What are good hiking pants/shorts? Which brand?

[armendzh]

I did my first serious hiking travel few months ago when we went to Torres del Paine. However, we were dressed in just typical adidas pants that you would wear at home or in the gym. We looked pretty weird compared all other people who were really ready for hiking with hiking pants, gloves, sticks and what not.

So for our next hiking trip in August, I would like to get some better hiking gear. Specifically hiking pants or shorts. I went today to local sport store in the area and saw few hiking pants by Magellan and Columbia. The local store didn't seem to have wide selection, so I might as well just buy online. Which brands are the best to get? Is Magellan any good? Columbia and Tactical seem to get the most number of reviews on Amazon.

In August we plan to spend about week or two in Utal and Arizona, so see Grand Canyon, Zion and other national parks in the area. Plus I have ideas to go to Hawaii and Iceland in coming year... so I would like to have something that would last.

Edited May 31, 2015 by armendzh

[rasty]

Get the lightest nylon shorts you can find. Columbia and The North Face both make version that can be found at Dick's Sporting Goods.

For posts I suggest Marmot Scree pants. These are great in anything except very hot weather.

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[toejam]

Really like the Prana Zion convertible pants I got recently.

[805gregg]

I got some real nice White Sierra convertible pants from Kittery Trading Post, like $29 great features, and fast shipping

[Aaron Zagrodnick]

I've had good luck with REI's Sahara convertible pants, although I picked mine up before they released the latest version with the no-sit zips:

http://www.rei.com/product/861660/rei-sahara-convertible-pants-with-no-sit-zips-mens-32-inseam

As it turns out though, I've actually never used them in shorts mode, but I do like to use the zippers to vent as needed in warm weather or not when it's cooler.