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What Do You Wear?


Brandis

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I am curious what you wear when you are out caching. With the heat of the summer I prefer to hike in shorts, but find caching in shorts can be a scratchy problem. But long pants in the heat can be a nuisance as well.

 

What do you wear to protect your self when caching? :unsure:

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I always wear long pants..I have some baggy light jeans that I prefer..if those aren't available (I tend to let laundry sit for a while....a guy thing) I wear a pair of my old khakis...both are pretty light. For a shirt I usually just wear a short sleeve shirt...unless I am going into a heavily dense area...then I bring my long sleeve shirt with me in my backpack in case I need to slip it on. Oh...and my hat...always a hat :unsure:

 

The only thing I don't have that I need still is the right shoes/boots...I want a pair of nice hiking boots...that can take some mud and muck....just haven't found the right ones that fit me yet :lol:

 

-Six

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Hi,

 

If the temp is above 35 F I wear shorts while adventuring outdoors. I tend to go through a lot of bactine after caching trips though, and my arms and legs are covered with scratched and scars of varying ages.

 

nfa

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When it was really hot, I'd wear a Coolmax shirt and shorts, scratches and bumps on my legs be damned. This summer I've been wearing a pair of lightweight, ExOfficio hiking pants. They are made of a brushed, teflon coated nylon that is very comfortable and breathable but tough enough to protect my legs from a lot of the stuff out there. They dry quickly and are very comfortable in the heat.

 

1331s03r_dkcigar.jpg

Edited by briansnat
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I wear a pair of jeans - slightly long - to go down over my hiking boots most of the time. If I know a cache is not in the woods (like in town) I'll wear a pear of tennies and some shorts. Up to the knees socks (with the boots).

 

I always wear a hat, and usually have a long sleave shirt I wear as a light jacket. This is for brush and PO protection.

 

Mostly it is all about protection - bugs, brush, PO. Not too worried about snakes and BIG cats tho I know they are around here in our town trails but they are rare. I carry a belt pack with all my caching stuff in it. And I am looking into a 'safari' type vest with all the pockets.

 

Mostly I am set to grab my belt pack (fanny pack if you will) my pad protfolio with the cache print outs, my hat, and I'm out the door.

Edited by CompuCash
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Briasnsnat's got it! For me being in Texas, caching in the summer is a hot and humid experience. I wear a pair of pants like he mentions above, but mine zip-off to form shorts. I also wear synthetic shirts b/c I just can't be bothered having cotton stick to me all day long. Proper hiking boots or trail running shoes help too!

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Look at my avatar. Mostly, I wear old retired military uniforms. The desert camo uniforms were designed for desert wear. They protect you from sun, sand, and wind, plus everything in the desert bites, stings, stabs or scratches. The best part is the uniforms are reinforced at the high-wear points, like elbows-knees-butt.

 

Of course, being retired military, I have a lot of this stuff, and since I have worn it most of my life, it just seems natural. JMHO-YMMV... :unsure:

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I wear nylon convertable pants (REI). For warm weather, the legs zip off for shorts. With a pair of boot-top gaiters I can slip the pant legs into them and don't have to worry about digging them out of the pack when I'm entering an area that needs long pants. Being nylon they don't absorb much water, dry quickly and are wind proof.

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When it was really hot, I'd wear a Coolmax shirt and shorts, scratches and bumps on my legs be damned. This summer I've been wearing a pair of lightweight, ExOfficio hiking pants. They are made of a brushed, teflon coated nylon that is very comfortable and breathable but tough enough to protect my legs from a lot of the stuff out there. They dry quickly and are very comfortable in the heat.

 

I've got the BuzzOff version of the same pair of ExOfficio pants. They are lighter in weight than many of my favorite shorts, fairly snag proof, dry quickly, and are fine in the heat and humidity. And the repellent actually works. I usually only don them when I'm sure that bushwhacking will be involved or tick infestations are likely.

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And I am looking into a 'safari' type vest with all the pockets.

 

Campco safari vest; 21 pockets, quality construction and only $39.00. Love mine, tho to be honest, I don't use it in really hot weather. I just use a big fanny pack with water bottles attached to it when it's over 80*.

