www.mountainkhakis.com
Come heat or high water, we tend to wear pants instead of shorts when traveling. Call it a desire to blend, but in all but the most tropical spots (AKA: islands and coasts), most locals around the world wear pants. Shorts are second only to fanny packs in terms of urban travel wear (meaning you’re bound to be pigeon-holed). Happily, long pants don’t have to mean hot, claustrophobic irritation. The Mountain Khaki Granite Creek Pant is made of quick-drying brushed nylon fabric, and boasts a wide variety of trail-and road-ready features like UV 50+ protection and Scotchguard treatment to repel stains. The fit is decidedly relaxed without channeling the uber-baggy world of a hip-hop producer, and they’re immensely travel-friendly, wrinkle resistant and compressing to nearly nothing. Pockets galore–including a Velcro-flap cargo pocket on the right thigh (with a separate zipper pocket inside), twin hand pockets with an additional zipper pocket on the right, and a zippered back pocket. But even with all those bells and whistles, they still look perfectly unassuming.  Mountain Khakis also makes the same pants in a convertible version ($90), ideal for backcountry treks, with zips of a different color for each leg to simplify shifting from short to pants.