women wearing skirts

[John Eyles]

Check these out, made by a river guide:

http://fleeceskirts.com/

[Monique Schaefers]

Thanks for the information on different hiking skirts and *underwear*.

[D M]

I hike in skirts 90% of the time now. I live in a very hot environment. Use Under Armor capri underneath for modesty and my two favorite skirts are the Purple Rain and the Mountain Gear Mens Elkomanndo…….and yea I know its a GUYS kilt but the thing is made bomb proof. Its basically a wrap around with snaps and pleats in the rear. It's heavier than the Purple Rain, but longer, which I like and is a quality item. The pockets are placed farther behind the ones on the Purple Rain skirt, and seem to work even better, no banging on your upper thigh when you have maps or a cell phone in them. Ive been using the Purple Rain skirts for over a year, and have had to repair the pocket seams on the top flap, but other than that the skirt is very comfortable, sheds water and is stretchy. I hope the seamstress makes more, she hiking this year and stopped sewing for now. I got mine from her on Etsy and at the PCT event in Cascade Locks.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I've hiked in a skirt, even part of the JMT in a skirt. I wore a Patagonia skirt I got in a thrift store. It wasn't wide enough to even walk up stairs so I cut a huge slit in the back and sewed in a godet taken from fabric from a pair of zip-off pants that had torn. Looked maybe not so great but it was fun hiking in a skirt. I loved sneaking up on some big guy laboring up some steep mountain, saying hello and disappearing up ahead of him ('cause all these JMT hikers are so overloaded with super heavy stuff, I just don't get that at all.) I didn't have any bug problems any worse than wearing shorts. The sun up there was very harsh though, shorts would even be harsh.

I recently wore a skirt I made out of a pair of ex-officio capris. They were too tight to wear as-is so I followed a jeans-to-skirt tutorial and turned them into a comfortable skirt. They work great for hiking, even bushwhacking. In the bush it felt like I was hiking behind a shield. But the fabric was really hot and when I sat down you could see all my business so I had to find things to sit on. Flies and lady bugs (??) would get up into my business.

So back to the sewing machine. I think I'm actually going to hike in a circle skirt. Lots of fabric so when I sit I can stuff it between my legs to "hide my nethers", as Georgi would say.

Doing your own sewing you can add decent patch pockets to your clothes. I've harvested patch pockets off other clothes from the thrift store and sewn them to other things.

[Diane Pinkers]

Forgot to mention that if you like Ex Officio briefs, Duluth Trading has underwear of the same material, but slightly more generous cut-less crack ride up.

[Steven Paris]

Piper, if you don't have a blog already, "ladybugsupinmybusiness.com" is probably not taken.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

>Piper, if you don't have a blog already, "ladybugsupinmybusiness.com" is probably not taken.

Ha ha.

My next skirt is going to have a lot more fabric. Maybe even a detachable floor-length mosquito net attachment for sitting around in camp. I actually sewed some zip-off mosquito net legs for pants so I know it can be done if I can find a long enough zipper.

[Monique Schaefers]

Zippers can easily be purchased online as your length specified/make your own/continuous.

Questoutfitters.com

Thru-Hiker.com

etc.

[Ken Thompson]

Not if you want them to separate, like for pant legs. Stock sizes only.

[Kate Magill]

I've hiked in a lot of skirts and dresses over the years, over 1000 miles I'd say. I like Stoic Merino Boyshorts underneath (available from Backcountry.com)–I don't think I could do any sort of compression shorts, would defeat the whole unrestricted-movement thing.

I'm not opposed to pants and shorts, but I've found skirts, and dresses even more so, to be much easier to get a good fit. They are very forgiving and there are fewer variables, so to speak. Melanzana makes a nice skirt in two lengths and lots of colors. They also make a dress which is super cozy in colder weather. US-made to boot.

I wear a skirt on most summer trips, unless I'm planning for a lot of water crossings. Then I wear Baggies. Trips with extreme sun exposure are different of course–then I'm going to be wearing long pants anyway. Ankle-length skirts may be trendy but they suck for hiking.

