New hiking outfit suggestions

I think fishing gear makes great hiking clothing, and it's a lot cheaper than trendy labeled hiking gear. Think Academy Sports, sportsmansguide.com, Cabelas, Gander Mountain. In the spirit of full disclosure, I should admit my only piece of name branded clothing is a MH Mountain Kilt.

no outfit is complete without a The North Face visor!
then, and only then will you look "official"

lol

this might work, i owned one and it was highly functional in Grand Canyon, very durable. Not too cheap, tho.
http://tinyurl.com/dk6n47

I like convertible pants for the PCT. Shorts when it's way too hot, and pants that you can vent when it's hot. Good protection is the desert as well.

Wide brimmed hat or visor/bandana for the sun. Maybe sun gloves also.

I wore a long sleeved button down shirt with a collar. Get one in a light color. Really, any long sleeve shirt from a thrift store will work fine.

Down jacket.

Base layer.

Beanie hat and light gloves.

Rain jacket or maybe just a windshirt in socal. Rain pants in Washington.

Thinnest socks you can find. Running shoes in the desert, trail runners afterwards.

Probably some other stuff I forgot. Basically, you carry the same stuff the entire way, but take rain precations in WA and sun precautions in socal. You want something to hike in, a baselayer for sleeping, and warm layer for stops. You won't spend much time in camps.

Enjoy!

Pray tell, what do you mean by "unconventional"?

By unconventional I mean something not immediately thought of. Fishing gear was something I had not thought of. A brand new ExOfficio shirt was something I had thought of.

I need new hiking clothes because I have now shredded all of my clothes. My shirt has a hole and all my pants have holes. I mean big tears in them. Trails around here are really rough on clothes. I suppose I should just patch my clothes up.

(By clothes I mean shirt and pants. I have all the other stuff.)

Go eBay baby! Search for nylon pants, hoodie, etc and you'll be surprised what you can find. And if you do it regularly you can pick up some real bargains. I just got a pair of North Face nylon hiking pants for $10 including shipping.

Also, check places like REI outlet, Backcountry outlet, Under Armour outlet, Champion outlet – you get the idea.

Other than that, take a ride to WalMart and cruise the racks – especially the men's and sports sections. Sometimes you can find a gem or two there. Polyester hoodie sweatshirt for $5 on sale in my case.

Good luck!

How about convertible pants and then a button down Ex officio long sleeve shirt that has the roll up sleeves? Convertible pants are all I wear so I can hike in shorts during the day and then zip on my legs at night when it cools down. I usually hike in tank top and then change into a long sleeve shirt at night but maybe one of those button-ups will work well for you. I have a long sleeve ex officio that has the rollup sleeves and venting back. It worked great at the theme park last summer keeping me cool during the day and then I rolled the sleeves down when it cooled off after sunset. Both the pants and shirt are lightweight fabric that dries quickly which is nice if you need to give me a quick wash.

Thrift store: Lightweight wool dress pants, as in from a summerweight suit. Shorten and taper/narrow legs to, ahem, suit. For desert summer shirt, maybe a thin poly/cotton blend dress shirt, kind of that handkerchief weight.

You can also find some pretty good sales in the campmor.com catalog.

Consignment shops are pretty good, too. Flea markets here sell new clothes for dirt cheap, but not sure if you have some in your area that do that. Army surplus shops may have something. Running stores and bike shops have arm warmers that work quite well for that in-between temp.

An online store called Athleta carries some nice fitness/sporty stuff. LL Bean outlets have some cheap prices, too.

Happy hunting!

Diane, definitely go with the convertible pants. You can pick up some very lightweight nylon ones at a Big 5 or similar discount sports store ($15). I picked up a pair of TNF heavyweight nylon pants at REI returns for $9. And as Joe pointed out, Campmore has a Super Special Deal section: Columbia vented, long sleeve, roll-up button, 100% polyester shirt for $24.97.

Nylon (or polyester) should be your fabric of choice because 1) it dries quick, and 2) insects (mosquitoes) aren't able to easily bite through it. And if you went to Cabela's all of the above could be had in beige camo. How unconventional is that?