Hiking pants recommendation

You want modern/new Ferossi if you want slimmer cut. Zippered rear pocket versions are not slim at all. Why they got rid of for me, the most useful zippered pockets on the pants, I have no idea.

Can you find Mountain Hardwear locally? The Mountain Hardwear Basin Trek Pant that I mentioned above is really good.

Haakon, aren’t some of the best garments in the world made in Norway and Sweden?

Ferrosi fabric is a little bit special, yes, but it seems as though there must be suitable clothing available nearby? You’ve got Brynje, Fjallraven, Schoeller, Decathlon, Black Diamond, and Rab nearby. No doubt many others.

I’m not sure that Ferrosi and Rail Riders (or MH Trail Senders or Kuhl Renegade or REI Sahara or Patagonia Terrebonne) are the only good choices on the planet.

As mentioned by several others above, even if you are thin, a loose fit is still more functional in warm weather. It pumps air underneath, which is important for all layers, but is especially important for pants. Think about the loose-fitting garments used in deserts as examples of that.

I know that the Ferrosi is OutdoorGearLab’s favorite hiking pant, but I feel that there’s nothing special about them and the fabric. I don’t own the long pants, but own several of the shorts. I wear them at least once a week. They are good, but there are plenty of other brands that make good shorts too.

There’s a lot of pants constructed of about 95% nylon, 5% elastane. The current Ferrosi has 14% elastane which makes it stretchier, but heavier and longer to dry. Personally, as I am not a contortionist, I don’t need that much stretch in my pants.

Please note that even fabrics with about the same fiber content may have drastically different breathability. For example, the Patagonia Quandary fabric is 96% nylon, 4% elastane, but has a tight weave with low breathability.

Haakon, aren’t some of the best garments in the world made in Norway and Sweden?

Nah… I don’t know about that.
Fjällraven, Norrøna, Brynje etc. makes up most of my wardrobe, so they’re certainly not bad, but it’s my impression they’re at the top of their game when they make garments for typical Nordic conditions.
There isn’t much of a tradition for making or even using hot weather garments beyond shorts and t-shirts around these parts. For instance you won’t even find a sun hoodie in a physical store (except some very niche fishing stores) and even if you include online stores you really have to know where to look.

I’m not sure that Ferrosi and Rail Riders (or MH Trail Senders or Kuhl Renegade or REI Sahara or Patagonia Terrebonne) are the only good choices on the planet.

Probably not, but as mentioned there isn’t a ton of (more) locally made designed alternatives optimized for hot weather, so it seems to make logical sense to include brands/models with more experience/track record in these conditions.
The Patagonia Terrebonnes are sporadically available, so I’ve made a mental note to look for them when I visit a larger city.

As mentioned by several others above, even if you are thin, a loose fit is still more functional in warm weather. It pumps air underneath, which is important for all layers, but is especially important for pants. Think about the loose-fitting garments used in deserts as examples of that.

This I understand, but even if it can get hot here at times, it’s still a long ways from desert level hot. Also, something that’s considered a regular fit on average, will effectively perform as a loose fit for me. So all in all, I think it makes sense for me to avoid garments that are deliberately made to wear loose for more average body types.

Ok, fair enough.

What do people wear in deserts and jungles? I cannot imagine they are all wearing American clothing.

But you are on a good track with Ferrosi. It is not magic but it is a good balance: breathable, comfortable, and light/rugged enough.

A tailor or seamstress could probably fix any issues with fit, as long as you buy a large enough size. The same is probably true of any other pants.

While maybe not important to many, but my Ferosi pants seem to attract dirt. After a few days on the trail, I look like I crawled the trail.

Paul, I have a couple pair of Ferossi shorts and a pair of them in long pants.  I find them a lot more breathable than other pants, but that benefit doesn’t really show itself in the shorts.

Being so breathable, I find they take a lot longer to get saturated with sweat.  But when they do, I agree, they take forever to dry.

They also seem pretty tough for how breathable they are.  I do a fair amount of bushwacking fishing, jamming myself into tight spots in thickets and I haven’t torn them yet.

What do people wear in deserts and jungles? I cannot imagine they are all wearing American clothing.

Probably not. Last summer, when I was searching for a button down sun shirt I ended up with a shirt from UK based Craghoppers. They are very much into the “safari” esthetics and functionality, I’m not entirely convinced of their quality though. There are no doubt more contenders in this space, but with a significant majority of content creators and influencers being from the US, the US brands get more exposure and more reviews, and buying something you know a lot of people use and that consistently get decent reviews feels safer than something you’ve hardly heard about.

But you are on a good track with Ferrosi. It is not magic but it is a good balance: breathable, comfortable, and light/rugged enough.

