hiking in a group with a kilt...

[Alan H]

I took my cotton/poly digicamo reverse kinguisse hiking kilt with me over vacation last week. It was not our typical hiking trip. We usually load up the backpacks with a weeks worth of food and 40-55 pounds (40 for her, 55 for me) of gear and head out by ourselves. This time we hiked in three miles to a wilderness camp, where we stayed in wall tents, had our food cooked for us in a log house built around 1908, and then hiked in small groups with instructors (our was a geologist) for 6 days.

Yes, there will be pictures, soon.

Upshot is that half the guys in the group were intrigued with my kilt and 3/4 of the women were ridiculously "talkative" about it. I suspect that there will be 4-5 new kilted hikers in So Cal soon.

Now....the point of this post. I stopped in at a hiking/outdoors store in the booming metropolis of Lone Pine, before we drove up to the trailhead, to pick up a stick of "Glide". I mentioned to the store staff that I hiked in a kilt. Their response was...."You're not the only one!".

But I have NEVER seen another person backpacking in the Sierra Nevada in a kilt.... though that may change soon.

Have any of you come across another backpacker or hiker, seriously out in the wilderness (not on a nature trail in the park) kilted up? I know YOU might be kilted up, but how about someone else?

[Rileydad24]

Actually, yes. As a Scouter, one of my Eagle Scouts wanted to hike Philmont (BSA's High Adventure Camp in New Mexico) Didn't see any other kilts at base camp, but another crew camping near us one night, had a Scout in a Utilikilt. Honestly, it looked like it was hot and heavy. Had a great conversation with him. He was the only one in his crew that was kilted. There were three of us kilted in our crew. We were in velcro'd version intro kilt from Stillwater. After we finished ten days in the back country, I'm convinced - ill never wear pants or shorts on the trail again! My MH Elcommando arrived two days ago - love it!

[Tartan Hiker]

Rileydad...welcome to the kilted hiking club.

I log LOTS of trail miles every year, almost all in one of my self-made P/C kilts, and I have only encountered one other hiker thus attired. From the trailhead in the wilderness area where I work it is a 17 mile slog to Mount Mitchell, a hike I make at least twice a year. I once encountered a kilted hiker at about mile 13. Utilikilt of some variety if I remember correctly.

I have seen several kilted hikers on the Montreat trail system, but at only 3,000 acres this might qualify as a "park" to a westerner like Alan, so I won't count those.

[Riverkilt]

Used to be someone on the forum that hiked the Pacific Trail kilted...and the other major trails around the country. Olde age and time have fogged my memory of his handle.

Gotta love the search feature. Was Andrew Breecher, but he hasn't been around in nearly 4 years....??

[Friday]

I live in PA near where the Appalachian Trail crosses the Mason Dixon Line. The AT passes trough Pen Mar Park in MD just north of Camp David. While at the park I noticed a man in trail hiker in a kilt. We talked a while about kilts and he said he is hiking the entire trail and finds a kilt excellent attire.

It is amazing how often I have seen kilts being worn in this area.

Interesting article on kilted hiker.

http://sectionhiker.com/hiking-kilts-for-men/

[bigdad1]

Alan while in that general vicinity have you stopped in at Shotts (spelling?) Bakery in Bishop? The most heavenly baked goods and the aroma of the store carries for miles. I first went in there about 35 years ago while headed for June Lake for camping and hiking. Long before I was kilted.

[Java]

.........the booming metropolis of Lone Pine.........

Wow that brings back memories. I was raised out there and we used to spend half the winter going back and forth to Mammoth Mnt. on 395. At the time we considered Lone Pine to be just one of those irritating places where the speed limit on the highway in the middle of the desert suddenly dropped to 35 mph for a quarter of a mile. I whole heartedly agree with bigdad1 about the bakery. I thought it was in one of the smaller towns like Lone Pine or Independance, but my mind is not what it used to be........

[English Bloke]

Happened upon this swarthy outdoors type up by the 'Singing Ringing Tree' a while back...



By chance, I had my Kilt on as well.



Alan. This might not seem like much of a hike to you but we were almost three quarters of a mile from the car...

[Whidbey78]

I don't hike the way you do, but go a little farther and harder than a lot of folks. So far, I have never encountered another hiker in a kilt. A large part of that is probably due to my tendency to seek out areas where I'm least likely to encounter people of any sort.

Truth be told, with the exception of one college professor I run into once or twice a month, the only time I see anyone else kilted at all is St. Patrick's Day. I don't really consider that any more indicative of the potential to encounter a fellow kiltie than the number of sombreros on Cinco de Mayo indicating the likelihood of meeting Poncho Villa.

So, basically, it hasn't happened to me, and very likely won't happen any time soon.

[Alan H]

Heh...we stopped at Schotts's as we drove up 395 after this trip. We'd stopped at Manzanar....which was pretty sobering....and then drove on to Mammoth Mountain. It was hot, about 100F, so a rest stop at Schotts for cheese bread and something cold to drink was mandatory!