Pants

On the trail you want as many multipurpose items as you can find. Pants that double as shorts are a great item. Whatever you do, do NOT bring jeans on the trail at Philmont. Jeans are made of cotton, which if you did not know, Cotton Kills! Jeans are extremely heavy! They will never dry out when they get wet on the trail, and they can only be used as pants. We Rangers are begging you, for your own sake don’t bring them!

Now that we have established you are not going to bring jeans, here’s what you should look for in your pants. Look for something that will save you weight. You have plenty of stuff that you already have to carry, so why carry 2 pairs of shorts and 2 pairs of pants when you take 2 sets of pants that will double as shorts too? If you have the scout zip-off pants with the mesh pockets, stop shopping right now and take those on the trail! They are exactly what you need! Here are a few pants that work great on the trail.