The weather was 28*, with gusty winds, in excess of 15 mph. The sky was overcast, with an occasional patch of sunlight. The air was dry. The snow was a nice, light, powdery snow. Overall, a great day to be outdoors-like there is EVER a bad day. I wore, from toe to head, smartwool socks, USAF mukluks, with felt boot liners, German wool pants, an Underarmor T shirt, a wool sweater, a polypro watchcap, ragg wool finger mitts, with poly pro liners. I also started with a goretex jacket on, but got too hot, believe it or not. So, that came off pretty quick. I also carried a backpack with extra gear, and 2 quts of water.
As we were simply out for a little walk in the woods, I didnt really do anything other than some tree ID. It was simply a nice walk outside. The pants are similar to these: http://www.armynavysales.com/products/german-wool-pants/
They are heavy weight, wind resistant, and have what sounds like some sort of plastic lining in the knee area, I assume that is to keep from wetting through, when kneeling. These are actually fantastic pants-I have been searching for something like these for years, for winter outings. They are rugged, sturdy, with cargo pockets, and were my size. I really couldnt go wrong with them, and am vary happy with the purchase thus far. The REAL test will be this weekend, when I have a 3 day hiking/winter workshop, where we will be outside all weekend, practicing winter skills. But, with this test run today, I am happy so far.
The other gear tested were a pair of USAF mukluks: http://www.omahas.com/usaf-issue-mukluks
These are simply canvas boots, with a rubber bottom. They came with 2 pair of felt insoles, which I am using both. They did NOT come with liners, which I am led to believe they dont sell them with them. I ordered liners separately off of Amazon, for about $15.
These are simply canvas overboots, if you arent familiar with a mukluk. Being canvas though, they can possibly leak water in. What I did, was got some canvas wax treatment, and treated the bottom half of the boot-the part most likely to come in contact with the snow. The upper half zip up, and act as gaiters. There really isnt a need to waterproof these, as, for me, they are simply covering up my wool pants, which are water resistant anyway. These are nice & flexible-ideal for snowshoeing, which was my main reason for buying them.
With the liners, my feet were WARM, all day. This is important. They never got hot-no sweating. They never got cold-at ALL. They were covered in snow, for 2 hours. Granted, I was walking the whole time. But, the snow never got in, the melted stuff rolled right off, and the liners, plus the insoles, kept my feet at a comfortable temp-and, my feet are RARELY warm in the winter, due to previous bouts of frost nip. But, not ONCE, did they get cool. Or overheat. Based on this short stint today, I am anticipating a good weekend of use in these. They are definitely for cooler weather-being canvas, even the water resistant stuff, they will still wet out, eventually, with melted snow. One thing I do want to get, is another pair of felt liners. This way, if one set gets wet-even though its wool felt, and will retain heat, wet feet suck-I can trade them out for dry ones, and dry the wet ones when I can-hopefully, over a fire.
And, last up, so nice pictures, of our day out!!
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