Patagonia GI II Short - Men's - 2010 BCS

do not buy these. if you do, then there will be less of them for me to get and wear! : )

seriously though, bomber shorts. the material is super lightweight, but has enough structure to not look like a flowing kilt around your waist. kinda what you'd expect from a hiking short in terms of feel, not as smooth as a baby's bottom, but by no means scratchy. it dries wicked quick so you almost never need to worry about chafing. the buckle feels solid and has a good range of adjustment, so you can batten down the hatches on day 5 of the 3-day backpacking trip when you're down to eating crumbs of gorp and going lord of the flies over the last clif bar you found in your buddy's pack, but then you can loosen it back up once you have to resort to eating your friends and you pack the weight back on. the pockets are good sized, not too big, not to small. be careful though, they're angled just right so that things in your pocket can escape easier than the loch ness monster when you sit down. the fit is great, i'm 5'11'', 155, usually wear a 30-32 and the medium fits perfectly. sitting comfortably on my waist they come down to a little above the knee; long enough to keep people from being blinded by my pasty white man thighs, but short enough for good range of motion.

in short (haha, short...yeah...) patagonia hit the nail on the head with the GI II's. great hiking short, but simple and classy enough to wear around town and not look like you just came from a week in the woods.

These are currently my favorite hiking shorts; lightweight, breathable, plenty of room to move but not billowy. I also like that they don't have big, puffy, cargo pockets. The nice zip side pocket and rear pocket provide plenty of security and the front pockets have mesh bottoms for draining.