Wearing all your clothes…..

I dont wear all my clothes in the sack. I carry long johns for sleeping and for wearing around camp under my hiking clothes and consider them part of my sleep system.

I am not going to trash my quilt with trail dirt, and I keep my sleep clothes in a dry bag with my quilt so I know I have a fall back if things turn really wet and nasty.

Convertible pants- I unzip the legs during the day and protect them in my pack while my bare legs get muddy. Once in camp, I wipe down my legs and then replace the convertible pant legs to keep warm and protect my quilt.

Strategy B for cold/wet or ticks- lycra shorts (or could use lightweight pants) covered with wind pants (montane featherlites, 2.8 oz). I strip off the wet wind pants before bed and stash them under my sleeping pad. If they haven't dried overnight, they dry pretty quickly once walking.

Never worn gaiters, but 6 oz seems awful heavy. MLD makes a 1 oz pair but I haven't used them.

Well, heck, I didn't even think about looking at their site, and here I have their rain mitts. I'll check that out.

The MLD gaiters, while very light, lack durability.

They are a simple tube of eVent, and no rub patch. He does state they should last through several seasons of use. When you say they lack durability, are they needing to be replaced every season, or have they failed in several routine hikes?

Diane, that is one reason I always take wind pants in addition to rain pants (in mountains). I can either wear only the windpant to bed or pull the windpant over the muddy pant to keep my sleeping bag clean. Truthfully, I have never had THAT muddy of pants before, maybe just a little mud at the pant bottom. If I did have very muddy pants I would probably get my pants wet to clean them off and they would be dry in an hour or less.

Knee-high gaiters will help, but if it's really wet, everything is going to be wet anyway. Instead of wearing 6 oz. of gaiters, I carry tights (light ones weigh less than 6 oz.) and sleep in them. Changing into warm, dry clothing at the end of a wet day is more than worth the weight.

Ryan J. wore them on our Scout leader trip and noticed wear after a couple of days. We were on snowshoes part of the time though.

I have a similar strategy as Scott's- I hike in shorts (w/ low gaiters) rain or shine- my legs don't get cold on the move, but do carry a set of Capilene 4 bottoms (which look like tights :) )- if it's cold in camp or bed they go on- they are always nice and dry as they share the same cuben dry bag w/ my quilt, down jacket, spare socks, wool beanie & gloves

It's better to just not wear your clothes to bed. If you wear wet clothes to bed, the water acts as a heat sink that will keep you cold. Better to be naked or in your underwear (your body heat will circulate better.) If you want to keep your clothing warm, you can stuff your (dry) jeans in the bottom of your sleeping bag. Then your feet can be off the ground more and stay warmer.

Not sure about the gaiters though. Good luck.