I’ve got some new gear for this hiking season. My hiking pants were pretty much coming apart at the crotch and my hiking shirt used to be one color but is now at least four different colors and pretty worn out. So I bought a pair of Rail Riders pants, which also have bug protection. I had to buy the bug protection kind because they don’t have women’s pants with the reinforced seat and knees except with bug protection. I didn’t want to be just wearing those around because the bug stuff is only good for 70 washes, so even though I bought them a while ago, I hadn’t actually tried hiking in them. And I bought a new shirt by Mountain Hardwear that has sufficient pocket space to satisfy my desires.
I wore both of those on a little four mile hike from the Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area. Both did quite well. The shirt does run large, but I didn’t size down, because I felt that the looseness would help keep my body cool. It was quite breathable. The pants need wearing in, I think, or I just need to get used to the sound they make when I walk and the legs rub against each other.
Overall, I’m happy with how they performed, and I’m looking forward to using them on my solo hike this year.
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| The trail starts fairly wide, but vehicles aren’t allowed here. |
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| Not a lot of climb to this hike, but some very interesting views. |
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| They’re serious about keeping motor vehicles away. |
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| Tumbleweed trail obstruction. |
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| Either the ground is salty or it was recently snow covered. |
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| The trail edged closer to the water. |
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| I had some trouble following the trail in this rocky section. |
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| Sometimes it seemed like there were multiple correct paths through. |
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| I decided to turn back after reaching the top of that rise. |
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| I almost kept going, but there was a boat down near the trail ahead and I didn’t want to walk past them. |
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| Views got even better going back. |
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| I could hear ducks and geese on the water. |
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| I still lost the trail a bit in the rocks, but I was confident that I’d get to the other side. |
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| Rocky overhang. |
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| Holey rock. |
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| Tiny flowers. |
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| Really tiny – that’s my index finger. |
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| A moth held quite still for its portrait. |
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| Almost back to the car. |