 

I always wear long jeans, no matter how hot. Way too much poison ivy and stinging nettles round these parts for shorts. Yeah, mighty sweaty, but healthier. Might have to look into those REI convertible pants. Looked them up on the web, but only saw them in men's sizes, tho. :unsure:

 

repaired Vestmate.com link

Edited by 2qwerqE
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I just wear jeans and whatever shirt strikes my fancy for the day. Last time out it was a T-shirt.

Now I wear sneakers, I learned that lesson the hard way the day that I stepped on what I thought was surface mud (I was in the center of a 40' diameter spot of it). Well, one second, I'm standing there unsteady, the next second, I step down in a new spot, and I'm suddenly up to my knee in mud. So I pull my leg out. My flip-flop, however, got sucked into the mud, so I had to reach down and pull it out, then my ring came off in the mud, so I had to retrieve that too... So now, I'll only wear real shoes when caching.

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The only thing I don't have that I need still is the right shoes/boots...I want a pair of nice hiking boots...that can take some mud and muck....just haven't found the right ones that fit me yet :P

Yeah I am definatly looking for some good hiking shoes/boots. I want some that are waterproof but as comfortable as tennis shoes.. we shall see. :o

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This summer I've been wearing a pair of lightweight, ExOfficio hiking pants. They are made of a brushed, teflon coated nylon that is very comfortable and breathable but tough enough to protect my legs from a lot of the stuff out there. They dry quickly and are very comfortable in the heat.

Those sound darn useful! Thanks.

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I usually wear a nice comfortable pair of sweat pants. Cotton lets them breathe.

 

I also wear a (best way I can describe it) a hat kind of like the one Gilligan wore on Gilligans Island. It's all cotton and soft, no hard brims.

 

Keeps the sun off your neck and the skeeters off my head, also feels good on a hot day to drench it in water. :P

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... with the threat of Lyme disease , I would never venture into the woods with shorts on

... I live in SE Pennsylvania and I know of a least 10 people with the disease ... not good

Shorts, pants, full armor, it doesn't matter. Those bloodsuckers will get to you. I usually wear light colored cargo pants or shorts with a hit off Sawyer repellent. I think the repellent is the key more than the cloths. In the summer I have a nice pair of light weight hiking sneakers. For a shirt I usually wear a light, button down, short sleeve shirt. And the hat is mandatory. Loose and comfy, that's me. Of course some caches require special clothing. Some people don't waist time worrying about such things.

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Lycra Bike Shorts (not for style, I'm too fat, but for practicality since I mtn bike) and cotton t-shirt. However, my bike shoes have cleats that make it kinda hard to hike around on the rocks and stuff.

 

BTW - JJ3, I really like your icon. I thought I was the only person in Texas who drank St. Arnold.

 

(Saint Arnold is the patron saint of brewers)

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I’m in the “Whatever’s on top of the pile” category. Shorts and t-shirts in the summer, jeans and t-shirts the rest of the year. I don’t worry to much about scratches. I just ignore them.

Jeesh Harrald, maybe sometimes you should reach a little farther into the pile. This photo was taken last month at an event cache in an undisclosed location.

 

fatmansailormoon.jpg

 

--idea for this post provided by Planet :P

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I’m in the “Whatever’s on top of the pile” category. Shorts and t-shirts in the summer, jeans and t-shirts the rest of the year. I don’t worry to much about scratches. I just ignore them.

Jeesh Harrald, maybe sometimes you should reach a little farther into the pile. This photo was taken last month at an event cache in an undisclosed location.

 

fatmansailormoon.jpg

 

--idea for this post provided by Planet :P

dadgum Harrald, I didn't know you were so sexy. GGGrrrrrrrrrr.

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I’m in the “Whatever’s on top of the pile” category. Shorts and t-shirts in the summer, jeans and t-shirts the rest of the year. I don’t worry to much about scratches. I just ignore them.

Jeesh Harrald, maybe sometimes you should reach a little farther into the pile. This photo was taken last month at an event cache in an undisclosed location.

