Bushwacking pants and top

What kind of pants are best for bushwhacking? Obviously durability, weight, and stretch are important factors for me, as well as being good protection from bugs.  

Same with a top, durable, lightweight for its durability, good bug protection, and wind resistant. 

Arborwear makes some awesome synthetic pants. Not amazing for high output activities but mellow hiking they take a beating and are double kneed. Not stretchy though.  The only plant that could consistently get through them was Sierra Whitethorn, and that has some SPIKES. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a stretchy pant that takes a beating and doesn’t shred bushwhacking. I have climbed in my arborwears and they do pretty well but I wouldn’t go bouldering in them or push my grade sport climbing  

For a shirt I just wear a fishing shirt of some kind out of durable nylon. Does okay as most spiney plants are down low.

Also if you are bushwhacking safety glasses or other eyewear are a must. Trust me. 

Jeans

Or jeans. 

Khul Renegade shorts and pants have been great for me. I've been pretty rough on a pair bushwhacking, sliding down rock slabs, etc. and there are only a couple stitches fraying. The material is lightweight, airy, and durable.

First Lite Sawbuck pant. A cheaper, less durable alternative might be something like the Eddie Bauer double front guide pant.

As for the top, I'd be wearing a softshell jacket that I don't mind trashing (in cool weather) and a loose cotton button up shirt in warm weather.

Leather gloves are nice also

Zach Harrison wrote:

Leather gloves are nice also

Agreed.  I wear those leather half-finger metolius gloves, and they are basically impermeable to Tucson cacti (except for your fingertips obviously); it's nice to be able to hold a thorny branch away from you as you pass by it.

Arborwear canopy pants are the best bushwhacking pant I’ve found. I bushwhack for my job and they’ve held up significantly better than anything else I’ve tried. They stretch some, breathe pretty well, and are tough as hell. Not cheap though, $140. 

They have arborwear pants that will do exactly what you want, minus the stretch, for like $30-40. They will be more durable than the $140 pair, since they $140 pants are made for tree climbing(and don’t last that long in a tree because of the stretch)

stretch and durability do not go hand in hand

they suck for big movements, so I prefer not to climb in them. My job supplies them to all the employee’s.

Edit: they even come with a little side pocket for hand shears to help cut vines and such as you adventure.

If you can handle the heat, a thick carhartt jacket would leave you heavily protected from thorns and such. The glasses are also a wonderful suggestion. I don’t use them because I feel it’s harder to see what I am doing, especially when I am sweaty. I like visors on a helmet; easy on and off, and no risk of losing them. Kinda unrealistic if you’re adventuring, though. 

that was the combo for clearing the scenic views on the blue ridge parkway. Thorns absolutely everywhere from briars and locusts and something else. 

Add work gloves to your bush kit.....if you haven't already thought of that.  And i carry hand pruners.  If you a unlikely to ever pass that way again, pruning isn't really a concern.......but if you are.....

Thrift stores are good places to shop for shirts that will ultimately be expendable.

Best pants are the Gamehide Elimitick impregnated pants. Ticks will fall right off, and Deerflies will avoid you.