temps. Wind-chill is a killer.

I rarely hike in shorts — unless it's a known, skin-friendly terrain. For summer hikes as described above, I wear my convertible nylon hiking pants. Same protection — with the option to convert to shorts whenever desired — but lighter and much more breathable / comfortable than rain pants.

Just don't spray your rain pants with DEET.

I use my rain pants for bug protection and as wind pants. I use O2 pants, which breath really well (although they are rather fragile). I also live in an area where cold rain occasionally occurs, and it would be foolish to take a multi-day trip without them. By the way, we also have stinging nettles in the northwest (I have no idea if the species are related) but they are usually not a big deal on the trail.

If it's the same stinging nettles you get in Scotland, they can be used as food. Boil them and use like Spinach. They also make a drinkable tea.:)

Pacific NW nettles are also edible. Folks use them as you do, Mike, and also they are very good chopped up in potato soups.

I'm pretty sure it's the same species. Wikipedia says stinging nettle is pretty much cosmopolitan in its distribution (Europe, Asia, N. America, N. Africa), but I never saw them when I lived in the Southwest and I've never seen it in the Midwest except in river bottoms. Knowing that they can be boiled and eaten as a salad is interesting, but doesn't exactly help in avoiding the pain of walking through them when on the trail.

Hi Art. I don't suppose it helps with the pain, but at least you can get revenge on the b******s by eating them! ;)

They can double as evening wear in a sleeping bag, keeping skin oil off your bag (a bit of dust+dirt is preferable over grease!).

Although I admit I tend to baby my bag by wearing wind pants which I only wear in the evening :)

Good point about using them in the bag. I also use them in the bag, but more to keep my legs warm when I have to make a midnight visit to the nearest bush. If your legs are warm enough, you can use the rain pants as a pillow (or part of a pillow).

Completely off-topic, but if it's midnight why exactly do you need a bush to relieve yourself?

splash factor?…lol.

Ladies in the group??? :)

If you substitute the word "rain" for "wind" pants, then I agree. I don't carry "rain" pants at all, ever. I don't really see them as having any advantages over a good pair of windpants, which are ALWAYS in my kit. They protect the legs off trail, keep the bugs from biting, keep me warmer in my bag, and keep my bag cleaner, not to mention they do a good job of keeping off the wind. I have also used them as sunscreen when I ran out during a scorcher of a summer day. Not the coolest way to keep the sun off, but not as hot as rain pants would have been.

Most of my leg protection comes from knee-high gaiters though. Rain/wind pants just aren't enough to keep stuff like 'spaniard' spikes, gorse, blackberry, 'bush lawyer' and matagouri from shredding my lower legs! And gaiters keep out dirt, stones, and rain as well as keeping my socks clean :) If I could only choose one, I would rather have gaiters than fragile UL pants.

I've considered changing my (4 oz.) rain pants for some (2.5 oz.) wind pants, but I've been afraid that they wouldn't work as well for rain protection. Maybe they would work just fine. But you are right, if you accept the original premise (that you really don't need rain protection) then it doesn't make sense to bring rain pants.

> Ladies in the group??? :)
Outside watching at midnight?

"Outside watching at midnight?"

On some trips I've been on the ladies (and men) were just beginning to get comfortably drunk by midnight!

"If it's midnight why exactly do you need a bush to relieve yourself?"

How about because if you pee on a bush, someone is not likely to step in your pee the next morning.

I've never peed on a bush. How inconsiderate of me!

"If it's midnight why exactly do you need a bush to relieve yourself?"

gotta flavor them berries for your hiking buddies!

On overnighters or multi-day walks I take my Montane Featherlite pants. They are about 4 oz and the size of a tennis ball (or an apple …) when inside their sack.
They are only shower proof, wet out fairly quickly under heavy rain, but breath well and are relatively wind proof. Nice at camp if I need to dry my long trousers, or over them when windy and cold.
Franco

Now I know why berries are full of vitamins

Sometimes … summer ain't what it is meant to be. This WAS late summer (or very early autumn):

For some reason, our Whims were much appreciated!

Scenario: the High Lonesome in Colorado – on the CDT in late July. The trail skirts snowfields at 11,000. At noon thirty you get a rattling of sleet, so quick and so short that gearing up seems unnecessary. But your shirt is dampened. Then another cloud rushes over with a smattering of rain. By the time you get the pack off and the rain jacket on, you are decidedly wet, shirt and pants. The temperature is a comfortable 65 and you think that hiking in rain gear would just make you sweat, so you don't gear up until the thunder rolls and a gully washer comes over the ridge. The temperature drops to 55 and keeps going south as the sun goes down. The rain continues.

You could make camp, put on dry camp clothing and don rain gear when venturing out — then put on wet clothes in the morning. Or you could have started wearing DriDucks as soon as the regular-as-clockwork afternoon rain started. And if you had not done so you could put them on over your wet clothing at camp and dried your clothing out before bedtime. I'm really sold on DriDucks. And I have used them just like this to dry wet clothing.

So, yes, I carry rain pants in summer. In the flatlands, DriDucks keep the mosquitoes off and let the sweat dry at break time. In the mountains, they don't sweat inside, break the wind and keep the rain out. Can't beat them.

Add ankle zips to these: http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/golite_reed_pants_review.html