Another hiking pants post . . . help me find my favorite!

[Chris A]

Hello all! New to the site, but not new to outdoor (especially day hike) type adventures.

My wife and I travel a fair amount and love hiking. Favorite places so far have mainly been in the Pacific Northwest – US / BC.

Well we’re headed to Iceland in a couple of weeks. So summer weather technically, but what I have read says we can expect mid 50 / mid 60 (at most) highs and probably clouds. I will be grabbing some separate rain pants to throw over my hiking pants, I would love 2 sets of suggestions!

Hiking pants. I am a bigger guy (my waist is usually 38ish — I tend to like elastic and / or drawstring unless someone can recommend a great belt that won’t murder my skin). I also have not super long legs usually needing a 28 – 30 inseam. I don’t want super bagger pants, but I also don’t want to be overly restricted in my movement. I tend to run hot, when I really get moving but something that isn’t paper thin is usually ideal. I do appreciate zippered pockets and would love 1 – 2 cargo pockets if possible. Cost, not super worried about that as long are high quality and I can get a couple years+ out of them. We are also driving a lot and I plan to mainly wear these pants, so something comfortable getting in and out of a vehicle.

Rain pants – something I can put on over my hiking pants that are reasonably high quality and not a nightmare to get on and off over boots.

 

Thanks everyone! Excited for some good hiking tips and discussions!

[Ray J]

I like convertible ones, zip off legs.  For hiking.  That said, I recently took advantage of the REI Memorial Day sale, plus my rewards, and a gift card and bought two pairs of hiking shorts.  Not zip offs.   I got a pair of Patagonia and also a pair of REI.  The REI are Sahara Cargo.  The Patagonia are Quandry.  I actually think I like the REI better.  They have some elastic in the waist.  The Patagonia have a draw string which can be internal or external.  But I wear a belt and so that draw string does things like pop thru the fly if I forget to insure it’s tucked back in.  Both are wicking and quick dry.  They are light and comfortable.  Doing well in our early Texas summer (HEAT).  They look good out and about.

Why do I usually wear the convertible pants when hiking?  The flexibility is one.  But hiking in Texas can be, well interesting.  If you are on a well maintained or well used trail, shorts are fine.  if you are in grasses there will be stickers, briars, vines.  And then the mosquitoes and CHIGGERS can eat you alive.  The long pants let me spray my skin, then spray the pants with repellent and hope for the best.

[Mark Verber]

After hearing about OR Ferrosi pants for years I finally gave them a try and fell in love.  Good in hot weather, fairly water resistant, when they get soaked they drier faster than any other pants I have used except for  Patagonia Terbonne Joggers (and the long discontinued pants from BPL), and are fairly durable. I like the Transit model which doesn’t have cargo pocket or zippered pockets because I can can pass for nice slacks in the front country, but I believe the standard version has zippers/cargo pocket. They make a 38×30 which I expect would fit well.

[Thom]

I agree with Mark, 2 solid choices.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

If you can find them, the Mountain Hardware Trail Senders are pretty good. I wore some in hot weather and didn’t feel hot. The women’s run really large. Not sure about the men’s.

[Haakon R]

Already owning the OR Ferrosi hoodie, Mark’s endorsement of the pants was just more fuel for my curiosity to check them out.

They are hard to come by around here, but I found a store that had Ferrosi pants, Ferrosi joggers and Ferrosi shorts in a couple odd sizes and colours.
Only the joggers came in a size that was suitable. I’m fairly tall and skinny, so sizing can be an issue. The joggers in small fit me surprisingly well. Long enough in the legs without being too big around the hips.
The colour was not a favourite, quite dark green and the fit in the legs was a bit loose for my preference, but it was the elastic cuffs around the ankles that was mostly responsible for tipping the scale in the wrong direction. A rather chunky elastic that I imagine will soak up a lot of water, given the chance, and take for ever to dry. Probably great for day hikes in dry weather and established foot paths, climbing etc., but not what I’m looking for. The regular pant was a better “fit” for my use case, but sadly the smallest they had was a 33″. I suspect this model is even more relaxed in its fit, so maybe this is a dead end. I’ll probably have a look at those Terrabonne pants before I go further down the Ferrosi path.

Roomy legs/fit is probably good news for the OP, so there’s at least that :)

[Author]

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