Gear Recommendation: Hiking Skirts
Fall has arrived, and for outdoor enthusiasts, that means strategically planning our clothing layers. A good layering system should keep you comfortable as your activity level or the weather changes. For chilly mornings that break into sunny afternoons, my favorite piece of clothing is a hiking skirt.
The hiking skirt presents several key advantages:
Versatility: With a hiking skirt, I can easily peel a base layer on and off my legs on the trail. This is especially handy on backpacking trips or long day hikes when there is a significant temperature swing during the day. While convertible pants offer a potential solution, I personally find the zipper and resulting Dad Shorts restricting and awkward.
Comfort: Hiking skirts offer excellent ventilation and freedom of movement. And if you are like me and struggle to find shorts that fit in both the waist and hips, a hiking skirt with a wide waist band is a game changer.
Bathroom Privacy: Using the bathroom in the woods is so much easier in a skirt. Imagine not having your bare butt hanging out or toppling over the pants manacles around your ankles!
Choosing a skirt
Gear recommendations are tricky. Models change seasonally, and once a guide falls in love with an item, we tend to use it until dissolves into a cheesecloth. But here are some things I look for in a hiking skirt:
Material: For backpacking, I prefer a fabric with more wicking and waterproofing, usually with a stiffer feel that will stand up to multiple days of abrasive contact and coffee spills. For day hikes I look for a synthetic material that is stretchy and softer.
Shape: Hiking skirts come in a variety of lengths and fits, from short and straight through the hips, to long and flared. I prefer something with an flared A-line shape that hits around my knees, which I recommend for hikers wider in the hips and thighs.
A good hiking skirt doesn’t have to be advertised as such. My go-to day hiking skirt is a synthetic “travel skirt” from Mountain Hardware. Title 9 typically has great travel skirts that are trail-ready. Poshmark has a wide assortment of used skirts, particularly helpful when retailers have switched to winter gear or the season’s styles aren’t your style.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
Purple Rain Adventure Skirt and Adventure Kilt
Purple Rain Adventure Skirt and Kilt
From a flexible waistband that won’t give your hips pack-hickeys, to practical pockets, these handmade skirts are well-loved by backpackers and day hikers of all genders.
Royal Robins Discovery II Skirt
Royal Robins Discovery Skirt in the backcountry
I’ve been rocking iterations of the Discovery Skirt for backpacking going on 8 years now. The flare at the base provides some additional modesty when crouching down, and the pocket are smartly placed.
Layering under a skirt:
A pair of lightweight bike or yoga style shorts will help avoid thigh rub. My favorite are Tomboy X’s micromodal boxer brief style shorts in 6” or 9.” For cool weather leg layers, something with an ankle zipper or stretchy band at the ankle makes for easy transitions without removing hiking boots.
A final note about outdoor apparel– don’t afraid to sport something fun. Gone are the days when our gear had to be olive or taupe for fear of not being taken seriously. The most badass rugged mountain guide I ever trekked with rocked a brightly striped polyester-spandex skirt she purchased at a thrift store on our way to the trailhead. “Flare,” she explained, “You’ve gotta have flare.”
See you on the trail!