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Long Term
Report: Macabi Adventure Travel Skirt
Name: Karin Claus
Age: 44
Gender: Female
Height: 5’ 6” (167 cm)
Weight: 120 lb (54 kg)
Email Address: KarinClaus@yahoo.com
Region: Evergreen, CO USA
Date: October 13, 2004
Backpacking Background:
I live and play in the Colorado Rockies. I have section hiked the entire
Colorado Trail. I through-hiked the Appalachian Trail in ‘02. I through-hiked
the Pacific Crest Trail this year. I hiked the Appalachian Trail solo, but hiked
the Pacific Crest Trail with my husband. I have been slowly and carefully
updating my gear to lighter weight equipment. I have been backpacking for the
past twenty years. I have climbed 38 of Colorado’s highest peaks. I enjoy
getting out in the woods almost every weekend.
Product Information:
Manufactured by: Macabi Skirt
Manufactured date: 2004
Manufacturer URL: http://www.macabiskirt.com
Listed Weight: none
Weight as Delivered: 9 ounces (255 grams)
Color: Charcoal, Caribbean (started
with Charcoal, and changed to Caribbean later)
Size: Small
Waist: 26 in (66 cm) (relaxed) which expands to 38 in (97 cm) (to fit over the
hips when putting on)
Length: 35 in (89 cm)
Width at hem: 76 in (193 cm)
Suggested Retail: $76.95 USD
Product Description:
The skirt that I received was size small, regular length. The skirt comes in XS,
S, M, L and XL in regular length. It also can be ordered in size S-XL in long
length (38 in long [97 cm]). They also have it in a short length (31 in to 32 in
[79 cm to 81 cm]) in size S, M, L.
My current skirt is Caribbean blue. The skirt is available in Charcoal, Bark,
Caribbean and Claret. There are currently two other colors ,Spruce Blue and
Stone, which are being discontinued.
The skirt has two deep hand pockets. The right pocket also has a zippered inner
pocket. Inside this pocket there is a loop that keys can be clipped onto. There
are four 3 in (7 cm) pleats on the front of the skirt. There is a plastic
“D” ring sewed to the bottom of the left waistband. There is a matching
plastic “D” ring inside the skirt on the middle of the back panel, sewed 1˝
in (4 cm) up from the hem.
There is one metal snap at the corner of
both pockets. There are matching snaps on the inside of the skirt on the side
seam, sewed 2 in (5 cm) up from the hem.
The fabric is Dupont Supplex® nylon. Included with the skirt was a hangtag
describing the fabric. According to the hangtag the fabric is “windproof and
breathable. Cottony soft, yet strong. Water resistant, quick drying. Stain and
fade resistant. Lightweight, packable.” The entire skirt is made from this
fabric. The bottom 3 in (7 cm) of the inside of the pockets is a mesh. Since the
skirt says it is 100% nylon, I assume the mesh is made from the same fabric.
Now on to the fun stuff! The skirt, when worn in the configuration it arrived
in, is a long skirt, and looks very presentable. This skirt looks a lot better
than most of the clothes that I normally wear to work.
The next configuration is changing the skirt into pants. I did not quite
understand this concept when I looked at the information on the web site. Now
that I have the skirt in front of me (actually, I’m wearing it) I understand
how the PantClip® works. The PantClip® is an adjustable strap with plastic
clips on both ends. The plastic clips clip onto the “D” rings. The skirt,
when made into pants, is more like “I Dream of Jeannie” pants. It does not
really have separate legs. You take the PantClip® and clip one end to the front
waistband, and the other end to the “D” ring on the inside back hem. It’s
not really pants, but it is a very clever idea. The strap adjusts from about 12
in (30 cm) to 18 in (45 cm).
The next configuration is a short skirt.
The length is about 14 in (35 cm) in this configuration. Both sides snap up.
Then using the PantClip®, the front and back can be clipped up. One side of the
PantClip® is clipped to the middle of the front waistband of the skirt, and the
other to the middle of the back waistband of the skirt. The PantClip® clips to
loops that are 8 in (20 cm) from the hem of the skirt on the inside of skirt. It
looks like there are also variations on this theme. The PantClip® can be
clipped through the middle of the back of the waistband, and the front clip
could be run through a belt loop and clipped directly to the loop on the skirt.
