I get asked several questions each week about various aspects of camping, car camping, and hiking, and I think I’ll start posting my answers here to the blog. Shoot me an email if you have a question you’d like me to answer.

Here’s a question I received a few days ago:

So I was wondering if I could ask a clothing question. I notice you always wear pants even when it’s hot out and was wondering why.

There are a few reasons:

1. When I wear shorts and my legs sweat, the dirt/dust I kick up on the trail sticks to my sweaty legs and makes my legs super dirty. Pants keep the legs cleaner. The cleaner I am on my SUV RVing adventures, the less often I have to shower and use up my precious water supply.

2. The bottoms of the pants cover the tops of my hiking shoes and help keep pebbles and sand from getting into my shoes. Not only is it uncomfortable having dirt and rocks in your shoes when you hike, but they wear holes in your socks faster.

3. I can bushwhack or walk through overgrown vegetation without worrying about my legs getting scratched.

**UPDATE MARCH 17**

I got a great email from my friend and fellow SUV RVer Robert who had this to say about wearing pants while hiking:

“I too wear long pants primarily to prevent my legs from getting burned to a crisp by the sun which is inevitable at high elevations. They are also the ultimate mosquito repellent. But they’re uncomfortably heavy and hot for summer hiking. The solution? Pajamas! They’re super light, breathable, and cheap. You can wash them at night and they’ll be dry by morning. But can they take the kind of beating the backcountry will dish out? After nine days in the John Muir Wilderness one summer, walking for miles cross-country and climbing over high passes, I emerged with not one tear, not one thread out of place. Pack a second pair for sleeping in.”

Available at:

• Walmart ($11.00, pants only; plaid)
• Amazon ($21.90, full set; solid color)