Wilderness Fashion
Man has come a long way in his attire, from animal skins to high-fashion jeans. In outdoor attire, there are high-tech pants that can be converted from long pants to shorts by unzipping the legs, they dry quickly, and are water and wind proof. Footwear has gone from moccasins to Gortex boots. What I don’t understand is the fashion trend that includes flip-flops, shorts and a tank tops as acceptable wilderness attire.
A reader of my column recently commented on this fashion trend and I agree with her whole heartedly. I cringe when I see a hiker in flip-flops or huarache sandals. Not that I have anything against either, I use them occasionally when showering at an RV park but they have no place on the trail. While working in the Copper Canyon country of Mexico, I saw Tarahumara Indians traversing the mountains in huarache sandals but they are tough and used to it.
The reader also mentioned how funny it was to watch someone trying to push a stuck 4x4 in flip-flops. I would’ve liked to have been there and taken pictures. People just don’t believe the things often seen in the out-back.
Starting with the head, please use a hat in the summer. Baseball cap, cowboy hat, floppy hat, anything that keeps the sun off your head. Seems some young women have an aversion to wearing head gear. If they’ve spent a long time getting their hair to look just so, they don’t want to mess that up by putting something on their head. I can understand that to a certain degree but a hat helps keep the head cool and blocks UV rays.
At the start of a trail there should be a No Shirt-No Hiking sign. A tank top might be ok for mid-day when the sun is hot but if you’re out after dark, even the desert gets cold. If I had a dollar for every emergency blanket I gave to cold hikers that I rescued who were wearing a tank top, I’d be rich.
Short pants are another pet peeve of mine. Some people like to hike in shorts to tan their legs and be cool. That’s fine as long as they stay on trails where there’s no brush. Go off-trail into the rocks, brush and catclaw and the shorts won’t protect their legs or ankles.
After getting sweaty hiking all day then spending a night out will be a cold experience if dressed in shorts and a tank top. A jacket or sweatshirt might have seemed out of place in the morning but would make a night bearable, in the event one becomes lost.
I remember the rescue of a young man who fell while climbing down the north face of Boundary Cone near Oatman, AZ. It started out as a sunny winter’s day - the sun felt great so of course he was wearing shorts, T-shirt and tennis shoes. He fell climbing down a cliff and broke his pelvis. In the afternoon we were called out for a rescue. Just after dark, we used ropes to rappel to him. The rescuer was properly outfitted with rescue overalls, boots and jacket. He had to give the victim his jacket to keep him from freezing while he, the rescuer, spent a cold miserable night waiting for daylight to complete the rescue. Was the fashion statement the hiker made by wearing shorts and a T-shirt during the day worth spending a cold night on a cliff and making the rescuer join him in his discomfort? No, the hiker had no way of knowing he’d fall and become a victim who had to spend a night in the cold but isn’t that part of anticipating problems and using common sense? Anyone venturing in the wilderness should realize they might encounter problems and should be prepared. Having proper clothing for any eventuality should be obligatory not optional.
Luckily, during the years I was in Search and Rescue I always had an emergency blanket and never had to give my jacket to a victim. I learned to be prepared the hard way when I was a junior geologist, being caught in a freak July snowstorm on a mountain peak in Nevada while tending a core drilling rig. I was wearing only jeans and a T-shirt. My jacket was back at camp and I couldn’t leave my job at the drill rig so I froze and learned a tough lesson I’ve never forgotten. Since that time, I don’t make fashion statements, I use common sense.
