benboy hiking pants

at one point during my pants quest, i happened upon hiking pants. designed for active women, durable enough to conquer rocks and sticks and nature, fleece lined, water repellent. $40 on amazon prime? ok sure. ill bite. enter the benboy women's outdoor waterproof windproof fleece slim cargo snow hiking pants. all of the buzzwords. 7/10. product description from amazon:

based on reviews, i originally purchased a large, waited the requisite 2 days [pre-covid], and they arrived as a friend and i were standing in my kitchen having beers. naturally, i ripped off my pants and poured my body into them. "oh dear. err.. ummm can you breathe?" she asked. no. couldn't breathe, couldn't easily bend, but apparently they looked stellar. after gingerly extricating myself, i returned them for the extra large. unfortunately, i'm a large and a half. i kept the moderately too big size, and have worn them onsite more than a handful of times.

the fleece is directly bonded to the polyester exterior, so there isn't a second interior layer like some workpants. the surprisingly deep pockets hold keys and a phone, but due to the zip, aren't really compatible with my knife. obviously there aren't any side pockets for tools, nor a hammer loop; but if i put anything in the pockets, i very shortly would not be wearing pants. they do come with some attempt at a tactical belt to help counter the extra stretchy sides, but one afternoon i had several moments of panic in the portapotty [my ultimate nemesis] when i couldn't remember how to unclip it.

the inseam would be ideal for someone about 3" taller than i, but cuffed pants are the least of my worries these days. worn on a couple warm maine winter days, 30 degrees, give or take, these are pretty perfect. reviews on amazon recommend wearing a base layer under, but in my opinion, that defeats the purpose of lined pants. the pants are sturdy thus far, repel mud and water as well as can be expected, and are definitely a good mild weather alternative to many many layers. now if only they didn't fall down all the time..

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