 

fatmansailormoon.jpg

 

--idea for this post provided by Planet :P

well, in my defense I was going to post it but I had the disclaimer saying: THIS IS NOT REALLY HARRALD!!!

 

And you weren't in chat to stop us.

Edited by Planet
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I wear old worn out sneakers with not nearly enough traction, and too hot, worn out cargo pants that were probably meant to be kinda dressy....

 

I NEED new pants and shoes. But I'm a penny pincher. I want lightweight cargo pants and some light hiking shoes that are more like sneakers than boots but with good traction.

 

I've got 100 bucks... any suggestions?

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I wear old worn out sneakers with not nearly enough traction, and too hot, worn out cargo pants that were probably meant to be kinda dressy....

 

I NEED new pants and shoes. But I'm a penny pincher. I want lightweight cargo pants and some light hiking shoes that are more like sneakers than boots but with good traction.

 

I've got 100 bucks... any suggestions?

Thrift store, Goodwill, Salvation army or www.campmor.com But buy the shoes new.

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Shoes: Hiking shoes when the terrain rating is at least 3, otherwise mostly sneakers, often sandals in the summer when the terrain rating is low. I've got rubber boots in my trunk, in case the nature of the cache calls for it (swamp, wetlands, sewers).

 

Pants: Lately I've been using a pair of 'army style' pants I bought recently in Thailand. They have lots of pockets I can fit my GPSr, mobile phone, knife, cache descriptions and some trinkets. The legs are removable so I can transform them into shorts when needed. In summertime I use often shorts, and pair of old jeans is also usual caching outfit for me.

 

Torso: In summer mostly old t-shirts. Old, so that I can crawl into caves and let it go dirty if needed. During colder weather I usually wear additionally a wind- and weatherproof jacket made of quite strong material with lots of pockets (see: pants).

 

Other: In wintertime I wear decent cap on my head, and depending on weather and the nature of the cache I'm searching, I wear appropriate gloves. And, of course, if there's a good hike ahead, I grab my trusty El Diablo hiking staff with me. :D

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Living in Colorado, you need to have all your bases covered. If you are Geocaching in town then some good shoes are all you really need. If the cache you are looking to get is in the hills, that's something compleatly different. The weather is very unpredictable and you want to be ready for every thing. Many of the caches I have placed are inside caves. I wear coveralls when checking on those caches.

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Lycra Bike Shorts (not for style, I'm too fat, but for practicality since I mtn bike) and cotton t-shirt. However, my bike shoes have cleats that make it kinda hard to hike around on the rocks and stuff.

 

i used to do a lot of caching in some very nice sidi high performance mountain bike shoes, with the spikes in the toes.

 

now i have a cute pair of shimano high top mtn bike shoes with a grippier sole and recessed cleats. they're much more suitable for runnign around in, and i may wear them for CX season.

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im usually a top'o'the'pile person, but i'll try to avoid bright colors, since most of the local caches are in pretty public places. no sense trying to look under every rock with an electric orange shirt on. (i have three.)

 

footwear... i have worn nothing but sandals to my caches. they're comfortable, they work, they dont stink as much at the end of the day. i wear shorts and sandals, but dont have to worry about poison ivy... i have some really strange immunity to it. it just doesnt bother me at all.

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I have a pair of nylonish (my own word), lightweight cargo zip off pants. I usually wear them caching during these hot months, and if conditions, allow I'll zip them into shorts, but normally, I just leave them as pants, and then maybe unzip them when I get back to the car, just to cool off a bit before the next cache...

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shorts with zippered cargo pockets

 

T-shirt

 

good hiking boots and better socks

 

Old "Boonie Hat" left over from my distant past.

 

Coating of unevenly mixed bug spray and sun block.

 

Oh yeah, and for the back woods caches, add a 50 pound "Camelbak" backpack with everything I could possibly need to survive in the wild for an indefinite period.

 

I find that the shorts keep me cooler and besides, my wife likes the always sexy and incredibly manly/macho "Just-been-mauled-by-an-overly-affectionate-cougar" look.

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