They've just never improved on wool...

...well, except maybe for Merino. I'm a big fan of wool: blankets, shirt & jackets, socks, mitts, pants... It's the best I've found for all these things when it comes to spending time in the outdoors in cool and/or wet environments. Synthetics have a very limited place in my outdoors wardrobe; usually only for garments that are used for fast and light peak bagging, or when you you know you won't be spending any significant amount of time outside.

Wool is warm, resists body odours for a looooooong time, layers well, isn't restrictive or bulky, maintains insulative capacity even when quite damp, and can be worn near a fire without fear of melting or getting wholes in it. A distinct advantage when in the outdoors. When your clothes get wet you get hypothermia, real fast. Anywhere in Canada this is a danger, 12 months of the year. Being able to dry clothes by the fire is essential!

I recall one time when fishing on the Skagit river in the cascades, when my waders developed a slow leak in the left boot. I was wearing socks made from polar fleece, which of course ended up quite wet by day's end. No problem I thought, I'll dry them out by the fire tonight. Well, I set them up by the fire to dry all right, and momentarily forgot to tend to them. The result: Melted plastic goo! Ugh... good thing I brought extra socks!

A few weeks ago I was snow shoeing in the cascades and my socks got wet again. This time however I was wearing wool! Once we got the fire going in the stove, I laid the wool socks (2 pairs) out flat directly on the hot cast iron stove to dry. I left them there for probably 20 minutes with no ill effects. When I put them back on they were toasty warm and dry. Try doing that with synthetics! Moreover, the whole time they were wet, my feet stayed warm so long as I was moving. Even more interesting, I tried out Mors Kochanski's tip of removing my shoes and walking directly in the snow with my wool socks! While it wasn't an extensive test, my feet never the less didn't freeze, and the snow seemed to be sucking the moisture out of the sock.

There are some down sides to wool that should be acknowledged of course. The coarser stuff can be itchy (Merino solves that), it's heavier than synthetics, doesn't dry out as fast in the sun, and moths could eat it. But overall in my opinion the benefits outweigh the drawbacks by a wide margin for outdoors trips, especially extended ones. The resistance to body odours is of inestimable value. I once wore a wool base layer for 1 week straight, day and night, before it finally began to smell a little bit! Synthetics seem to pick up body smells immediately by comparison.

So if you haven't already tried some good old fashioned wool clothing, and other apparel, I highly recommend doing so. There's a whole industry dedicated to getting people to spend their hard earned dollars the latest "High Tech", "Tactical" outdoors "Gear"; and it's all so much baloney! The good old fashioned stuff wins out almost every time. Why bother spending money on the "latest, greatest" stuff that you "absolutely MUST have"(<-- according to the manufacturer / marketer of course!) if you plan spending time in the woods? Spend a bit of money on some quality wool apparel, and enjoy for years!