camping sucks

[sandbender]

"...I really wish you could see a proper thunderstorm with 50 MPH gusts and rain coming in buckets. Without being here (or somewhere else like) to see the heavy rains, it's impossible to compare..."

Ahahahahahaha! If we waited for the wind to die down to that level here, we'd never get out of the house some weeks.

brambles you beat me to it, santaman2000 you obviously didn't get to enjoy a blustery day in the NE.

People wear jeans all over the world, in day to day outdoor work conditions that would temporarily or permanently cripple some of us. I wouldn't wear jeans for a wander around the hills, but I did do so as younger man. Perhaps jeans were better made then? But they were heavy and tricky to dry if they became wet either from rain or sweat. Most jeans these days are made in far off lands like Lesotho, where the manufacturing process messes up the environment and peoples lives, we're bushcrafters, surely we should be crafting out own strides, perhaps out of badger skin?

Just kidding, I'm too scared of badgers, even dead ones.

 

[Vulpes]

There's nothing wrong with a £10 roll mat in terms of insulation, albeit they're a bit narrow and uncomfortable. Can't really lay on my side with them and it takes a few days for my back to get used to them. Never got on the Thermarest boat due to the price. I'd buy something more plush if you aren't walking far or if you're car camping.

Sleeping bags now seem to be cheaper and in greater variety than they once were and it would be a good idea to invest. If you're buying, go in and have a look and even get into it. There's a greater importance in the fit of a bag than you'd think. Also you can feel the weight and loft of it. Not sure who's making the best value for money these days, but I've heard good things about Nanok and the prices seem to be good. I've got one of the thin Endurance range ones to slip over my main bag in case of temperatures slipping below my comfort range. I always buy more than what I need, because the ratings don't suit me. If it's too hot, you can always open it right up and poke a leg out or use it lose like a duvet.

We've all had a bad night out. I once slept in a garage, on a concrete floor with a summer bag and nothing else. Worse night's sleep of my life. Cold on one side, frozen on the other. Sometimes it's funny the stupid things we do...

 

[cbr6fs]

Does logging count as a high level activity? I mean real logging (cutting and haulng trailer truck loads of sawlogs from the hills and swamps to the timber mill; NOT just cutting firewood.

Or what about hiking up and down the Rockies and the Humbolt Moutains (up to 12,000 ft.) in both Summer and Winter?

Or the Mohave Desert?

Herding, roping (or sometimes bulldogging), and branding, cattle for 12+ hours a day?

Loading 85 pound hay bales for 12+ hours a day?

What about fighting brushfires in the deep Summer?

Shall I go on?

But perhaps as HillBill said, you simply don't get good jeans there; there's a vast diference between fashion jeans and real work jeans. The plain truth is I don't wear anything special for bushcrafting or outdoor activities (other than the occassional camo, which might well be camo-ed jeans) I just wear the same clothing I wear all the time (work, play, or casual dress) That is, apart from the time I was required to wear a uniform; and those were a jeanlike material (except for the corrections BDUs which were a very unsuitable, thin, soft cotton)

What's not to get?

I own Jeans and i wear jeans.
I've worn Jeans for hiking and i've found them to be the worst trousers to wear for hiking by a fair margin.

Of course if you've only worn Jeans you have absolutely no idea how they compare to more modern fabrics, so my advice is to buy a cheap pair of army surplus trousers or even better still something like say Craghoppers Kiwi trousers then come back and tell me how right i am

BTW
Loggers, fire-fighters, farmers etc wear jeans because they're cheap, fairly hard wearing, non flammable and they know no better.
Cowboys wear jeans because they want to look like a cowboy, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with their ability to keep you warm or dry.

But then they also wear cowboy boots, doesn't mean i'm going to start hiking in a pair though does it?

"Jeans are a terrible terrible choice for anything other than a low level activity." Why are they worse than anyother cotton trousers, they are heavier for sure and take longer to dry perhaps...don't get them wet.

"Anyone that says otherwise has absolutely no experience in mid to high level activity and/or modern fabrics"
Utter tosh , I would imagine that many thousands of hikers in drier climates happily walk/hike/climb in a pair of jeans at all levels of activity...don't get them wet.