PS–Over the years I've encountered more than a few guys (and gals) hiking in kilts. Durable, versatile, definitely a statement. Of course, I've also spent most of my life in Vermont and the PNW, and I've met several guys who wear kilts on a daily basis, in "real life"…

[Kenneth Jacobs]

I just ordered one of these for my GF for the CT in July.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PurpleRainSkirts?ref=l2-shopheader-name

HTH

KJ

[Andrea Feucht]

Resurrecting a moderately dated thread just to add some additional cents.

On my Colorado Trail hike last fall I wore a MontBell hiking dress and LOVED it. Got the idea from Anish, who seems to vacillate between sponsored/tryout gear and the stuff she is more fond of like thrift-store dresses. Gotta love her honesty. :-)

Anyway, the MontBell dress was a little bit too big but it was fine. Could have used one size down, even with stride length and whatnot. Other than that, it’s really hard to find athletic dresses with short sleeves! Tanks are all the rage but with a backpack I just think that’s setting one up for huge chafing. A dress vs a skirt has NO waistband to mess with. Big plus.

Cold mornings I would just start hiking in my sleeping tights and they would come off in an hour or two. Not enough to dirty them.

Paired with armsleeves I was good to go, and went commando most days, too.

[Diane Pinkers]

Has anyone tried any of the LadyHike products? Definitely some out of the box thinking, but odd styling, and I’ve never seen any of them on the trail.

[Mina Loomis]

Looked up the Montbell dress.  Looks cool and comfortable.  But no pockets!  On the CT (which we are planning to do this summer) did you (Andrea) miss pockets?  And…commando?  Commando under leggings or full-on commando?  I would love to think I could get away with the latter.  So much ventilation, no seams to chafe!

I have been hiking in a Purple Rain skirt for a couple of years now.  Skirt is wonderful–and has great pockets!–but when it’s cold I need leggings; trouble again with seam chafe especially after wearing for a few hours and the fabric relaxes around the inside upper thighs.  The “hiking tights” currently in vogue this season (at least the ones I see where I work at REI) are thicker material that is kind of bulky and hot looking, and don’t fit me well.  Thin base-layers, either wool or synthetic, seem better.  The ones I have are all either REI brand (I get them more cheaply) or Smartwool.  All eventually turn chafey.

Would a discussion of leggings be a different thread?

[Marc Penansky]

LightHeart Gear now has Ladies hiking skirts and dresses with pockets!

http://www.lightheartgear.com

 

 

[jscott]

“Did not think of bugs, although I found the mosquitoes to be very tiny and not itchy out in California.”

!!! well if you come out in June or July you may be surprised. In that scenario a skirt may be a bad idea. I hate bugs and worry about sun exposure, so a skirt seems like a bad idea. But all of the women in this thread seem to like them. I’m going to refrain from mansplaining about something I have no experience with. A first!?

 

[Diane Pinkers]

For base layer under the skirt in the winter, Terramar or Patagonia have been great for no-chafe. I wish I had purchased several of the Terramar base layers when I found them, as they have stopped making the 2XL size.

I’m trying the Under Armour Heat Gear shorts and capris for summertime. The shorts feel like the hems may chafe, so we’ll see.

[Valerie E]

@book — I agree with you on three counts: no mansplaining; the sun in the Sierra is very harsh; and the mosquitoes in the Sierra are FIERCE WARRIORS who take no prisoners in the summer season!  I was driven nearly to tears by them in July 2016 at Dorothy Lake (a particularly mosquito-y area, apparently).

Ultimately, it’s a personal choice for both men and women as to whether they are more comfortable hiking in a skirt.  I met my first skirt-wearing (ahem, “hiking kilt”-wearing) man on Mt. Lafayette in NH about 25 years ago.  He was loving the breeze!

Like you, I prefer the sun and bug protection of pants, but there are days when I think those breezes would sure be nice…

[Bruce Tolley]

“….I found the mosquitoes to be very tiny and not itchy out in California.”

The blood of mammals is essential to the mosquito reproductive process so it is the female mosquito who bites (and leaves the red welts that itch). If you see mosquitoes flying around that do not bite, they are most likely makes. Also the female, once engorged with blood, cannot fly very far. So they rest in dark vertical places like the sides of tree trunks waiting.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I made my own skirt to hike in. I love hiking in a skirt. The number one reason are the pockets I put in my skirt. It has one big open pocket that is easy to put stuff in that I want to take out a lot, like a bandana or sunglasses or my gloves if I keep taking them off and putting them back on again, or my camera. The other pocket has a zipper so I can put little things I use a lot and don’t want to lose like chapstick, hand sanitizer, toothpicks and my little knife. I also put an inner zippered secret pocket where I keep a ziploc wallet. I’ll never lose that or leave it in my pack.