This makes a skirt that is about 18 in (45 cm) in length.
I think there are a few more permutations. For example, you could use the
PantClip® attached to the “D” ring, and snap the skirt up with the wading
snaps. Macabi calls these snaps “wading snaps,” because they snap the skirt
into a shorter skirt.
The web site says the fabric is rated UPF
25. I am surprised that the printed literature that comes with the skirt does
not say anything about sun protection. The web site also says that the skirt is
odor resistant.
Field Report:
I wore this skirt continuously for the first 60 days of my Pacific Crest Trail
through-hike. I successfully
finished the hike in 4.5 months. The clothing I wear while hiking is extremely
important. I do not carry a lot of extra clothes. I need to be completely happy
with something, for it to still be in my backpack after 1,000 miles (1600 km).
The PCT has been hard on all my gear, and the skirt has been no exception. I
have worn the skirt from the hot desert, into the high snow of the Sierras.
From the Sierras into Canada I did not wear the skirt everyday.
I did wear the skirt whenever the weather was warm, and the mosquitoes
had abated. I found that I wanted
full coverage from the annoying mosquitoes, and warmer clothes when the weather
got colder. The skirt has held up
well, and is still enjoyable to wear.
When I arrived in heavy mosquito season, I tried wearing the skirt and applying
DEET. I got very sick with
respiratory problems while using the DEET, so I quit using the DEET, and I
started wearing long pants. I was
also not comfortable wearing the skirt when the weather turned cold and rainy.
I get cold easily, and generally wore more clothes than most of the
people that I was hiking with.
During cold and rainy weather, I wore long underwear and rain pants.
The skirt worked excellent for me during warm weather when mosquitoes
weren’t a problem. It was also very nice to have while running errands at town
stops.
At the beginning of the test, when I first put the skirt on the elastic was
tight to start (which kept the skirt nice and snug), but then loosened up. I
originally didn’t know why the skirt had an elastic band, and drawstring.
After wearing the skirt, I now see that the drawstring holds the skirt on.
In general, I leave the skirt long for hiking through the brush. I snap it short
for hiking when it is hot. These are the two configurations that I usually use.
I do not use the pants mode.
Color:
I started out with a Charcoal color skirt.
After I ripped off a snap on a fire hydrant, the manufacturer sent me a
replacement skirt. I sent the
charcoal skirt back to the manufacturer. The
replacement skirt was Caribbean blue. Both
colors are nice, however, if I could only have one color, I would prefer the
charcoal. The charcoal color seems
dressier.
Sweat:
I wore the skirt without underwear, in the desert for better ventilation. I had
chafing problems without underwear. But, I did enjoy the better air circulation.
I only tried this for two days. The skirt is very comfortable to wear in hot
weather. Generally, I have been wearing the skirt with my underwear inside out.
This keeps the side seams of the underwear from chafing on my skin.
The skirt got very stiff after consecutive days of sweating through it. When I
stop for a break, and take off the pack, the skirt does dry very quickly.
After washing the skirt regains its normal drape.
Length:
The length of this skirt is absolutely perfect for me.
When walking through the long brush, my ankles are covered, but the skirt
is not dragging on the ground.
Snaps:
In the desert, I started having troubles with the snaps. When going through
cactus and thorny brush, I quickly drop the skirt from a short skirt to a long
skirt. This saves my legs from getting scratched up. However, I believe
prolonged contact with sand in the desert, caused the snaps to get dirty. When
the snaps were dirty, I had a very hard time getting them to snap and unsnap.
After the skirt had been washed, I didn’t have such a hard time with the
snaps. I still have to struggle to snap the snaps.
I hike with metal trekking poles. When
the skirt is configured as a long skirt, the snaps continually slap against the
poles and make noise.
