Shorts in Low Temps

[maverick]

What are the lowest temps you can/could comfortably wear shorts in? Has your
tolerance for the cold diminished with age? Do you prefer long pants now?
Personally I have worn long pants for a long time and prefer not to apply sunscreen
and/or bug spray through out the day.

[Rockchucker]

I almost never wear shorts, even during the summer. Multiple reasons why, sun, bugs, bushes, temperatures.

[RoguePhotonic]

I haven't worn a pair of shorts for many years although my legs don't really ever get cold. I would probably be fine in them most of the time in the Sierra at least with temperatures.

[paul]

Summer in the Sierra means shorts except in camp. I'm good down into the 50's or lower when hiking, and in the rain I'll usually wear shorts and rain parka. On ski trips I have often been warm enough for shorts, but the quantity of sunscreen required at high altitude on the snow for my legs means I don't do that - instead I wear white lightweight long johns and shorts with wind pants over them, and I'll ski in just the long johns on a warm day.
As I've matured I think I get colder somewhat easier when sitting but when on the move it hasn't changed - I run hot.

[sparky]

I also wear pants always, mainly because I never know when I will be bushwacking. I just roll them up if I feel like it. Instant shorts, and no silly zip off legs

[rlown]

I used to wear shorts, and if it was cold, i'd put the thermals on underneath. A very classic look. :retard: black thermals. with blue shorts. Like a bad old ranger movie. For the last 3 years, i do not carry shorts anymore, except for the ride out.

I use Marine surplus camo pants now. wind proof, double butt, double knee and also mosquito proof. And cheap. No more rubbing on sun screen or bug juice. Not going back. As others have mentioned, bushwacking is easier with the pants.

[BrianF]

Awright, I confess. I am one of those guys that wears shorts in the cold. I have been wearing shorts on a daily basis for at least 40 years, even at work (Contractor) and wearing long pants, unless it is really cold, feels constricting to me. I hear you on the bushwacking tho', came back from a desert peak climb about a month ago looking like I had waded through a cat fight - should have gone long that day! Here in Santa Barbara I wear shorts down into the 40s unless there is a brisk wind, but it always gets up warmer later in the day. Sierra trips are always shorts in the day, long pants in camp when it gets cool or the skeeters come out. If I am hiking it has to be pretty nasty to bring out the pants while I am moving. I'm not stupid, I do wear warm pants in the snow or on cold and windy peaks and below about 45.
Now that I am closing in on 60, I do seem to feel the cold a bit more but not alot more, and more in my hands than anywhere else

[LMBSGV]

I always wear shorts when hiking in the Sierra spring, summer, and fall even when it's snowing on the three occasions I've encountered it. I just feel better hiking in shorts. I put on the polartec pants at the campsite when the temperature drops. At home, I also wear shorts when I run every morning as long as the temperature is above freezing (in San Geronimo Valley it frequently is in the 20s in the morning in winter so the people I see regularly on my run kid me about not wearing shorts due to the cold). Getting older hasn't changed anything except when I'm sedentary in which case I do seem to want to add another layer more than in the past.

[The Other Tom]

I wear pants year round while hiking. Keeps the sun and the bugs off. And as others have mentioned, protects the legs while bushwacking.

[RooPhillip]

I used to wear shorts, and if it was cold, i'd put the thermals on underneath. A very classic look. :retard: black thermals. with blue shorts. Like a bad old ranger movie.

I hate to admit it, but that's my current hiking look. I never could find pants that didn't feel "constricting", so I started wearing black Under Armor bottoms with shorts over them a couple years ago. Warmth, freedom to move, and a bushwack and granite barrier all in one. I also wear velcro knee braces over the UAs when I hike. Yep, serious dork patrol on the trail!