[pct-l] Clothing questions...et al...

[abiegen at cox.net]

Steven dvsteven <dvsteven at hotmail.com>  wrote:
 
>Hi once again all..... 
 
>Do I need long pants and shirts to hike the PCT?  

As a long time resident of southern California and someone who's on a first name basis with my dermatologist here's my take on long shirt, long pants:

1. A long shirt can be changed into a short sleeve shirt by rolling up the sleeves. Vise versa - no.
2. Long pants that have a zip off can be changed into a shorts-like garment. Vise versa - no.
3. Decidedly different from the east coast ( I lived there for my first 20+ years) you cannot count on southern California being warm at night. A warm evening in SoCal is as common as a thru-hiker that smells like roses. Shorts and a short shirt will not help when the sun goes down and the temp drops 20 to 30 degrees.
4. My dermatologist tells me that a tan is damage to your skin, not protection. If you have a tan you might not get sunburned but you have damaged and will continue to damage your skin.
5. Exposed skin needs to be covered with sunscreen. The less exposed skin, the less sunscreen you need to carry.
6. Sunscreen contains oils. Oils attract and hold dirt. The more sunscreen you put on the more easily you will become dirty and the hard it will be to rinse it off.
7. Evaporation cools your skin. However, on a very hot and breezy day your sweat will evaporate from exposed skin too quickly. A long sleeved shirt will hold that valuable sweat for a longer period of time and release it at a more controlled rate.
8. A breezy day on the PCT is very very common. Remember, it is a crest trail and crests are breezy.
9. When you come to a creek, you can soak that long shirt in the water and wear it cooling all of your skin. Feels real good. A short shirt, not so much.
10. You will get old. Not a threat but it does happen to most. You will be on a first name basis with your dermatologist. You will have little white spots where he removed those pre-cancerous lesions. People will shun and avoid you because you look like an old farmer or fisherman who has spent too much of their life out in the hot burning sun. You will cry yourself to sleep at night wondering why this had to happen to you; what ever happened to your beautiful skin.
11. Or not. ;-}

Trailhacker

"When my feet hurt, I can't think straight"
Abraham Lincoln