hiking shorts reviews

Gear Review: Hiking Shorts from GoLite and MontBell

Hiking Shorts

GoLite Yunnan Shorts

GoLite Yunnan Hiking Shorts
$75, 6 oz. (men’s small)
Sizes: men’s S-XXL, women’s XS-XL
golite.com

Hot summer hiking is a breeze in these shorts. I wore them for five straight, hot August days backpacking with my family (read: sweating under a heavy pack) in Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness, and on summer dayhikes from Idaho to New Hampshire’s rugged and humid White Mountains. These shorts are cool and dry fast, thanks to mesh-lined hand pockets and a lighter, thinner nylon than is used in many other hiking shorts—perfect for summer hiking.

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Gear Review: REI Venturi Shorts

REI Venturi Shorts

Hiking Shorts
REI Venturi Shorts
$70 men’s, $60 women’s, 7 oz. (men’s size 30)
Sizes: men’s 30-42, women’s 0-16
rei.com

This seems an awkward confession to make, but I admittedly have conflicting desires when it comes to hiking shorts: I want them to be as light as possible, but to have at least a couple of zippered pockets and offer more than shorty-shorts coverage (mostly for sun protection). In a quest for something that straddles those competing objectives, I found REI’s Venturi.

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