Long Pants

[+mouseketeer]

As a new female treasure hunter (geocacher) I have discovered the hard way that wearing long pants is the only way to hunt. Even easy finds are often off the trail where thorny bushes, sticky branches and stinging bugs hide...not to mention the evil poison ivy. Tennis shoes and socks required too! Oh yes, a cell phone is essential too for emergencies.

[+carleenp]

I have been known to wear shorts and just scratch my legs up. That said, I am looking for a pair of convertable pants, so I can just zip the legs on when needed. I'm having difficulty finding them in petite size outside of mail order though. I also recently got a great pair of cargo pants at Eddie Bauer that roll up at the bottom, so I can make them into capri length. And they are lightwieght fabric. They cost more than I like to spend, but I love them.

[+TeamK-9]

I like pants to keep your legs from getting scratched up... I just usually wear a lightweight pair of running pants, or just normal cargo pants...

[+writer]

Depending on where you are caching, long trousers can be critical. I recently wrote an article about geocaching that will appear in a new regional magazine. One of the women I interviewed had a daughter who developed Lyme's Disease, probably from exposure to a deer tick while geocaching because she was in a high risk area and not protected.

 

Also, for all the other reasons, I tend to wear at least light nylon trousers to cover my legs unless I know that the grass is short and I'm safe. Then the trousers go into the backpack and I leave my hiking shorts on.

[+NightPilot]

I always wear long pants. Too many briars, thorns, etc around here to go in the woods in shorts. I also wear at least hiking boots, if not something higher, to protect my feet and ankles. As often as not I wear rubber boots that come almost to my knees, because down here wading is all too common.

 

For convertible pants, try sporting goods stores, especially those that cater to fishermen. Columbia Sportswear makes several models, but I don't know about petite sizes. The ones I have are almost too small in the waist, but the legs are too long for me. If you have any skill at all with a sewing machine, it shouldn't be too hard to hem them up. I haven't bothered yet.

[+carleenp]

I always wear long pants. Too many briars, thorns, etc around here to go in the woods in shorts. I also wear at least hiking boots, if not something higher, to protect my feet and ankles. As often as not I wear rubber boots that come almost to my knees, because down here wading is all too common.

 

For convertible pants, try sporting goods stores, especially those that cater to fishermen. Columbia Sportswear makes several models, but I don't know about petite sizes. The ones I have are almost too small in the waist, but the legs are too long for me. If you have any skill at all with a sewing machine, it shouldn't be too hard to hem them up. I haven't bothered yet.

Columbia makes petites that I can get mail order. I am thinking of that route. I looked at some regular sizes today when I went to the outdoors store to buy permethrin and did find a pair that I could maybe buy and hem. Problem is that the shorts are still kind of long for my tastes. I figure I'll try mail order and play the fun return game if they don't fit. The store also offered to order them so they could mess with returns, but they also want $15 more than mail order. I'm trying to decide if $15 is worth it to not have to deal with return hassels.

[Speedy One]

I hear ya! I'm new to this, and discovered today that pants should be worn! And I have zip-off pants! Shame on me! I hope I learned my lesson and don't end up all itchy!!

[+leatherman]

I have been known to wear shorts and just scratch my legs up.

I've done this too. Then I whine about it in the log, and make the owner feel bad.

[Tahosa and Sons]

Long pants all all all the time, the heat is the least of my worries. Sometimes in CO it is nice and warm when we leave town, but the mtns are a different world. And they can be cold just when don't expect them.

[UndercoverNinja]

I don't know if you've thought of this route too, but you may want to check out a police supply store. I've seen convertible pants that are geared toward bike patrol officers, but since I wasn't in there for bike uniforms, I don't remember how much they were.

[+Maos_and_Co]

Cell phones are essential when you're out "just for one quick find" and don't have any of your notes with you. Calling your brother to get him to login to the site, look up the log, and read every one of the logs to you over the phone is sometimes crucial.

[+briansnat]

As soon as its warm enough, I wear shorts. Hence my legs are a scratched and often bloody mess from May through Sept and I keep the local drugstore in business with all the peroxide and rubbing alcohol I buy.

[jfreeman_bsj]

Cargo pants are $7.95 at Steve and Barry's in the mall. The have big cargo pockets for carrying stuff, and if you tear 'em up who cares?

[CoyoteRed]

Shorts for the both of us.

 

"It ain't caching unless you return with battle scars!" ~Sissy

[+Nurse Dave]

What the problem is?

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

Haven't we had this 'pants' discussion, Carleen?

 

Right now I'm still caching in my everyday uniform of denim. I wear the most beat up pairs I have and they are working fine... However, I'm about ready to make the switch to something non-denim myself. Just because, you know, it's more hip if your out hiking and look like you've intentionally dressed in that current PNW hiker-garb: earth toned anything, hiking boots, and quick-dry pants. If they zip-off at the thigh all the more better. (If they say REI somewhere, even mo'bettah.)