Easier said than done when your in the middle of nowhere and it's been raining for 6 hours straight.

Being an outdoorsy type person it'll come as no surprise to know that many of my mates are also into the same kind of things.
So i have mates that range from the occasional adventurer through to guides.
If you turned up for a adventure hike wearing jeans there is not a guide i know that wouldn't turn you round and point you back towards the car park.

They're THAT bad

"Not only do they take hours to dry, the seams on the inside of the legs will rub your flesh off, they'll also stretch and hand down, they weight an absolute ton when wetted out and they'll be hot in summer and drain heat away when wet in winter."
Don't get them wet

See above

"Not only do they take hours to dry, the seams on the inside of the legs will rub your flesh off, they'll also stretch and hand down, they weight an absolute ton when wetted out and they'll be hot in summer and drain heat away when wet in winter.

"I ended up hiking in my boxer shorts on a cold February hike many years ago, as they were warmer and more comfortable than the jeans i foolishly went out in."

Buy a pair that fit properly and don't get them wet.

It has absolutely nothing to do with fit.
As Jeans soak the shear weight of the material pulls the threads so they sag to the point where even a fairly short pair will drag on the ground.

I for one believe in base layers and waterproof shell clothing. My favorite trousers are my old M65's, they are not much lighter than a pair of jeans and a bitch to dry so I rely on my waterproofs to stop them getting wet, and I'd do the same with jeans. Whenever jeans are mentioned people go on about them being awful when they get wet, how many of you walk around in wet trousers? If they do then ""they have absolutely no experience in mid to high level activity and/or modern fabrics" or anyother outdoor activity where only an idiot walks around wet, there is no need for that regardless of trouser choice.

Sorry mate but that statement is THAT far off the mark it's pretty obvious you have no idea what your talking about.

If your participating in a moderate to high activity in the outdoors and it's raining it's not a case of not getting wet it's a case of how wet you get.

Hiking around the UK for any length of time and you get, that's an absolute fact.

Lets say your hiking in the Breacons, your wearing your Jeans and it starts to rain.
Your Jeans get soaked, the in-leg seam rubs the skin off the inside of your leg, your hem is tripping you as it's hanging like a rabbit in a butchers window and is catching rocks causing you to stumble.
THEN the wind picks up.

You are in trouble.

I still stand by my statement, if you turn up on a hike wearing Jeans you have absolutely no idea what your doing

 

[wattsy]

Not true.

The craghoppers kiwi pants i have are made of a material called solar dry. It dries in about 5 minutes. You can put them straight on from the wash without the need for drying.

Denim is not as bad as some folk say. But its not the best for the uk climate. Not the worst either though. You will be more uncomfortable in denim should it get wet, should you get sweaty and it gets clingy then same thing. I wouldn't wear it if i was hiking, nor if it was raining, nor if it was blazing sunshine. Its ok for the middling days though

+1 for craghoppers great trousers comfy too. i wear jeans around day to day but i never wear them camping after a scout camp where it tipped down and i had some chafing discomfort. never again

 

[Vulpes]

Oh and trousers - Vertx Vertx Vertx! Been wearing them exclusively since before they were cool!

 

[santaman2000]

Ahahahahahaha! If we waited for the wind to die down to that level here, we'd never get out of the house some weeks.

http://www.mwis.org.uk/eh.php?fdate=111003

I was there for 4 years; it never got anywhere near that level.

 

[sandbender]

I was there for 4 years; it never got anywhere near that level.

You were in Aberdeenshire?

 

[santaman2000]

What's not to get?

I own Jeans and i wear jeans.
I've worn Jeans for hiking and i've found them to be the worst trousers to wear for hiking by a fair margin.

Of course if you've only worn Jeans you have absolutely no idea how they compare to more modern fabrics, so my advice is to buy a cheap pair of army surplus trousers or even better still something like say Craghoppers Kiwi trousers then come back and tell me how right i am ...

Perhaps you didn't read my whole post. I said I wore jeans EXCEPT for the time I was required to wear a uniform. 21 years of that time was a military uniform; I don't ned to buy surplus. Myself and everybody else in said uniform originally wished for jeans (back in the early days of my career when said uniform was thin fatigues) Later as they transitioned to heavier BDUs (which as I already stated were a jean like material) it got a little better. But as the newness of that transition wore off, we again wished for jeans.

