[pct-l] Shirts on the trail

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

On Jan 12, 2009, at 6:13 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was thinking about just buying a bag of white cotton tee shirts from
> walmart to hike with. Is this a good or bad idea? The light color  
> is good I
> know, but should I look for something else? Cotton soaks easy and  
> retains
> the water. I was just thinking it would be cheap and easy. Any other
> suggestions? Im talking about the shirts I will be using probably  
> everyday.
> Thanks a lot.
>
> Sean C.

I know you want cheap and easy, but you'll probably find that cheap  
cotton wall-mart shirts are neither. Your clothing is going to take a  
lot of abuse from your pack. The cheap fabric will pill and stain and  
may even come apart. Cotton is good for very hot weather but it's not  
going to be very hot all the time. You'll be much more comfortable  
with something synthetic and light that dries quickly. Careful what  
you select, however, since some synthetics really stink (I'm thinking  
about bike jerseys, what the heck do they make those out of so they  
stink so bad?). You'll probably only need one shirt for the whole  
trip, too. Maybe two. So I wouldn't worry about cost too much. You  
can do what I did and find something at the thrift shop if you are  
worried about cost. I wore a Champion polyester tank top that I  
bought for $3. It served me well until I lost too much weight.  
Otherwise, now that I gained it all back again, I still wear it.