Wool clothing on Lost Loon

It’s a rather grey day on Lost Loon. It rained overnight and the weather is coolish. No complaints here. While I’ve been here I’ve been making a number of observations, some about wildlife and some about clothing.  I’ll warn your right now this is going to be about clothing and it may well fall into the category of too-much-information.

        While I’m not much on fashion in the regular sense, I’m always on the lookout for outdoor clothing that is comfortable and practical. For years I’ve been going with the synthetic shirts and underwear because they dry quickly so I can wash them out at night and they will be dry in the morning. The main problem, other than having to hand-wash clothes every day, is that the synthetics tend to get stinky fairly quickly. Despite the wicking technology, they are also hot and sticky. Enter wool.

    I first ran across the Ice Breaker brand several years ago when someone I know was working in an outdoor store and said his goal was to gradually replace all his fleece clothing with wool. Wool is heavier than fleece but doesn’t take up as much room.  Like fleece, it retains warmth when wet and it’s not supposed to get stinky. I was reluctant to try wool because it has always made me itch. The merino in Ice Breaker clothing, and probably Smart Wool as well, is supposed to be itch free. I also hesitated because it ain’t cheap but I did buy a t-shirt. Richard eventually got that one; it was slightly itchy.

    I’m not sure why I decided to give it another try but I bought another t-shirt and actually found that it was really good in the heat. The only time it was a bit itchy was when I had something over top of it pressing it against my skin. The seatbelt in the car was one culprit. The discomfort wasn’t that bad and I decided I could teach myself to get used to it. Over time I acquired 3 short-sleeved and 1 long-sleeved t-shirt, a heavier weight pullover and a jacket that was 50% off.  On this trip I bought the 4 t-shirts and the jacket. I also brought one cotton t-shirt to sleep in. I put on t-shirt number one the day we left. I wore it for 6 days in temperatures from +17C to +32C and it didn’t stink. The only reason I switched shirts is that we went to Gun Lake Lodge for supper last night and I thought it would be respectful to at least wear a clean shirt.

    The lightweight shirts I have are made from merino wool and a fiber made from eucalyptus. Both are renewable and the combination makes the shirts light and fairly quick to dry. The synthetics dry faster but I also need to wash them much more often. I’ve ordered items online from an outlet in Kelowna BC and there is now an Ice Breaker store in Calgary. I’m not brave enough to try the underwear as I think it might just be too itchy with other clothes on top of it all the time. I must admit it is very tempting but if it doesn’t work for me I can’t exactly give it to Richard. I have pretty much switched from synthetic socks to merino wool socks bought at Costco.

    I’m finding the more I wear the jacket (Did I mention I got it for 50% off) the more I like it. It’s not good for -30 but being wool, it breathes and is good in a wider range of temperatures than I would have expected. When we head out on our Adventure Canada trips I’m going armed with one cotton shirt to sleep in, 3 short-sleeved T’s, one long-sleeved T, a heavier pull-over, and my jacket. I’m convinced that by wearing various combinations of layers I’ll be set for anything. I’ll keep you posted as I continue to test the clothing system.