 

[santaman2000]

You were in Aberdeenshire?

Not where I lived, no. I was all over the UK at some point or another.

 

[santaman2000]

...Being an outdoorsy type person it'll come as no surprise to know that many of my mates are also into the same kind of things.
So i have mates that range from the occasional adventurer through to guides.
If you turned up for a adventure hike wearing jeans there is not a guide i know that wouldn't turn you round and point you back towards the car park.

They're THAT bad...

You're quite right, your guides are "THAT bad." The professional hunting guides over here all wear jeans.

 

[santaman2000]

...Loggers, fire-fighters, farmers etc wear jeans because they're cheap, fairly hard wearing, non flammable and they know no better.
Cowboys wear jeans because they want to look like a cowboy, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with their ability to keep you warm or dry.

But then they also wear cowboy boots, doesn't mean i'm going to start hiking in a pair though does it? ...

Actually professional firefighters wear fire retardent uniforms. I was fighting brush fires as amatuer (it's just part of being a country boy)

The rest of those occupations (including cowboys) wear jeans as you say because they're tough, hard wearing clothing (just exactly what I demand of clothing for ANY outdoor activity)

Would I go hiking in cowboy boots? When I was younger I only had one pair of boots; if they were cowboy boots (and they usually were back then) I went hiking or hunting in them. A good day quail huting would easily cover 20+ miles. Daddy wore his engineer's boots on those hunts www.classicboots.com/engineer/index.htm The same ones he wore trekking round Panama and Venezuela for years.

 

[rik_uk3]

What's not to get?

I own Jeans and i wear jeans.
I've worn Jeans for hiking and i've found them to be the worst trousers to wear for hiking by a fair margin.

Of course if you've only worn Jeans you have absolutely no idea how they compare to more modern fabrics, so my advice is to buy a cheap pair of army surplus trousers or even better still something like say Craghoppers Kiwi trousers then come back and tell me how right i am

BTW
Loggers, fire-fighters, farmers etc wear jeans because they're cheap, fairly hard wearing, non flammable and they know no better.
Cowboys wear jeans because they want to look like a cowboy, it has absolutely NOTHING to do with their ability to keep you warm or dry.

But then they also wear cowboy boots, doesn't mean i'm going to start hiking in a pair though does it?




Easier said than done when your in the middle of nowhere and it's been raining for 6 hours straight.

Being an outdoorsy type person it'll come as no surprise to know that many of my mates are also into the same kind of things.
So i have mates that range from the occasional adventurer through to guides.
If you turned up for a adventure hike wearing jeans there is not a guide i know that wouldn't turn you round and point you back towards the car park.

They're THAT bad



See above





It has absolutely nothing to do with fit.
As Jeans soak the shear weight of the material pulls the threads so they sag to the point where even a fairly short pair will drag on the ground.



Sorry mate but that statement is THAT far off the mark it's pretty obvious you have no idea what your talking about.

If your participating in a moderate to high activity in the outdoors and it's raining it's not a case of not getting wet it's a case of how wet you get.

Hiking around the UK for any length of time and you get, that's an absolute fact.

Lets say your hiking in the Breacons, your wearing your Jeans and it starts to rain.
Your Jeans get soaked, the in-leg seam rubs the skin off the inside of your leg, your hem is tripping you as it's hanging like a rabbit in a butchers window and is catching rocks causing you to stumble.
THEN the wind picks up.

You are in trouble.

I still stand by my statement, if you turn up on a hike wearing Jeans you have absolutely no idea what your doing

"Sorry mate but that statement is THAT far off the mark it's pretty obvious you have no idea what your talking about."
You are far off the mark and out of order with that statement.

"Lets say your hiking in the Breacons, your wearing your Jeans and it starts to rain.
Your Jeans get soaked, the in-leg seam rubs the skin off the inside of your leg, your hem is tripping you as it's hanging like a rabbit in a butchers window and is catching rocks causing you to stumble.
THEN the wind picks up."

Would I hike the Breacons? Brecon Beacons you mean? in jeans? summer time perhaps, would still have my waterproof trousers with me. You seem to have a bug in a dark place over jeans so I'll leave this thread alone.

