If you live in an area where you can get rain and temps regularly get below 50 degrees F you should remember that hypopthermeia can kill you very easily. Only a few hours in wet cotton at 45 and you'll find yourself at risk.
This is why the guys from the NW and those of us in the Appalachians focus on synthetics and wool and consider cotton to be suicidal.
I'm an old solo backpacker, caver and whitewater kayaker and the synth/wick/insulate/shell model has kept me going when other folks in carharts were on the verge of dropping out so I pick my gear accordingly. Since I'm in an area where people dress for cold/wet no one dressed in a broad brimmed hat, rain shell with fleece/bunting underlayer and boots stands out.
If you lived in a dry climate YMMV.
This is why the guys from the NW and those of us in the Appalachians focus on synthetics and wool and consider cotton to be suicidal.
I'm an old solo backpacker, caver and whitewater kayaker and the synth/wick/insulate/shell model has kept me going when other folks in carharts were on the verge of dropping out so I pick my gear accordingly. Since I'm in an area where people dress for cold/wet no one dressed in a broad brimmed hat, rain shell with fleece/bunting underlayer and boots stands out.
If you lived in a dry climate YMMV.
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