Outdoor pants

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mec003

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Jan 1, 2015
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Hey all, wondering what pants you all like to wear when hiking/camping? I usually just wear jeans with a synthetic layer underneath when it's cold. I'm looking for something a little better though. Jean's sometimes worry me in cold weather in case they get wet. I'm not willing to break the bank, so hoping to find something around $50. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks everyone.
 
DO NOT buy Columbia Twisted Cliff pants. I bought them on a whim, and realized they are 60% cotton. They took hours to dry out.

I will most likely be buying some lightweight synthetic pants, but for the time being, I mostly use cotton blend pants.
 
I wear Propper BDUs in the woods 90% of the time. They are available in different levels of Cotton/Poly blends.
Mine are 100% cotton (I know, I'm going to die).

I wear these most. If it gets cold, I have a pair of WoolPower Merino Wool long johns that go under them. If I'm moving this is good to around or below zero. In fact I made the 5+ mile walking trip to town in them just yesterday. -5F(Temp not wind chill) with a northwest wind whipping between 20-30 miles per hour. 2.6 miles down, 2.6 miles back and two cups of coffee in town. Toasty warm.

If the bottom drops out, or if I am not moving as much. I have a pair of Labonville Wool Pants. Alone or with the long johns underneath, these work well. I use these a lot too. Mostly when the tempe have to go up to get to zero.

If it is really extreme, or I am going to be in a lot of deep snow for extended periods. I have a pair of Wintergreen fleece lined shells. The cat's nuts for the really cold stuff.

None are water proof, none are Gore-Tex. All breathe well.

Hard to beat the BDUs for tough, comfortable pants, economical pants.

Another option might be trying to scoop a pair of M65 Field Pants off that big body of water. Either originals of repros, should run around $60.00. You can add a liner to them like the M65 Field Jacke. Versatile piece of kit. Mine finally rotted away. Haven't replced them yet. Probably should.
 
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Up until recently, I bought cargo pants for hiking, not paying much attention to materials. Then, last October, I went on a hiking trip with my brother, who wore some supposedly quick-drying REI pants. That was definitely accurate, as brushing against knee- to waist-high grass and brush had my cotton hiking pants soaked for hours, while his were dry considerably sooner. I've since added some similar pants.

That's not to say that I'll be getting rid of my cotton pants. It's just a matter of picking the right materials for the conditions, and in wet conditions, cotton isn't a good choice. On the other hand, for winter hikes where temps are staying well below freezing, I have no objections to lined (fleece, flannel, etc.) cotton pants, sometimes with a poly or wool layer underneath.
 
I used to use 5.11 taclite pros and they are water repellent for about the first 15 washes and they seem to remain dirt repellent after 2+ years of heavy use they run $50, then I discovered these from la police gear. they're a cotton/poly not a poly/cotton so they wont dry as fast as the 5.11s and you need to brush dirt off of them and sometimes its in till they're washed but they're less than half they price of them. I've used them on 5 fall and winter backpacking trips so far and they've been great and I like the extra and bigger pockets
 
Swedish army surplus wool pants are pretty good if you can find some, I've known guys who wore wool suit pants from the salvation army, older styles are cut well for walking.

I really like my craghopper kiwi pants, again, poly-cotton, and not a super-quick dry, but they do the job.
 
Mountain hardwear has what they call a pro deal for certain professions. I have a bunch of pants from them and they're awesome. They are synthetic, so a little water resistant and they are stretchy. Most comfortable pants I've ever worn.

When you're a 5'9" 240+ lb powerlifter, pants are tough to find and they generally need to be stretchy.
 
I prefer to wear nylon where it's wet. Polyester with some cotton is a great all around fabric because it wears hard and wick away the water. When it's cold, I usually put on a polypropylene base layer.
 
LukeTheSpook said:
Mountain hardwear has what they call a pro deal for certain professions. I have a bunch of pants from them and they're awesome. They are synthetic, so a little water resistant and they are stretchy. Most comfortable pants I've ever worn.

When you're a 5'9" 240+ lb powerlifter, pants are tough to find and they generally need to be stretchy.
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Hi Luke,

Do you know the specific name of any of hte pants you have? I have really thick thighs and so pants are hard for me to find as well that allow me to move well.
 
mec003 said:
Hey all, wondering what pants you all like to wear when hiking/camping? I usually just wear jeans with a synthetic layer underneath when it's cold. I'm looking for something a little better though. Jean's sometimes worry me in cold weather in case they get wet. I'm not willing to break the bank, so hoping to find something around $50. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks everyone.
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You have 3 options, essentially; cotton, synthetic and wool.

I live in wet New England and prefer synthetic for being in the woods for all seasons. They're lighter and dry faster. I used to hunt in Johnson Woolen Mills pants and still use that style of jacket for hunting, but have found stretch synthetics to be infinitely more comfortable moving around. They also shed snow and water better and are much lighter.

Cheap *-mart quality nylon Windpants over synthetic long johns will get you a long way for few $s. That's how I outfit my growing kids. Next step up are stretch warm up pants like those worm by soccer players. Another good option (that will break your budget) are insulated side zip warm up pants, like those sold by Craft, as they can be put on over shorts without needing to remove your boots. They also vent while being worn by lowering the side zips. This style of pant is my preferred option for spring and fall. In the summer, I've moved to convertible hiking pants made of light nylon. In the winter, I use "soft shell" cargo style ski pants, which were probably targeted to the snowboard set. Check the clearance outlets in the spring/summer. Under these shell pants I've collected a wide range of poly tights over various thicknesses. Oh... For the super cold like camping near tree line in the winter or deep winter XC touring, I have a pair of side zip Primaloft pants. But that's beyond what you're talking about I think.

For cheap summer, I would recommend either nylon shorts combined with cheap nylon Windpants from *mart or for $50, a pair of convertible pants from REI or EMS or Campmor or similar. In the fall, wear poly long johns under the shorts. It looks goofy but it's incredibly comfortable. Roll the long johns up to your knee if you get warm.

If you want a traditional styled pant for cheap, hit your Goodwill store and look for wool or wool/poly blend dress pants.

If you can tollerate a bit of cotton (and I can for an awful lot), Dickies work pants are made in a 65/35 poly/cotton blend. As they break in/wear out the amount of cotton seems to diminish! They come in a variety of styles and cuts and I would suggest hitting their web site directly and searching around. I have 2 pairs of full poly 5.11 pants I found for next to nothing and they're OK but I find the full uniform waist band to be a bit bulky under pack straps. I like their cut better than Dickies but can't say I'd recommend them over Dickies and certainly wouldn't recommend them over convertible hiking pants.
 
Wow! Lots of great suggestions! Thanks a bunch everyone. I knew you guys wouldn't let me down.
 
I usually wear synthetic quick drying pants - the type with removable legs. If its cold I'll wear a pair of tight wool long johns. If it's really cold, I'll add a pair of fluffier fleece pants as well.
 
I gave Kuhl pants a try, and have a hard time wearing anything else since. They have both tech materials for outdoors and good ole' cotton for everyday wear.
 
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