I’m not dead set on the Ferrosi pants, but I’m quite happy with the jacket so when it was mentioned I found it worthwhile to investigate if the design update made it more or less relevant for me.
My biggest concern is the amount of stretch/lycra. I know from experience that I tend to prefer less stretch in my pants than in my jackets, as stretch pants tend to feel sloppy unless they’re rather tight fitting. So using materials with lots of stretch in hot weather pants that should fit quite loose anyway makes me wonder about the design choices. Either they should fit too tight to really be suitable for hot weather or the stetch fabric is unnecessary and maybe even counterproductive knowing that lycra dries a lot slower than polyester and polyamide.

A tailor or seamstress could probably fix any issues with fit, as long as you buy a large enough size. The same is probably true of any other pants.

I’m trying to up my own sewing game, or get started really. While such a modification probably isn’t wise to take on yet, your suggestion reminded me that Fjällräven makes some of their pants in raw length. While I’m not quite sure if any of their hot weather-ish garments are available in this configuration, it could be an ideal solution for nailing the fit. Finding ready made pants that are both slim enough and long enough is the hard part, while hemming some legs sounds quite easy and should be well within my current capacity.

And just to avoid misunderstanding, I’m not consistently replying to your posts to argue, Bill. It’s very coincidental, but you do bring up some good points that serves well as basis for further elaboration and discussion :)

Throwing another one out there. Anyone tried the Outdoor vitals Skyline trail joggers?

Seems to be a similar concept as the Patagonia Terrebonne pants. Apparently they’re on sale now, and I have some OV member points that just sits there and will probably expire at some point.
I struggle to find anything in their lineup that I really need atm, except maybe these pants.

I have the Skyline trail joggers on order I will report back when I have them. The vent placement and the weight were what attracted me to them.

Other pants to consider are the Ketl mountain vent light pants , the fabric is a stretchy/airy  mico-perforated polyester that holds little moisture and dries very fast.They come in regular and tapered fit, I would definitely avoid the tapered fit unless you have non-existent calf muscles.The regular fit is already quite tapered.

+1 Railriders Ecomesh – my go to between July – Sept for 9 years. As noted: baggy, breezy, UV good, bug proof, zip up for warmth, but easily torn at ankle = the downside of light bellowing fabric. I usually also bring a pair of light jogging shorts, good for laundry days on long treks.

If you like the mesh sides of a Railrider pant, Columbia has a new hike pant called the Wanoga Pro Vent Pants; I haven’t tried them on, just saw them in the employee store. The sides have snaps and then a mesh insert.

https://www.columbia.com/p/mens-wanoga-pro-vent-pants-2120251.html?dwvar_2120251_dimension=R&dwvar_2120251_color=278

Those Skyline trail joggers look promising, but, I wish they weren’t joggers as having the pants being more open at the bottom (ankle area) gives way more airflow. Mesh for ventilation does help, but not as good as being completely open. I may try them though. One of my biggest problems with hot weather hiking/backpacking is chafing between my testicles and legs (I hope mention of this does not offend anyone) . It can be extremely painful to the point of being debilitating. So, any pants that have vents at the crotch are on my radar. Thanks for bringing them to our attention!

Paul S- for that chafing problem I would suggest pouch style boxer briefs if you haven’t already tried them . They keep the boys separated from the thighs! There are several brands to choose from  such as Saxx and All citizens to name a couple.

Having gotten into hunting in recent years I’ve begun to explore brands from that world. I really enjoyed my First Lite 308 pants on a trip this spring to the Gila. Rugged, stretchy, functional mesh vents, and a fit that accommodates more muscular legs — if any of those considerations are up your alley.

I have the Skyline trail joggers on order I will report back when I have them.

It would be awesome with some first hand reporting and user experience.

I didn’t order them during the sale, as I didn’t have enough data to make a decision, but they’re still on my list of candidates.

Those Skyline trail joggers look promising, but, I wish they weren’t joggers as having the pants being more open at the bottom (ankle area) gives way more airflow. Mesh for ventilation does help, but not as good as being completely open. I may try them though.

I have no experience with this type of joggers, but I totally agree. The ankle cuffs is my biggest question mark with these pants. My over-thinking OCD wish it wasn’t there both with regards to breathability and having a feature likely to hold more water and dry slowly so close to where I tend to most often be exposed to water and get wet. But then again, a product developer chose to put them there, so I’m open to the possibility that someone knows better than me :)

Update on the skylines:

I can only give first impressions because Ive only used them on a couple runs with temps in mid 60s with very high humidity, no backpacking or hotter temps.
I can say that I do like them so far, they are comfortable and they fit me well for reference I’m 5’11, 32 waist 175 lbs  the cut is good and the breathability seems very good, on my last run my legs felt much cooler than my torso did in the nuyarn t-shirt I was wearing. The vents seemed to work quite well and the fabric also seemed to breathe nicely. It will be interesting to see how they preform at higher temps,  so far my prediction is that they should easily win out in  regards to ventilation in hot weather compared to the Ferrossi’s but I think the Ferrosi  would remain the all around more versatile option, though they are also about twice the weight.