 

[shaggystu]

all this arguing about jeans has left me wondering only one thing, what defines a pair of "jeans"?

 

[Samon]

lolololol....sorry but i've just got a bizarre image of you flappin around screamin in the dark having your skin flailed off in a pile of aroused badger genitals and claws!

omg!

image the headline....''man found bled to death, tangled in his own hammock in the woods....autopsy reveals that he also suffered from severe toxic shock as large amounts of badger semen (am i allowed to say that?) had entered his system through multiple contusions.....''

a

haha! that is vile!

I might get some old ex army issue trousers at some point as I don't have any clothes specifically bought for camping or anything, just my few pairs of jeans.. (am I the only one who hates buying new clothes?)

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

cbr6fs

Does seem to be coming from this from my stance. I am an ML and do guide groups - I wouldn't take anyone on the hill with jeans. I check equipment for certain outdoor UK events and jeans are certainly on the banned list. I have been a member of mountain rescue and a mountain rescue search dog handler, jeans on the hill are totally shunned by everyone I ever met in that social group. I have also travelled the world and had to survive in the most hostile environments - I would never have had jeans at the to of my 'to wear list'.

Having said that, plently of people were walking up Pen Y Fan last week in jeans and trainers / shorts and sandals with no issues at all... Nor would you expect them to. However, if they were at the top of 'The Ben' in February in jeans and trainers during a gale of sleet then I would probably question their choice of garment.

There is nothing actually wrong with jeans but they shouldn't be the UK first choice outdoor garment for all round walking and climbing - ever.

Badgers seldom wear jeans.

 

[NikolaTesla]

Camping doesn't suck, you just weren't prepared correctly.

 

[Harvestman]

Camping doesn't suck, you just weren't prepared correctly.

I was avoiding this thread because that was what I was thinking too, but you just said it so much better than I could have.



Re: jeans in the Brecon Beacons. Turn up for a walk with Brecon Beacons Ramblers in denim jeans, and the only walk you will get to do is the one back to your car to go home again before it starts.

On the other hand, if it works for the man, lets leave him alone. His circumstances may be different to ours.

 

[santaman2000]

cbr6fs

Does seem to be coming from this from my stance. I am an ML and do guide groups - I wouldn't take anyone on the hill with jeans. I check equipment for certain outdoor UK events and jeans are certainly on the banned list. I have been a member of mountain rescue and a mountain rescue search dog handler, jeans on the hill are totally shunned by everyone I ever met in that social group...

I suspect you've hit the nail on the head, "...totally shunned by that social group..." Face it; it has nothing to do with suitability, jeans just aren't British.

 

[hobbes]

I really never experienced any extreme weather while in the UK (a 4 year period) It got cold and damp, but not overly so.

But it is EXACTLY these conditions that cause greatest risk of injury from exposure. It can be as wet as you like, if it's also warm (tropics), or as cold as can be, if it's dry (high altitude/latitude), but when it's temperate and wet, beware. This is Outdoors 101 in the UK and the rest of temperate Europe, and the proof of this is in the statistics for hypothermia deaths.

In the UK it's our number one killer in the outdoors. We are constantly reminded of this, and have a prejudice against slow drying, heavy cotton, like denim, now that better fabrics have been developed over the last 50 years. "Don't wear jeans" is in just about every book on the subject since jeans arrived here.

Also of interest may be the trans-Atlantic difference in attitudes to denim historically. In the US it was always serious workwear: tough stuff for life outdoors. This is how ranchers (like my Grandfather) viewed it, and it still holds something of that reputation. In Europe however, it has never really been viewed that way to the same degree, and basically took off as a fashion item, much more recently. This too may affect the general attitude.

 

[brambles]

I was there for 4 years; it never got anywhere near that level.

That's like me saying that the weather in North America is always nice because that is MY experience of it. I live in the Cairngorms and not only have we had winds of almost 100mph, we've had 5 feet of snow and -28c in winter and highs of almost 40c in summer. Rain comes in biblical amounts, both vertical and horizontal. Windchill is a major factor in causing hypothermia and death for those daft enough to wear inappropriate clothing on our mountains, and wearing denim is good for one thing only - identifying in advance those who will require the services of the Mountain Rescue boys.