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Deciding what to wear and take along on an outing can turn out be one of the biggest decisions you make in preparing for your trip. Here's some rule-of-thumb guidelines to help you (these are not exhaustive).
Take along clothing to cover the range of temperatures you are likely to encounter throughout a 24-hour period. Shorts and tank tops aren't very warm when temperatures dip into the low 70s and below. When hiking in the mountains in the warmer months, nightime temperatures will routinely go down into the 50s, sometimes even lower. Any prudent hiker will become familiar with the typical weather variations of the hiking area before packing. You must decide on a balance between the weight of gear and personal comfort when choosing. It's always better to be safe than sorry, you can always take clothes off (the idea behind layering clothing), but it's difficult to put on extra clothes that you didn't bring. The decision you make can determine whether you have an enjoyable outing, or end up with hypothermia.
If you don't take along shorts in the warmer months and wear long pants, you could end up just as miserable from being too hot. Here the key is figuring out how to regulate your body temperature by wearing the right clothing. Too much clothing, and you'll end up taking more breaks in your hiking than you probably would prefer.
Be sure to take along adequate rain gear. Even in the warmer months, hypothermia is a real danger if you get wet and can't get dry and stay warm. It's also a good idea to have a rain cover for your backpack and gear so that if you get caught in a rain storm while hiking, your stuff stays dry. Our outpost hiked once up the Priest (about a 4.5 mile hike up from the Tye river with 32 switchbacks up steep terrain) and got caught in a thunderstorm about halfway up. It didn't stop raining until after we crested. Fortunately we had prepared ourselves for just such an occasion, and were able to enjoy the rest of the hike without having to head back down to replace food and equipment that got ruined from getting wet. Our boots and socks were soggy, but that's why you take along extra socks. |
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