Full disclosure for people looking for hot weather hiking pants.I’m primarily a shorts guy in the summer months. I hike mostly in the humid northeast and I run hot when moving so if I can gain  an edge on staying a bit cooler I will take it, that means shorts. I will usually not hesitate to sacrifice the skin of my legs for increased ventilation whether it be too hordes of mosquitoes, pucker brush or what have you. I just thought I should leave that disclaimer as I’m probably not the best person to review these pants for what is probably the majority of you alls intended use case.

Now as for the cuffs ,ventilation wise I don’t think it’s an issue they are so well ventilated I don’t think wider cuffs would add too much if any in that regard (my opinion could change on that if I had them out in extreme heat). I was more concerned with maybe not being able to pull them up over my calf muscles for water crossings – I could squeeze them over my left calf but trying to pull them over my right which is about an inch bigger in circumference (16.5”) felt like It was asking a little too much of the material so I stopped. They may stretch out some and I might have more success in the future.

It’s a good point about the elastic cuff holding on to moisture and drying more slowly, that had not occurred to me. I will have to test this out as well as the overall drying time of the pants. I could see the cuff area also maybe not getting as wet as would wider openings in certain scenarios such as moving through wet grass because of the tighter higher fit having less material down low to soak up moisture. I see it as a trade off. This design also probably contributes some to their low weight.

Anyway I hope that limited info is helpful I can add to it after I have given them more of a proper test if people are still interested.

Thank you, Nicholas for a very detailed first impressions.

And sorry taking so long to reply. I’m a little on and off with my online presence :)

I don’t think you mentioned what size you ordered. Would be useful to know. OV’s “wair your size” wizard suggest small based on my measurements and previous purchases. That is often what I have to order from other brands as well, but it’s a bit hit or miss between S and M dependent on brand and model. I found my previous OV pants to be fitting, but just barely in small (underwear) and 30/32 (Satu pants). It’s length/inseam that worry me the most though. For underwear it doesn’t matter too much and for the Satu’s you can pick the preferred length. But the Skyline joggers doesn’t look too run very long in the first place and I’m not a big fan of pants that run short/expose my ancle… so yeah.. on the fence still.

I just noticed they have Tall versions, but only in M, L and XL… I think a Small tall would have put my worries to rest, but it seems not enough of their customer base are Kenyan marathon runners. Geographically far away, but I can relate as far as body type goes :)

Haakon, I have them in medium, sorry I should have mentioned that.
I am a 32 waist 30 inseam and  they are plenty long enough for me,  because of the elastic they sit right at the top of my trail runners but there is some extra length , I think they were probably designed around a 32’’ inseam and may work for someone with up to 33’’ inseam but  my guess is they could start to ride up above your ankle when lifting a knee up high for someone with a 33, but at 32 I think they would not.
As far as the waist they seem like they have a pretty wide range of fit the waist band is pretty well elasticated and has a shock cord running through it which is looped through a double cord lock . I would guess the ideal fit range of the medium waist Is probably 30-34 , they could even probably accommodate a bit bigger waist than 34 but below 30 (maybe even at 30) one could be having to rely more heavily on the shock cord than one might want. I would recommend ordering them in a couple sizes and returning the ones that don’t work out as it sounds like you may be a bit in between sizes.
Hope that helps

Ferossi’s don’t suck. 👍🏻

Thanks, Nicholas!

That was very helpful.
I try to avoid ordering more than one size as I live in Europe/Norway, so returns are complicated and costly. But In this case I might decide to do it anyways. I’ve noticed some more interest around the brand over here lately, so I think I can flip the size(s) I don’t want to keep without loosing much- or any money at all.

Most of my jeans are 29-30″ waist and 32-33″ inseam depending on brand/model, so it does indeed seem like a small-tall could have been the safest choice, if it was an option.

Thanks again, your input was very valuable!

@Stephen Paris – thanks for the heads up on the new Wonoga pants as I’m a huge Rail Riders Eco Mesh Pants fan.  I’ll keep my eye on these.

Interesting that there is one review – a negative one that reads  –
“Peice of trash , I regret Purchased it , its worthless I felt ashame to wear it”     Reviews like that don’t really help – they provided no information on why they didn’t like it or what they didn’t like about it.