 

Opposite of Carleen's issues, however, I have a hard time finding pants with an inseam that's long enough in small women's sizes. I'm not particularly tall, however, so I can't look for 'tall' clothing... I just have to hope the manufacturers aren't catering to a woman with a 29 or 30 or 31" inseam which is not quite as easy as I would like.

 

At the end of last year's warm-weather season was when we started caching, and I did a few stints in the woods with short pants and sandals - great fun and all, but like Brian - lots of hydrogen and screaming on my part. This year I'm more concerned with copious amts of bug bites and ticks.

 

Pants it is.

 

At least for the hiking part...

[+CurmudgeonlyGal]

Oh yeah...

 

The cell phone thing.

 

I think I'm needing to rethink THAT issue. I've lost two in the woods while caching in the last 6 months. The first one was not recoverable... The second one, fortunately, was dropped while out catching a FTF and I knew the other guys would be around soon so I put a note on the page and then sat back to wait.

 

I called the phone a couple of times, and found it quite funny when, a little bit later, I was called at home from my own phone.

 

The guy who found it figured it was the cache owner's, but was, apparently, a little disappointed to realize that the phone book (in the phone) looked more like it belonged to ME (with all those caching lifeline numbers) than to him...

 

Darn! Cheated out of a FTF again!

 

I guess I was lucky he brought the phone back after that, eh?

 

Anyway - keep ahold of your phones! (See, another reason for cargo pants with all those pockets!

 

-=-

 

michelle

[uperdooper]

no sun allowed for me, so it's pants and long sleeves and a hat all the time. even when it's hot, hot. the only scratches on my legs are because at the age of 48 i still haven't mastered shaving my legs. i even cut myself with an electric razor once. just a klutz.

[+RichardMoore]

no sun allowed for me, so it's pants and long sleeves and a hat all the time. even when it's hot, hot. the only scratches on my legs are because at the age of 48 i still haven't mastered shaving my legs. i even cut myself with an electric razor once. just a klutz.

That's okay. I know a lady who once accidently shaved her head.

 

But on the subject, I've always worn jeans while caching because that's what I always wear. I have a pair of shorts that I wear around the apartment, but whenever I go out I wear jeans. I don't own any other kinds of pants.

I like the protection they give my legs.

But I am thinking about getting a pair of the zip-off-the-leg pants to see if I like them.

[+Red Clover]

Always jeans. I'm a jeans and T-shirt kinda girl anyway. My now ex BF used to wear shorts and just bleed.. I'm more concerned about the ticks. They BAD this year down here. Im gonna get a light colored pair just for caching to easier spot the buggers as they are crawling up.

[dampeoples]

I always wear shorts, and sandals if weather permits

[+SixDogTeam]

In our Indiana woods, if you wore shorts and sandals, you bleed out from the thorns before you got back to your vehicle.

[+robert]

Pants.

 

Too many caching friends have gotten Lyme to take the risk.

[scoutsout]

I always wear shorts, and sandals if weather permits

Me too, sometimes I'll put on a pair of shoes if I know what to expect from the terrain, but sandals are the norm (today I got bitten on the heel by a cactus though.) I spend a lot of time riding my mountain bike in the woods, so my legs are always already cut up from that. I also shave my legs (cycling thing), so it's really easy to see & feel ticks crawling on them.

Edited May 10, 2004 by scoutsout

[+flask]

usually zip-off pants for me. i usually wear them with the legs on.

 

and hee's a point i haven't seen much here: QUICK-DRY. windstop helps, too. EMS has a good pair, but i don't know what they cost since my mom bought them for me. my mom buys all my sprting goods, although i am a grownup. honest, i am. really.

[+Renegade Knight]

Every time I wear shorts when caching I have two regrets. First the crap my friends flip me about being blinded by the white glow. Then all the blood I leave everwhere.

[+chris-mouse]

I'll usually wear whatever old jeans are handiest, but in the summertime I almost always wear shorts. Most of my summertime caching is done by bicycle, and on a hot summer day, heatstroke is a much bigger concern for me than ticks. With practice, you learn how to deal with the plant life. Just be prepared with lots of antiseptics while you're learning

[+Melrose Plant]

Man, is it just me, or the ticks REALLY BAD this year? I've picked off probably 25, and it's only May. I don't think I'd wear shorts out caching this year.

[+mouseketeer]

since posting the topic message... my legs have healed up nicely from the scratches and welts and no poison ivy! BTW, I never found that cache, darn it. I'll sweat in jeans from now thank you! Happy Hunting!

[+Alan2]

Pants for thorns, poison ivy and oak and light colored to see the ticks.

 

Alan