Yesterday I hiked Blood Mountain and had a weird day. I started off in 51 degree weather wearing two Stay Dri long sleeve shirts and a technical hiking jacket. As I got underway, the "sweat" factor took over and I put the jacket in the pack. As it got steeper, the more I sweated. At 3500 feet, I came around the Northwest side of the mountain and caught a stiff cold wind. My daughter and I hesitated to put a dry jacket over our wet shirts so as not to wet the jacket. Thus we endured a cold wind chill of about 35 degrees. After reaching the top of Blood Mountain, we headed to the shelter, removed the wettest of the "Stay Dri" shirts, and put our jackets on. Some hot soup on the backpacking stove got us better. My question is, what is the deal with the clothing? What could I have done better other than packing in another shirt? I appreciate the input.
Thanks
Mark

Your first problem was allowing yourselves to get so sweaty. For starters, I'd wear a lighter shirt--I get into a lather when hiking uphill even with temps in the upper 30s to low 40s F. Certainly two shirts were far too much! I also like to strip down before I get soaked with sweat. At 50*F I would have started with one shirt and no jacket, even though I might have been a little cold the first 10 minutes. The alternative is to stop after 5-10 minutes of hiking, when you first realize you are wearing too many layers. A slower pace may be needed to reduce sweating, too.

Your second problem was not to put on your jackets when the weather changed. I wouldn't hesitate to put on a breathable wind shirt over my wicking shirt immediately when stopping or encountering cold wind. With a relatively breathable windshirt, your body heat will dry the sweaty shirt underneath and force the moisture through the windshirt fabric. That will also happen with a breathable rain jacket, just not so fast. The windshirt will block enough wind so you stay warm. A wicking shirt doesn't soak up much moisture, anyway. This is a situation where a lightweight breathable windshirt is well worth the few ounces.

If it's really cold and windy, I add a lightweight fleece vest under the windshirt (synthetic fleece absorbs little moisture). If you have insulation you don't want to get damp (i.e.., down), wear it over the wind shirt. A warm hat and gloves can play an important role, too--leave them off when you're sweating and put them on when it gets cold.

Similarly, in warm weather when it rains, I usually just get wet (for me, better a rainwater soaked shirt than a sweaty sauna inside the rain jacket) and then put on the rain jacket when stopping or if the temp drops and wind comes up. Again, a wicking shirt doesn't really soak up that much water.

As you found out, it's definitely not a good idea to let yourself get either sweaty or chilled! The technical term for regulating your body temperature via clothing layers and activity to fit the conditions is "thermoregulation," and it's an important skill to learn. In cold weather, you can practice it while exercising around home.

Yep, always adjust your clothing so that you're not sweating, or sweating as little as possible, when exerting yourself. This will take trial and error. For myself, when snowshoeing I'm very comfortable down to about -20F with just a silkweight base layer, Stoic Merino blend shirt, uninsulated Cabela's waterproof/breathable pants, and midweight wool gloves. If it's windy I'll wear my waterproof/breathable EMS Thunderhead rain shell, usually with the pit zips wide open. If I'm breaking trail or doing a lot of climbing, I'll either wear just the Merino shirt (it wicks fairly well) with the sleeves pulled up or leave the zipper unzipped on my jacket. If you're warm when standing still, you're wearing too much to be active in.

Hiking or snowshoeing in the 20s-30s I wear just the pants and a technical synthetic shirt with high moisture transport, and no base layer. If it's windy I add the jacket, and leave all zippers unzipped unless the wind is in my face. If it's much above 50F I just face the fact that I'm going to sweat even if I'm wearing the absolute bare minimum that's legal for wear in public.

In case you haven't figured it out, I'm very warm blooded - I can work outside (yardwork or auto repair) in just a T-shirt & jeans when the temps are in the upper 30s and I'll be sweating. The dry 80s or the humid 60s kill me! I'd rather have it 0F than 90F So maybe I'm not the best person for giving advice.

I like my hiking shirts to be a bit over-sized so there is good air circulation. If long sleeved - you can roll up the sleeves. I change clothes A LOT when hiking. It only takes a few minutes. One trip I did in late Fall, it turned unusually warm and I had only taken fleece! I did have two handkerchiefs so I tied them together and made a 70's hippy style top for modesty. You guys can just take off your shirt and hike in the buff.

And, another thought- if you are sweating and panting, maybe you are just going too fast. Slow down to a steady moderate pace and take few if any rest stops.

Wouldn't the pack chafe?

When I get hot and sweaty unexpectedly I stop and takeoff my shirt and shoes for a few minutes to cool and dry off. It helps alot to regulate body temps and moisture.

I gravitate towards clothing that offer a lot of adjustability in the way of venting. And during a hike I'm going thru a self questioning of my comfort level and acting on it. Most the time the adjustments I make are done while moving... Not with every step mind you,but often enough to be ahead of sweating problems. My personal comfort threshold is if I feel the need to put on more clothing when stopped.- and take that off when on the move..