How you look when you go backpacking…

The Paleo diet has been doing wonders for me. My energy is great, testosterone levels are through the roof.

I don't really care what I look like on the trail. Comfort doesn't equal good looks. Couple things might change.
I tend to pick bland colored clothes. Thats fine but in the feature if I have a choice I'll probably be picking colors that contrast better with the background in photos. Its not that I care what I look like, I'm just tired of photos of me on the trail looking washed out and poorly done.

…but I look like that in "real life", too. :D

Three season me in the dorky 'tights and shorts' combo….

The winter me looking like he has the urge to speak Finnish in the -12 weather:

At my hiker trash finest!

That is descriptive.

Mags is a pretty hard act to follow.
One of my favorite "hiker trash" pictures is of him surrounded by a pile of food wrappers in Yogi's older edition of the PCT guide.
Anyhow.. This is "Fat" me before the Appalachian Trail.
.

.
This is me later on the AT.

.
Army surplus PT shorts, Columbia Shirt, Sh#t eatin' Grin and 20 lbs lighter.
That is about as "cool" as i can look on trail.
Okay.. i saved the best for last..
Here is the most sexy look I can muster on trail:
.

.
"Hey Pretty lady. Why don't you come over here and share my postage stamp sized cuben fiber tarp with me?"
Yea, I never had the nerve to use that line or any other line on the trail.
Mostly i look like this:
.
.
Like i said in the Wind River Range, there are two kinds of people: Those with dorky headnets while smiling and those that wanted dorky headnets and were really ticked off.
Me? I had a headnet and the mosquitos still ticked me off!

Form Follows Function.

Twofold for me. I'm pretty apathetic in general, but when it comes to self appearance, I'm really, really self conscious. I don't know why, but it goes as far as how awkward I feel when I'm swinging my arms and how other people view me when I'm walking, or the position of my arms on the steering wheel when I'm driving my Jeep, especially doorless, etc. Clothing wise I'll generally throw on whatever is clean, and don't really care about matching or aesthetics.

When I'm backpacking, it's the complete opposite. I don't care how I walk, but I prefer certain colors and clothing styles. I love my gecko green Houdini and wearing shorts and my OCD keeps my pack in check. I get annoyed that the top of my pack isn't rolled neatly/evenly, etc.

Missing my leopard gone wrong (lime) DGGs.

Colder trip, nothing hanging off my pack.

Swap the thru with just backpacking.

For me it's a case of finding something that works and staying with it (and it's pretty drab). I have purchased multiple pairs of the same garments (even the same colour) and have worn them for years because it works for me. Really makes for boring pictures though. The hat sometimes changes but that's about the only change I make from trip to trip.

My backpacking partners tell me that all I need to do is carry a clip board and I could collect campsite fees because I look like I work for the Parks Dept.

i want to be Nick when i grow up – he has the look, the skills, the acumen, the insight, and the beard :)

No..really, I am eye-talian by ancestry. :O

everyone is being so modest about themselves…

I look like the same fat ugly tool I look like everyday except that i make it worse by wearing running shorts and tight baselayers.

Lots of posts overnight, lots of pics, I like it!

I think there is more caring about how you look than some will admit. It's easy or mocho to say 'form over function' but I think most of us have our preferences and stick to certain fits, colors, and 'looks'.

I think I have made it clear but for me, I do care how I look. Now that is not going to trump form or function, I want it all. I want the clothes that function well and look right on me in colors that I like and yes, I try to kind of coordinate my colors purchased so that I can wear them in any combination and it will look okay….generally this means I buy a lot of black, grey, and earth tones. Recently I bought a $29.99 down jacket at Sam's Club to serve as a puffy layer and I was annoyed they were out of black in the size I wanted and I was forced to get royal blue.

Anyway, for me, as I make purchases going forward…I am going to go for a clean look. No more buying pants of a thousand pockets, shirts with zippers, flaps, pockets, buttons, toaster ovens built in. Last night I cut 2.5 oz of dangly junk off my GoLite Pinnacle. I see this as a coordinated effort that serves all my desires…lighter, simpler, less to snag or catch, less clutter, smoother, and yes, so that I have a simpler look that I am happy with. I want to be 'out walking in the woods guy' not 'super intense survival guy with REI strapped to his back'. I want friends and family to see my pictures and think 'that looks relaxing, like a walk in the woods' and I want to 'feel' that way when I hit the trail.

"everyone is being so modest about themselves…

I look like the same fat ugly tool I look like everyday except that i make it worse by wearing running shorts and tight baselayers."

That is hilarious! #winning

speaking personally … i tend to avoid climbers who care about how they look more than about how they climb …

it al tastes the same to the hungry bear anyways ;)

Thought I'd add to the stash:

Resting at the top of Mt. Asahi in the Asahi Range in Yamagata. One of the hikers I met was carrying a six pack of cold beer! That was like heaven in a can!

I've tried four times to walk the length of the Oku-Chichibu Trail, including with Glen Van Peski, and each time I had to turn back because I got sick. The mountain god of Kimpu has it in for me!

One of the best long walks I've done… the Tour de Mont Blanc. Though I was shocked by how easy it was compared to walking in Japan.

Last summer, after getting so sick from diabetes I was hospitalized all August, I took a tentative two-day walk to a peak I had wanted to visit since I was a teenager… Kiso-Komagatake.

Using the GG The One for the first time in a stealth camp.

Three years into UL and still unsure of a lot of things because information was so scanty on the Internet at that time. Much of my start with going lighter I had already begun to do in the early 90's, from sheer frustration with gear getting too heavy. Here I had neglected to bring a rain jacket… but my Montane Epic pertex/pile jacket did a wonderful job. This trip made me realize I could go to pretty cold temperatures with much less sleeping gear than I had allowed myself.

Taking a break during what I love to do more than anything else. My preferred walking pants are breeches.

Edit- borrowed image removed

This is me. Do you think I'm taking this whole SUL thing too far?

Just make sure that there are no snapping turtles in that there creek.

Well, at least you're not being too modest! ;^)

Wouldn't last too long in a Japanese summer, though. Not that low in the foothill forests. The mosquitoes and black flies are horrendous!

…

Sorry Ben, Ike just just won the thread.

It's OK for you guys…

…but it's dinnertime here :-(

@Ike:

Very telling, Ike, that an article on “A Brief History of the Retardization of the Twenty-First Century” chose your photo for illustration!! :)

I've always been a cap wearer until I had some skin cancer things removed from the sides of my head. So I got a floppy OR SOL sun hat and didn't care what I looked like. Until I started showing up on friends facebook pages looking a dweeb. I really need to get a new hat. Something that doesn't make look like a stereotypical old fisherman.

My Eyes! The Goggles do nothing! AAARGH!