Encounter with a fire hydrant:
On May 10, 2004 I ripped the skirt. I was walking out to a McDonald’s. Yes, as
far as I know, this is the only McDonald’s that has a sign for it on the
Pacific Crest Trail. There was a very strong wind. The skirt caught on a fire
hydrant, and the fabric holding the snap ripped. This is the only fire hydrant
that I have encountered on the trail.
I got in contact with Macabi (about both of these problems: hard to snap, and
fire hydrant problem), and they replaced the skirt for me. I believe also, that
I am snap-challenged, and there really was nothing wrong with the snaps on the
first skirt. My replacement skirt is a gorgeous blue color.
Wind:
I have been in extremely strong gusts of winds. There was so much wind, that at
times it was very difficult to stay upright on the trail. I have not had any
problems with the skirt in strong gusts of wind.
Snagging:
I got a small run in the new blue skirt while I was jumping over a barbed wire
fence. After washing the skirt, the run is no longer visible.
Pant-Clip:
There have been a few times where I have almost lost the Pant-Clip. I will
generally make the skirt long when sitting down, and sometimes I have forgotten
to reclip the clip to the skirt.
Pockets:
I generally keep my current map zipped into the security pocket. When it is
extremely windy, I take my sunhat off, and put it into the larger pocket.
Washing:
I have never washed the skirt according to the directions. The directions say to
wash in cold water. It always just gets thrown in to whatever is being washed. I
have not encountered any problems by doing this.
The skirt is still colorful, with no obvious signs of wear or fading.
Temperature/Weather:
The temperatures have ranged from about 20 degrees F (-6 C) to 105 degrees F (40
C). I was not comfortable with the
temperatures on either end of this range. However,
in the extreme heat the skirt allowed good ventilation, and I was as comfortable
as possible.
Rain:
I have gotten the skirt soaking wet with both rain and dew.
The skirt dries fairly quickly once its not exposed to any more moisture,
but I have become chilled while wearing it walking through morning dew.
When the weather was hot and dewy, I left the skirt long while hiking
through the wet brush. This kept me
from getting scraped up.
Fords:
I have forded creeks that have been thigh-high with strong currents. The skirt
did not seem to cause any extra drag while fording. For some of the fords, I
would wrap my skirt up high and tuck it into the waistband. The skirt dries
quickly after getting wet.
Mosquitoes:
I applied DEET to my legs when wearing the skirt short. However, I had a bad
reaction to the DEET, and will not continue wearing the skirt short while in bad
mosquito areas.
Cactus:
While walking through the desert, I invariably would walk into cactus bushes.
The cactus did “sting” me through the skirt. After leaving the desert, and
washing the skirt a few times, I finally got all the cactus stickers out of the
skirt.
Odor:
My socks have had such a horrible smell, I couldn’t tell if the skirt got to
smelling bad.
Sun Protection:
I did not get sunburned in the desert wearing the skirt. The skirt does have UV
protection.
Wrinkles:
The skirt does get wrinkled when balled up and stuffed into my pack.
However, the wrinkles disappear when wearing the skirt for a short time.
Summary:
I wore this skirt daily while hiking most of the Pacific Crest Trail.
Likes:
The skirt is comfortable and easy to clean.
The skirt looks dressy.
The skirt is the perfect length when worn long.
I got lots of compliments from people when wearing the skirt.
I like the endless configurations the skirt has.
I liked the excellent, friendly, customer service.
The skirt comes in an assortment of great colors.
Dislikes:
I have troubles with the snaps.
The snaps make noise when slapping against trekking poles.
Suggestions:
1) Make the skirt not quite so flared at the bottom, so there isn’t quite
so much excess fabric when configured as a short skirt.
2) Change out the snaps to a different kind that won’t make noise.
(If you pick up the skirt by the hem and shake it, you can hear the snaps
rattle.)
3) Change out the snaps to something else, that is easier to snap and unsnap
quickly for those of us that are “snap-challenged”.
4) Offer a version that is treated to repel mosquitoes.
Thank you BackPackGearTest and Macabi for the opportunity to test this skirt.
I have lots more long distance hiking plans, and hope to wear this skirt
for many more years.
Read more reviews of Macabi Skirt gear
Read more gear reviews by Karin Claus
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