In a couple days, I am attempting to summit Mt. Whitney with my best friends—the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states. I’ve been pondering how I could quickly change from wearing pants to shorts while on the trail without taking off my chunky boots or gators.

I’m super pleased with the ways these turned out and excited to see how it goes on the trail. The sides zip all the way up and down! These definitely aren’t perfect—waistband needs some fixes and there’s some puckering along the seams because the fabric had a little stretch. If I made them again, I’d buy a non-stretch. I wanted to make them in a cotton twill, but cotton isn’t great for performance gear. Not bad for a first try!