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Archive for October, 2012

Product Review: ExOfficio Give-N-Go Underwear

I really love it when a product lives up to its reputation 110%. Not every product that I test does, unfortunately.

When I was at the Overland Expo in May, I was given a pair of Women’s Give-N-Go Bikini Briefs to test and review. I know what you’re thinking:

“Kim, seriously, you’re going to review UNDERWEAR on your blog?!” Yeah, I was thinking that too.

But then a lady came up to the booth and was exclaiming that she wears nothing but the ExOfficio undies and they’re great and she wears them every day and they last and on and on and ON she went. So I figured I’d swallow my, ahem, trepidation about reviewing panties and give it a go.

Now Give-No-Go Briefs are explained as:

17 countries. 6 weeks. One pair of award-winning underwear. (Ok, maybe two.)

Join the thousands of people who have discovered the ExOfficio travel underwear revolution. Just toss your Give-N-Go’s in the laundry or wash them in a sink. Within hours you will have a fresh, dry pair of underwear. Breathable, lightweight, and long-wearing, you will toss them into your carry-on for every trip. Soon they will replace every other pair in your underwear drawer.

Which all sounds wonderful, right? But I was interested in how well they held up on the trail. And how well they preformed at different times of the month. Because, let’s face it ladies, it’s just a different story when “it’s that time of the month”.

Test One:

• Short hike (1.5 miles)
• Hot, humid weather
• “That time of the month”

I was pleased that they didn’t bunch, ride up or give me a wedgie. It was hot, humid, and just way to muggy to enjoy being on the trail. But I was pleased that the panties seemed to wick moisture away from my skin. As for the additional discomfort of also wearing a sanitary napkin, well, I’m not sure that anything really makes that more comfortable.

Test Two:

• Short hike (1.5 miles)
• Even hotter, more humid weather

It was actually the same hike. Just a week and a half later in the summer. Which meant that it was hotter, more humid, and I was hitting the trail about an hour later in the day. Again, there was nary a sign of a wedgie: the panties stayed exactly where I wanted them to be with no chafing or discomfort at all. In the additional humidity, they didn’t seem to wick moisture away from my skin quite as well as I would have liked but I did notice that while the rest of me was a bit, um, ripe, the odor resistant properties were in full effect.

Test Three:

• Long hike (6 miles)
• Hot, dry weather
• Carrying a huge backpack

And it was on the weekend’s backpacking trip that I decided that these panties are worth their weight in gold! It’s one thing to say they dry out quickly it’s completely different to experience it first hand. While there was no sink for wash, rinse and wring, even wearing them as soon as I stopped sweating, they dried quickly and completely. Odor resistant was working perfectly and I felt my skin was breathing.

The real kicker though was that I never felt as if I was wearing too many clothes. You know that feeling when you’re hot, sweaty, and covered in trail dust and suddenly your trail clothes aren’t cutting it? They’re sticking to you, making you even hotter, and you just feel gross?

Well, the ExOfficio Give-N-Go briefs just don’t do that. The next day when I switched back to my regular cotton briefs for the short hike out proved that the Give-N-Go’s were living up to everything that was promised. The cotton briefs, while comfy, didn’t stay put, felt much hotter and just were not as all-around comfortable.

So, go figure! I fully intended to try the panties but not actually publish a review about them. It’s just a little out there for me. But after experiencing them in action, I felt I really needed to share.

The only thing I’m not sold on is that they only come in black, white, nude, and brown. The lacy bikini comes in pretty colors but I’m not really a lace type of girl.

So that’s my complaint: ExOfficio, please make your amazing, fantastic, Give-N-Go Bikini Briefs in pretty colors. Or polka dots!

The next test I want to try is kayaking in them. But based off the results from hiking, I’m sold! So use any of the above links (affiliate) and get a pair (or three!) of your own!

And, to sweeten the deal, ExOfficio offers Free Standard Shipping On All Orders Over $75

Now, I just wonder if the bras are amazing as the panties…
PS: No, that’s NOT me in the photo! I stole it from the ExOfficio website.

Do you ever have one of those perfect weekends? The one where you spend more time outside than in, have great adventures, see amazing scenery, are close to wildlife, and have great company doing it?

Well I just had one of those weekends!

I decided that it was finally time to do a real backpacking trip. I’ve been accumulating backpacking gear for a while but hadn’t ever done a trip. I’m not experienced and I was waiting to meet somebody who knew what they were doing. The last thing I needed was to hike three miles into the forest with somebody inexperienced. I’ll live without the blind-leading-the-blind, thank you very much!

For my adventure, my friend Ben & I decided to hike into a mine that had a seep coming out of it. And if there just happened to be a geocache there, well, yay for us!

We basically hiked about five miles round trip. And the scenery was stunning and the weather perfect!

At the mine I realized that we really hadn’t read the cache description all that well. (To be honest, I hadn’t read it at all!) And I hadn’t printed out the cache pages. I always print the cache description page because geocaching can take you well out of cell service!

We weren’t sure if the cache was in the cave or not (still not sure since we never did find it) but I did find something cool in the cave:

Bats!

Lots of little brown and grey bats. Say what you want about bats, they are off-the-chart cool. The cave twists back into the hillside at least 100′. In the last thirty feet there were bats everywhere. Stuck to the ceiling like fuzzy light fixtures, squeezing out of holes about three inches across, and just dangling one at a time.

And no, I didn’t touch one! Nor did they come anywhere close to getting in my hair. But I did turn off the lights and kneel a moment in the black and listen to them squeak at each other. And felt the wind of one’s passing as it flew overhead. I really didn’t have the right camera equipment to get any good photos. And I couldn’t really sit on the mine’s floor since the seep was at the very back and the entire floor of the mine had at least two inches of water covering it.

I got one photo with Ben shining the light on a hole and, yes, I did take one photo with flash. I just couldn’t help myself. I left right after that since I’d woken them all up and I didn’t want to agitate them any more. I’m planning a trip back with better camera gear to get some photos!

 

Let me just say this, walking out the last time (took a total of three trips into the mine looking for the cache) I was treated to a view of Ben’s silhouette in the entrance and four bats flying between him & I. They didn’t want to pass either of us. But I crouched low so they could go over my head and got to watch the sunlight stream through their wings.

So cool!

The original goal was to hike up to the ridgeline above the mine and along the mesa until we could see the valley below and then camp. But the ridge was, well, not exactly hiking friendly. Very steep, rugged terrain. We did try it but gave it up as a bad job.

So, on to plan B: return to the truck and then drive to the other side of Chino Valley and hike into the Verde River.

After about five miles round trip (hauling a 30+ pound backpack!) that’s what we did!

The access to the river was in a remote spot that required 4-wheel drive so we had the whole area to ourselves. And it wasn’t that far of a hike from truck to river. Thank goodness because I’m not sure how much farther I wanted to hike. My super cool pack was a super good buy. And it doesn’t fit me as well as I’d like!

After a great night under a full moon, it was a hike back out in the morning!

I will say this: I think I may well be addicted to backpacking now. I love the ability to hike away from other campers and enjoy the wilderness. And I loved knowing that an ATV or 4-wheel drive wasn’t going to come screeching down the road and get dust all over my tent because we were miles from any road!