Under Garments for BackRoads

Backroads Product-Under Garments

As a forester, bird hunter, and fly fisherman, one thing I am picky about is outdoor clothes.  That means my closet is very short on sport coats, ties, and other generally useless clothes. But when it comes to preparing for outdoor activities, I am always well-dressed and comfortable.

So, lets start with the basics.   I hesitate to call these items underwear, since they're function is to keep you warm and dry before all else.  I am also big into natural fibers, simply because you know what your getting; whereas, with man-made fibers it seems they just keep changing.

Silk is great for cool, rather than cold, weather.  I wear silk t-shirts with long sleeves and silk long john bottoms.  I wear them fly fishing in my float tube during the warmer months.  Black is the color of choice for the outdoors. 

By accident, I discovered a handy use for them as pajamas.  Normally, I do not wear pajamas because when I toss and turn they bind and I wake up.  However, it was a dark, stormy cold night during a bird hunting trip and my sleeping bag was just not warm enough.  So I reached in and grabbed the silk.  Much warmer, and they slipped nicely when I tossed and turned without waking me up.

For those women that like to sleep in flannel nightgowns, try a set of silk undergarments.  The somewhat see through characteristic will improve the scenery significantly over the flannel nightgowns, and both of you will sleep better.

In colder weather, I move up to Merino wool.  These are warmer than silk, do not itch, and stay warm when wet.  They also do not have the odor that normal wool has when it is wet.  I have several sets of these since I tend to hunt and fish in fairly cold weather.  Most folks will probably just need one set, for those really chilly times when the jet stream dips far to the south in winter.

For both the Merino wool and silk, underwear bottoms are also available.  They are also available in different colors and with short-sleeves and turtlenecks options.  There are plenty of styles to choose from.  For me, it is long sleeves for the cold and black so the dirt does not show!

For socks I finally pitched ALL my socks except for the Costco Kirkland Outdoor Trail Sock.  They come in a four pack and are a Merino Wool Blend.  It does not appear Amazon offers the four pack, however, they do offer lots of Merino socks that should work just as well.  I used to wear a liner sock to prevent blisters in the past, but with these Merino socks the liners are just not needed.

My only complaint about the socks is they come in four slightly different colors so you have to sort socks.  I'd just as soon have them all the same color so I can just toss them in the drawer without sorting.  Life is too short to mess with small stuff. 

So now we have the basics covered.  Next I will cover "covering the basics".

Going to where the climate suits my clothes...