outdoor pants?

RescueRiley

RescueRiley

Joined
Mar 22, 2006
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what kind of trousers do you folks where when in the bush?.. I've been a blue jean dude my whole life with the occasional bdu pants thrown in... but had a minor mishap as of late that is making me reconsider my wardrobe... obviously in todays day and age the budweiser version will suffice... any suggestions are welcome.
 
when out i usually wear jeans, or 5.11 tac bdu pants. they're very comfortable and have lots of pockets.
 
Depending on the season I either wear my cabelas trailhikers or in winter some old german military wool trousers. The trailkikers wear very well and are made of a lightweight canvas, baggy enough to wear long underwear under as well. Cabelas also tailors to length for free. the price is also reasonable. The german wools can be pfrund at several surplus suppliers for a fairly reasonable price as well.
 
I like bdu's..I'd like to avoid cotton however..how are the poly cotton mix bdu's? better than cotton? in terms of heat retention when wet?
 
Thanks for posting this Riley. I've been a denim/jeans guy too. I really do need to upgrade as well.

I have a couple pair of pants with the zip-off legs that are 70/30 Cotton/nylon that work in warm weather but I do need something for winter. I think BDU's are 50/50 cotton nylon.
 
Based on your winter pic heavy post, I'd go with wool. Lucky you didn't have those on and the flame wasn't a foot higher and a half a foot to the left. We'd be calling you RescueRachel!

LL Bean makes great pants as does Johnson Woolen mill. If you are budget minded, go with military surplus. Wool can't be beat!
 
Well it depends on the season. In winter as per your incident, I like to layer the following:

1) Union suit - fleece lines 100 wt basically long johns as a single suit, but lacking arms
2) Fleece pants - 200 wt
3) Snow pants for really cold, or gortex 3-ply shell pants

I can remove the fleece pants in the field if I'm getting sweaty..

In the other months I like to wear quick-dry nylon pants. In the spring and fall I'll layer under some polyester long johns as extra insulation. I usually have rain suit bottoms in my bag that can be layered on top of the quick dry ones for addtional wet weather protection or insulation against cold.

I'm a big fan of quickdry products now!
 
You know, this rather mundane topic is one of the most brain-wracking subjects I have ever encountered in wilderness survival.

I have never had any difficulty getting great knives, great tents, great skis, great sleeping bags, great axes, great packs...

I have never been happy with a single pair of pants in the wilderness.

The closest I have gotten so far has been old wool dress pants. One good option is the old Canadian army issue dress pant, which is 70/30 wool/polyester. They're tough, they dry quickly and they're fairly warm.

Another option I've tried in winter is the Thermo-King wool pants. Nice and warm, but heavy as hell.

The nylon pants from people like 5.11 seem good at first but they don't stand up to a whole lot of bushwhacking in my (admittedly limited and possibly 5 years out of date) experience.

Currently I'm using either a pair of Columbia titatium somethings that are SUPER comfy (but of course I worry when around fires, and all the wood in BC is poppy, sparky softwood) or some MEC ski pants if I am doing a lot of cross-country skiing.

Or the wools, or the dress pants...

I am NEVER satisfied with the pants options I have.

Normally, I wear jeans, but in the bush obviously I feel wrong wearing cotton. I don't know. This topic is the only one I can think of that makes me want to tear out my hair.

ETA: hey those swedish pants were great, I must have had five pairs over the years. WOW I'm Canadian...lol
 
Generally 5.11 tactical pants in nylon for two-three season. Lightweight, H20 resistant, fast drying, comfortable, flexible for wild work and many pockets for gear. Standard issue for our team in the wild during spring-fall. During fall/winter 5.11 wool pants for all the same reason as listed above except very warm. They are extremely lightweight for wool (not the 20oz butt drags like most pants).

If conditions are sever and/or wet then standard fleece pants with rain gear over the top. Again, extremely warm, lightweight, and flexible for woods work.

If hunting I'll wear the same except when in zero or sub zero I'll still go the fleece but often wear the heavier traditional wool pants.
 
I love 5.11 pants, except for thier waist, they advertise it as a "comfort waist" with the elastic liner, it's not that comfortable, I wish they would do away with that feature.

Thier BDU's are awesome though, there are pockets inside the cargo pockets to keep stuff from bouncing around too. And these have a much more comfortable elastic waist adjustment.

Arborwear is great stuff too, 100% nylon but they don't feel like it, made in the USA:http://arborwear.com/details.cfm/prodid/10

TAD gears stuff looks good if you can stomach the price, all the rest of thier gear is top notch, however these will only work if you're a short guy:http://www.tadgear.com/x-treme%20gear/apparel%20main/force_10.htm
that bothers me because I'd love to have a pair of these but they would never fit me, oh well.

Another option I'm looking at are these:http://www.dropzonetactical.com/clothing/opsset.html
they have 100% nylon, 50/50 nylon cotton, and 52/48 cotton nylon versions

Filson, uber expensive, probablu uber nice:http://www.filson.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2092293&cp=2069836.2069840.2075076&page=2&doVSearch=no&pageBucket=0&parentPage=family

these are what I wear:http://www.511tactical.com/browse/Home/Law-Enforcement/Pants/Tactical-Pants/Taclite-Pro-Pants/D/30100/P/1:100:10000:10100:10101/I/74273
and they're great, 65/35 polly/polly cotton mix, lots 'o pockets, gusseted crotch, double seat and knees, wide belt loops to support alot of wieght, and they make them in man sizes! The knees can accept an internal knee pad, very nice pants overall, so far these are the best option I have found for outdoor pants, I hope I helped someone with this post
 
Most of the time (except when its really hot) I start out with a polypro baselayer. In the winter I have a pair of wool cargo pants (I believe I picked them up at The Gap of all places) If its really cold or I anticipate getting alot of snow on me I will put on my columbia titanium snowpants over this. Toasty warm.

In the fall/spring its usually just the polypro and wool cargos. In the summer I wear cotton cargo pants and may or may not wear the polypro depending on the temperature. I'll usually still wear the baselayer but if it's into the 80's or 90's I don't.
 
I like those brushed nylon pants from makers like Columbia. The texture is soft like cotton twill, but they are lighter, pack smaller and dry out super fast when wet. The ones with zip-off legs to make into shorts are pretty versatile.

I'm sure I don't need to mention that synthetics react to fire even worse than cotton . . .
 
I have two pair of the REI Mojave convertible pants (65/35 cotton/nylon) that have been working great for me. BDU style pants with more nylon than cotton are great as well. I can also recommend Railrider pants which are as tough as nails. About the only time I wear wool pants is when I'm hunting where I walk and sit several times.

ROCK6
 
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