Can you get any good trail clothing for a reasonable price? I just cant hack the 35 bucks a pop for a capeline tee and 50 for convertible pants. I mean can you get any good wicking tees or poly underwear that wont break your budget? Thank Yous
Doug M
I’m with you on the budget Doug. This is a good time of year to find clearance items. I found a couple of good deals yesterday. A North Face Vaporwick long sleeve tee regular $35, got it for $14 at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Columbia GRT Omni-Dri pants regular $45, got them for $22 at Galyan’s Sporting Goods.
carmax
We got some great stuff at an Army Surplus shop. We has Capilene for $1 for the shirt and $1.50 for the pants. They lasted through the winter in March and again Flame used hers in NH and Maine. The most we spent was $11 for some short sleeve shirts at Campmor. If you just want to get good stuff at a low price Campmor is a good place. I wore my shirt the entire trip (every day) and it still has no holes in it. I had a Smartwool short sleeve T already, that I used in the winter as a sleep shirt and it was my town shirt during the summer. I had it for years before the hike. My windbreaker paints I used in the south during March and April were from WalMart and I got them on clearance for $4. I used the lightweight rain jacket from WalMart. It was not a matter of money, I just wanted to see how cheap I could buy things that would work. Pineneedle (GA-ME 02) bought everything from WalMart. Tent, sleeping bag, shoes,socks, clothing and did just fine. He was a tall fellow and he had to sleep from corner to corner in his $9 child’s tent. But it worked! SouthPaw '02 hiked in floral rayon shirts he bought a Goodwill. Several of the people we met had bought everyting from backpacks to clothes from Goodwill. If you look you can find some cheap stuff that will work. Oh, Flame made our fleece jackets at home from some $1 a yard material. We had some good fleece but at the last minute decided to go the homemade route. She finished the last one (it took about an hour for each jacket) the day before we left for GA. Good luck.
Papa Smurf
Look in thrift shops, church rummage sales, goodwill stores and the like. You will/can find some big time bargains.
I’ve got a heavy duty down coat (retail over $150), actual cost zero dollars (church giveaway).
Got a large European Day Pack with soft leather exterior, water bottle pockets, all sorts of zipper pockets, etc (retail over $100), actual cost about $5.00 or so at a garage sale. I use my down coat and large Day pack over and over. I’ve literally gotten hundreds and hundreds of dollars of use out of these items, the total cost out of my pocket being only a couple of bucks.
Papa Smurf is right, you can get good deals if you look for them. And I agree with him 100%, money with me is not an issue, but I have worked too hard for what I have to give it away for overpriced high end gear when I can get that same gear or something almost like it for a few bucks just by looking around a bit and doing a little shopping.
See you out there. :cheers
Maintain
I believe that Sierratradingpost.com probably has the lowest prices on the net although sometimes it’s hard to find something in your size. I’ve ordered several things from them and have always been pleased.
Nooga
I believe that Sierratradingpost.com probably has the lowest prices on the net although sometimes it’s hard to find something in your size. I’ve ordered several things from them and have always been pleased.
Nooga
You can score some really good deals on ebay if you’ve got time/patience. I got a really nice Marmot shell (usually $300+) for something like $30 after shipping. When you do your searches, don’t be too specific since what you’re trying to find is a seller who doesn’t know what they’re selling (or how much it’s worth 
) Of course on smaller ticket items, you’re probably better off shopping locally since you don’t have to deal with shipping.
Skittles
I got all this stuff at a flea-market. Sierra Designs 10 degree sleeping bag…excellent condition=$5
Kelty 55 degree bag…excellent condition=$5
Five Crazy Creek Canoe chairs…$1 each
Two Deluxe Thermarest mats…$1 each
The North Face mitten shells…$1 for the pair
Five Jansport Day Packs…excellent condition…$2 each
Patagonia fleece-lined nylon jacket…almost new…$3
Five pair of Thorlo socks…still in unopened packs…$2/per
Five Nike windbreakers…practically new…$2 each
Many other camping and hiking items to numerous to list here, and at great prices. Whenever I see deals like these, I snatch them up for myself and friends. The deals are out there and with a little bit of luck you can find them. Good hunting!
Treasure Hunter
well almost… i did buy an expensive sleeping bag this year… I buy shirts and shorts on the discontinued rack at any store…
aswah
I have ordered from Sierra Trading Post.com recently for the high performance clothing, I got the Comfortrel wicking underwear, tops an bottoms at a great price. Ive also got hiking boots an gear from them for several years now. Great prices, guarantees an returns. I just got my Spring 04 catalog an its full of cheap name brand packs, gear etc. at reasonable prices. Happy Hiking.
Stretch Mcguillicuddy
Target. their “Pro spirit” shirts are really nice. they have wool socks on clearance here for $3. they had polyester wicking underwear, too, by the name “akwatek,” i think. might still be there in colder climes, but here in CA they’ve cleared it all out.
eBay, if you shop smart (got a nice down bag for $30 once). thrift stores can be pretty amazing, i scored my REI down jacket (17 ounces) for $10 at Salvation Army. i have a North Face windshirt that cost $3 at Goodwill. i see nice zipneck fleeces there all the time - bought one made of Polartec 200, can’t remember for how much but it was cheap.
REI has an online outlet with some items pretty decently priced. if you live near an REI you should go to one of their garage sales - you might have to do some small repairs, but you can get amazing deals there. i picked up my wp/b jacket for $20 because the wrist velcro was delaminating.
tarbubble
I’ve stopped using Patagonia, MH, TNF poly shirts (I own quite a few) in favor of the Starter branded polyester shirts you can get at Wal Mart. They wick every bit as good as all my expensive stuff and cost $5-11 at most. They also sell compression shorts in the weight lifting section that work well when hiking. I use the compression shorts for underwear on the trail ($10, wicks great) and put one some polyester boxers once I stop.
JinE