Camping Finale

Here's the round-up of my camping outfits and the items i packed for our trip to Gualala Point Regional Park. We left on a Wednesday and returned Saturday, which made for a four day/three night trip. The northern California coastal area is never hot, strictly speaking, but during summer and fall you can get temps into the mid-high seventies. However, it became apparent during the two weeks before we left that we were headed for a cold spell and i packed accordingly. Most days were very foggy and peaked somewhere in the mid-low sixties, dipping down to the forties at night. It can also get mighty windy along the shore, making some wind-breaking pieces vital.

Tops: goatskin jacket with lambswool lining, flannel lined cotton hoody, jean jacket, corduroy button down shirt in sage floral, scoop neck longsleeved cotton rib sweater, scoopneck long sleeved grey henley, thin black cotton ruffle tunic, heather grey cotton crew necked long sleeved tee, black cashmere cardigan. Straw hat with black trim, black wool beret. Black gloves with leopard fake fur trim. White and black bandannas, orange floral silk square, leopard print rayon crepe scarf. Red Dansko clogs, navy Converse sneaks.

Bottoms: cotton khaki cargo pants, umbrella skirt, striped blue/khaki skirt (both skirts cotton), black stretch cotton leggings, dark blue cotton leggings, grey wool blend ribbed tights (not shown: silk crepe de chine half slip). Norwegian style Smartwool socks, pink cotton over the knee socks, grey and white striped knee socks.

As it happened, i saw another lady wearing a skirt over leggings at our campground. She was in the hike-in or bike-in spot, which is reserved for people who made their way in without a car. Pretty hardcore! She looked really pretty in black leggings with a crinkly sheen-y rayon skirt in a violet color watercolor print. Skirts provide some coverage over leggings, as well as warmth. I used a half slip to keep my cotton skirts from bagging up on my leggings and tights. I have nerve damage in my legs and anything constricting or heavy makes the problem much worse, as does travel. The pieces i chose to take along turned out to do a great job at providing warmth while not bothering my legs at all. And it turns out that crepe de chine is so tightly woven it cuts the wind.

In this outfit i wore the grey tights with this skirt, since i thought the black leggings would be too 'Halloweeny' for my tastes. I wore my navy sneaks with no extra socks. In the outfit at the top of the post, i wore the dark blue leggings with the blue/khaki striped skirt. The blue lining and embroidery on the hoody helped it 'go' a bit more with the skirt and leggings. The grey henley sticking out from under the hoody also made the grey seem 'on purpose'. I'm also wearing the floral corduroy shirt.

Here you get a better view of the layering on top of this look. I'm wearing the grey crew neck long sleeved tee, the corduroy floral button down, then the hoody. Choosing a grey tee, grey hoody, and darker grey leggings makes things a little less hectic than if those items had been all different colors. I figured that the umbrella print, animal print, floral, and plaid was enough pattern for one outfit.
I woke up and was it cold! Here you see 'the power of accessories'. The flowers of the pin and on the beret and the animal print on the scarf and glove trim give some life to this outfit, and they are all functional pieces except for the pin. Just put a little thought into choosing a few pieces that you'll be wearing all the time anyway and that will be visible in every weather condition. If these pieces reflect your style you don't have to do much else to look stylish. I was wearing my red clogs with the norwegian socks.

Here you can see a look with lots of layers that comes across a lot calmer than the 'umbrella skirt' look above. I'm wearing three layers under the jean jacket - the scoop neck rib sweater, the black tunic, and the cashmere cardigan. They are all the same dark color so they 'read' as a single unit. The darkness helps them 'melt' into the background. This is a way you can have the warmth and flexibility of layering and still maintain a simpler look if you want.


I was even colder this morning! This is why i suggest starting your capsule around a single, coldest of the cold outfit. You want to be sure that you can wear all those layers at once if you need to! I have worn that hoody underneath the leather jacket, but this morning i was too cold to take off my bomber and just wore the hoody like a stole. It did the trick! Notice i'm also layering my socks - Norwegian woolys over the scrunched pink over the knee socks. (And i'm wearing a bandanna under the beret....it's a wonder i could move!)

This outfit was the fave around the campground. The camp hosts were really nice and the wife of the couple especially got a kick out of all my scarves. Those are the grey and white knee socks, a little scrunched. I'm wearing the black scoopneck rib knit sweater and the corduroy floral shirt knotted at the waist under the jean jacket.

We had so much fun we're planning a return trip before the season's over. I hope all of you enjoy your travels as well!