Re: Shorts in Low Temps
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:12 pm
I don't wear shorts while hiking at any temperature. Around town in the warmer months in Fresno (say April to October), I always wear shorts, but in the mountains I don't, primarily because my legs get pretty beat up from brush, rocks, etc and I am one of those folks who is a mosquito magnet (and/or a tick magnet when at lower altitudes). In fact I wear a long sleeve shirt, too, even on warm weather hikes. I am in fact fairly sensitive to cold and have become more sensitive as I've gotten older, but even in my younger days I avoided hiking in shorts because of the bugs and because of the all the things that can and will abrade, cut, or irritate the legs (poison oak isn't the only plant that can do this to me). When I was recovering from the 1st knee operation in 1978 I didn't like the feeling of long pants over my swollen knee, so I hiked in shorts for a couple of backpacking trips, but I switched back as soon as the swelling had gone down sufficiently after my operation.