I usually wear lycra shorts underneath. Lycra shorts are great but they never have any pockets! My skirt is knee length so I don’t get a sunburn on my thighs. To keep my lower legs from getting sunburned I cut off the legs of a pair of pants and added elastic to both ends to make knee-high “gaiters”. These protect me from cold, from sun, from scratchy brush. Why not just wear pants? Because the combo of the skirt and the gaiters is more airy than pants. I don’t get as funky down there.

Sometimes I go commando. I have pretty fat thighs so I have to be on a trip where I lose enough weight that my legs don’t rub so much. Going commando is even better for feeling fresh down there.

It’s also easier to change layers under a skirt.

My only gripe with a skirt is the same with shorts: feeling my sticky legs stick together in bed.

By the way, a skirt is really easy to sew. You don’t even need a pattern. I just folded a piece of fabric so it had four layers and then folded a skirt I had so it had four layers and laid the skirt on top of the fabric, cut out the shape (sort of like a triangle or trapezoid) with really generous allowances around the edges and sewed all the pieces together. Elastic at the top. I even made a mistake by sewing what I thought might be the wrong sides together so I accidentally “invented” French seams by turning it inside out and sewing all the seams again. The pocket is just a simple u-shaped pattern I made. It worked so I saved the pattern. The zippered pocket was more tricky but I just looked at a lot of tutorials and did my best and it worked!

[David Thomas]

I’ve scavenged pockets off old clothes or thrift-store items to sew onto outdoor gear. Then the buttons, zippers, etc are easy to do.

When working construction, I scavenge a jeans back pocket and sew it into my work jeans on the right side of my thigh (think Wild West holster location) and subdivide it (think pencil holder slot in a chest pocket) for a razor knife, Phillips and slotted screwdrivers. Then my most-used tools are always ready for quick-draw retrieval.

Onto my life jackets, I sewed zippered nylon organizer pouches to give storage places for a knife, cordage, waterproof matches, EPIRB and VHF radio. Because if the boat sinking or airport ditching goes really well (always has for me), you end up in your life jacket, on some desolate beach.

 

[Katherine .]

Ah, how could I forget ‘ladybugs in my business”! Undaunted, I’ve been trying skirt/dresses out since. So far have: Purple Rain, MontBell, and the Columbia PFG Freezer Dress. All of them get worn.

The Freezer dress wins for on trail. I’m def more of a dress person—one less layer around the whole waist belt area. One less garment to keep track of. And I like the sleeveless-ness for airing out the pits. It’s super simple. The double layer above the Empire waist is nice cause I can skip the bra and still be semi-decent looking. (not a built-in bra or anything, just a bit more modesty). No pockets, but I’m the odd duck who doesn’t lament the lack of deep pockets on women’s garments. I guess I go for the whole super-streamlined thing. I was concerned I’d feel the tank-top style seams under my pack straps, but I don’t.

Downsides are:

thigh-chaffe (my motivation to eat right: gotta get down below my thigh-chafe weight. Which I think is a few pounds lower than my snoring-weight). Glad to see this thread revived because I’ll check out some to those underthings.

mosquitos. yeah, your legs are still exposed even with shorts, but inner thigh bites.  not what you want. so that depends on the time of year for me.

As for the MontBell dress — I like it! But I stink it up really quickly. (and I’m not even that much of a stinker). It’s thicker than the Freezer, and too thick for my summer hiking preferences. I do wear it around the house all the time in spring and fall. In fact I have a second one shipping to me right now! Super comfortable and nice lines.

Purple Rain Skirt—This is a truly fine pice of clothing. The pockets, omg. I know I just said I don’t care about pockets, but these pockets are really the best ever. If I someday decide I need to keep my top/bottom layering totally separate, this would be my first choice skirt. The waistband is super comfy. The main skirt material is woven, not knit, so more durable and sit-on-able than the dresses I’ve mentioned. These days I mainly wear it driving to and from yoga class. If you like pockets and want a skirt where you can carelessly sit on rocks this is a great candidate.

 

 

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