[Philmont] Clothing, My 2 Cents

Necessary clothing on the trail is pretty unique to each person's body
chemistry and the time of year at Philmont. Those of us very warm blooded
(or from a cool climate like Colorado generally is), find we need much less
than those more susceptible to the vagaries of the temperature at Philmont.
If you are hiking in the monsoon season, you might want those rain pants.
After advising three treks (a low number, but it works for me <g>), here is
what we recommended to our council contingent participants (note that it is
different from what Philmont recommends):

Long Pants, 1, must be zipoff so they can be your second pair of shorts,
cannot be cotton
Shorts, 1, can be another pair of zipoffs if you prefer long pants, cannot
be cotton
Underwear, 2, Polypro boxers
Mid-weight Hiking Socks (we recommend SmartWool), 2, cannot be cotton
Sock Liners, Polypro, 2, Optional, Depending on your foot layering system
you use inside your boot
Heavy sock liners, 1 (for wearing with your camp shoes ONLY), not cotton
Short sleeve shirt, 2, CoolMax (or whatever high tech fabric you wish), we
always provide crew tee shirts as part of the total cost, that helps keep
the cotton stuff from sneaking on the trail
Polar Fleece pull over, 1
Tee Shirt and Shorts (or Pajama Pants), Cotton (Sleep Clothes)
Polypro Long Underwear, Very Optional, but if brought, should substitute
for sleep clothes
Stocking Hat, Very Optional
Gloves, Very Optional
Camp Shoes, Recommended Lightweight Running Shoes (not to start the thread
again AND no flames please, but not Crocs, not Keens, not moccasins, not
house shoes, not flip flops, not water socks (all of which I saw in the
backcountry this year), but something you could feasibly hike in for a few
days if you had a total boot or foot blow-out)

The above includes what you are wearing, so when you step on the trail, you
will only have 1 pair of underwear, socks, tee shirt, shorts/pants in your
backpack. What works for me is to wear the clothes for a couple of days,
then wash or rinse them out on a shorter day and change into my other set
of clothes. With all the high tech fabrics out there, drying time is very
short in Philmont's low humidity. I repeat this process over the 10 days.
Your youth, on the other hand, will never wash anything, so whatever they
bring, they will generally wear the whole time without washing.

For cold days, throw on your polar fleece and rain jacket over your tee
shirt and that will cover most everything (unless you are from the
rainforest of Africa and just can't seem to ever stay warm). We recommend
that participants buy a 30 or 20 degree bag. It has never (or VERY
rarely), to my knowledge, gotten below 30 degrees anywhere on Philmont
during trekking season. Simply by getting into your bag dry, changing into
your clean dry sleep clothes, zipping up the bag, cinching the mummy part
tight around your head, you should be more than warm enough. Again, if you
are that rainforest person and can't ever stay warm at night, then I would
strongly recommend the polypro long underwear, stocking hat, and pair of
polypro socks that you use as your sleep clothes.

Again, I temper the above with the fact that our crew is from Colorado (and
not Baton Rouge), so our kids are used to cool nights. Generally, they are
warm in their 20/30 degree bags without wearing anything besides their
sleep clothes. No one is going to freeze to death on the trail at
Philmont. Possibly an uncomfortable night, but not health-endangering.

On the shirts, in the past we have recommended (and provided) 2
short-sleeve trek shirts. We are gradually changing our mind on this,
generally not because of warmth, but because of the sun. For future treks,
we will recommend that participants with sun exposure issues bring either 2
long-sleeve or 1 long-sleeve and 1 short-sleeve shirt. We will give them
the long-sleeve and short-sleeve option when they order their shirts from
us.

Bottom line, pre-trek hikes and backpacks should be the time when folks try
out stuff and figure what they need to bring, clothing-wise, that works for
them, IMHO.

PS-and what is it with the groups that brought WHITE UnderArmor to wear for
their trek?? UnderArmor is a great material for Philmont, but can you
think of a worse color than white to wear for 10 days. Our kids were
dirty, but those kids in white looked filthy.

PSS-saw a kid from Oklahoma hit the trail in cotton tee shirt, blue jeans
and lace-up cowboy boots. Saw him again after the trek and asked how
things went and he said "just fine". Kids are so much more durable than
adults, that's for sure..... YIS. Mike Conkey ('76, '02, '04, '07).

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Received on Wed Jul 18 09:00:45 2007