Dirty Girl Gaiters

Status: 99% In
Weight: 36 grams
Mods: Added shock cord through top seam to make them adjustable
Alternatives: None. I'm committed to these! I guess the alternative is no gaiters, but these are worth the weight to me.

So, the bad thing about going with lightweight trail runners is that there's nothing keeping dirt, rocks, sticks, etc. out of the top of your shoes. Enter Dirty Girls: http://www.dirtygirlgaiters.com/

Light, low gaiters can keep some of that gunk out of your socks and shoes and, more importantly for me, keep you from having to stop to get little rocks and stuff out of your shoes on a fairly regular basis. They hook to your shoelaces in front and attach to the back of your shoe with a little bit of velcro.

The Great Internet kept bringing up this brand as the best lightweight gaiter option, so I knew I wanted to order some, but it took me a week to figure out which pattern I wanted. I decided on this "Rocket Scientist" pattern, but Shaggadelic Blue and Why Bee Normal were close behind in the running.

This past summer, I got to see Saturn and its rings through a telescope near the top of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawai'i. It was the unexpected highlight of the trip for me, so I went with this pattern.

I have chubby legs, so I had to order a custom size so my circulation wouldn't be cut off at the ankle--most people who buy these are super-hardcore trail running types with apparently scrawny ankles, so I'm glad they offered custom sizes. More recently, I realized that these wouldn't stay up if I was wearing shorts instead of pants, and they were a little loose with pants, too, so I added a bit of shock cord through the top seam. Now I can adjust them using the little cord lock you can see above. I got the elastic and cord locks with a recent order from Z-packs, and I love it when little customizations make something just a little bit better for me!

These come in at  36 grams for the pair (including my modification), or just a bit over an ounce. If nothing else, these are worth it for me to keep some of the ticks away from my ankles. I got bit by over 100 little nymphs right at the front of my ankles from a nest of ticks I accidentally walked through during a hike this fall. My pants and shoes were treated with permethrin to keep ticks away (more on this later, too), but my socks weren't. I'll sure as heck be spraying these down before I head out in the spring to try to avoid that issue.