Erin Trail

Initial Impressions

The Patagonia Women’s Point Peak Trail Pants are a medium weight, very flexible pant with a lot of pocket options. These pants got more comfortable the more I wore them and performed well in a variety of conditions and activities.

Patagonia Women’s Point Peak Trail Pants Detailed Review

I put my Patagonia Point Peak Trail Pants to the test during a 9 day trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. Testing consisted of a few hikes but also time spent driving to and from hiking spots, hanging out at breweries, and climbing in and out of my van. Temperatures for testing ranged from 40 to 70 degrees.

These are stylish AND functional hiking pants.  These pants are at home while adventuring but I felt comfortable wearing these off the trail (and could even pull these off at the office on more causal days) The pants are made from a recycled nylon/spandex blend that has a water repellant finish that’s PFC free. The knees and booty have inset panels, consisting of fabric that is ever-so-slightly thicker and more textured, for abrasion resistance and durability.  And there are a MANY generous pockets – one at each hip (traditional pant pockets), one at the front of each quad that utilizes a zipper, and two back pockets with zippers.  The front quad pockets are big enough to hold a phone while not feeling bulky.  The zipper pulls for these pockets are a soft nylon cord.  

Of note: The zipper pull cords are nice and handy. Unfortunately, the right pocket zipper cord was also used to affix a packaging tag to the pants, and in my hurry to unwrap and pack, I cut the cord to remove the tag without realizing that the cord was required to make the zipper fully function. This is a good lesson to this reviewer to be more careful when cutting tags, but also, maybe Patagonia shouldn’t have used that particular cord for product tags. I got the zipper to work fine while wearing them sans-cord, but it was annoying. Once I got back from my trip, I reached out to Patagonia via their website chat box, and helpful (real!) human put in an order for a replacement pull cord, to be sent to me free of charge, so my pants can be fully functional again. 

Fit

The Patagonia website says that the Women’s Point Peak Trail Pants are slim fitting and run true to size.  My prior experience with Patagonia is that their clothing items run small, so I ordered one size larger than recommended in their size guide.  The pants are definitely slim fitting and I found them to be fairly tight around my quads and booty, which are “athletic” due to all the swimbikerun + weight lifting I do.  The waistline fit for these pants on my body is best described as “exact” with no extra room, but it also wasn’t too tight.  I debated exchanging them for an even larger size (2 sizes up from their size guide) but after a week of wearing them, I decided that I’m fine with the size I got. 

The Point Peak Trail Pants have adjustable waist hook-and-loop tabs to customize the fit of the waistband.  Since my pants fit on the tight side, I didn’t need to adjust them tighter.  I was worried that the tabs would feel abrasive or annoying, but they lay flat on the pants and were soft enough that I didn’t notice them while hiking, bending over, or sitting down.  The same hook-and-loop tabs are also at the bottom of each leg, allowing the wearer to tighten the leg opening to minimize dirt/snow/mud from going into the tops of hiking boots or up the pant leg.

The fabric is incredibly stretchy, which allowed for unimpeded movement.  Even with the pants being fairly tight on my athletic quads, the fabric was so stretchy that I was still able to move comfortably.  The pants felt almost like a legging in terms of flexibility, while offering more protection, durability, and warmth. 

These pants are best for cooler temperatures.  One hike was near 70 degrees (but near sunset) and I was a bit too warm during that hike.  Other hikes were in cooler temperatures (40 – 60 degrees, with occasional rain) and my personal thermostat in these pants at cooler temperatures was just right. I don’t think they’d be warm enough for casual wear at temperatures below 30, but I think if you’re vigorously hiking, they’d be a great option for colder hikes.

Overall Impression

The Patagonia Point Peak Trail Pants are slim fitting – but flexible – hiking pants that seemed to fit and feel better the more I wore them.  They are perfect for cooler hikes, offering more warmth and weather protection than running tights.  They’re stylish enough to be worn both on the trail and at the brewery once your hike is done.  Patagonia’s dedication to using sustainable fibers (90% of the materials are recycled) and excellent customer service make this an easy and thoughtful choice for hikers and active women.

Erin Trail