The Cheapest Hiking
Clothes
By Steve Gillman
Hiking clothes and backpacking clothes need to
function to a higher standard than everyday clothes. That's why
they're often more expensive. Shop all the sales you want, and
you will save money, but that extremely expensive
waterproof/breathable coat will only be marked down to "very
expensive." Time for some more radical ways to find cheap
hiking clothes.
Consider what you really need for the trips you
have planned. If you'll be scaling peaks in Patagonia for a
month, you may have to stick with the best sales you can find
on the high-quality stuff. If, on the other hand, your trips
are fair-weather overnighters, a two-ounce, two-dollar plastic
poncho isn't out of the question.
Even on the more extreme trips you can often
find cheaper alternatives. Did I take a $400
waterproof/breathable rain suit to the top of 20,600-foot Mount
Chimborazo? No, I took my papery Frogg-Toggs rain suit. You'll
find these at golf shops, and yes it's waterproof and breaths
well too. It cost me $49 for the set, and I have used it for
years, on many rainy trips, with only one duct-tape repair.
Do you like to hike in running shoes, as I do?
Start watching the sales on out-of-style shoes. I've bought
brand-name $90 shoes for just $25. With savings like that, I'll
gladly be out of style.
I stopped getting blisters when I gave up on
expensive, high-tech, too-hot hiking socks. I hike thirty miles
now without a blister in comfortable, lightweight, white nylon
dress socks. They're less than an ounce and about a dollar per
pair.
Buy Used Hiking Clothes
The only hiking clothes I won't buy used is
footwear. Other potential backpacking clothes are worth
checking out whenever I find them at a
rummage sale or thrift store. I've found a Goretex rain
jacket and North Face vest at a thrift store for a few
dollars each. My thrifty used wool sweater weighs just 11
ounces, and is almost as warm as the newest models.
One of my favorite thrift store
discoveries was silk shirts. I learned that they weigh just
tree ounces, and show up on the racks regularly for $3. They
are comfortable too, though on the trail some of the styles
make me look like I'm searching for a wilderness disco.
Making Hiking Clothes
I can't recommend sewing your own hiking and
backpacking clothes, but I have made a few simple things. The
sleeve from an old thermal shirt became a one-ounce ski mask
with scissors and three minutes of sewing. Socks with
finger-holes make nifty hand warmers. As an insulating layer, I
wore a four-ounce piece of poly batting like a tunic under my
Frogg Toggs, to the top of Chimborazo and other mountains.
Finally, without too much sewing, you can often modify clothes
to make cheap hiking clothes.
Steve Gillman is a long-time advocate of
lightweight backpacking. His tips, photos, gear recommendations
and a free book can be found at http://www.TheUltralightBackpackingSite.com
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