Best Outdoor Garb for Good Looks, Utility

It's here: Action August. The one time of the year when we can free ourselves -- if only for a few hours or days -- from the bounds of desk, job and family. To celebrate, I am getting ready for four weeks of camping, sailing, kayaking and all-around goofing off.

But this raises the ultimate question: What is the best gear to take along?

The news -- for this summer, anyway -- is that outdoorsing has never been easier, safer or more stylish.

Companies are working hard to make dual-use outdoor gear that works as well in limited backcountry use as it does in and around town.

If you do it right, you can travel, crash and camp in perfect comfort while still having all the right stuff to clean up nicely -- since nothing is more fun than bashing around in the middle of nowhere all day and then hanging at the club all night with that just-so tamed outdoorsy look.

Here, then, is what I am ordering up for this summer's Action August. Stay tuned throughout the month for how all this gear stands up to extended punishment.

The Ultimate Outfit

Long ago, outdoor clothing companies such as The North Face, Marmot and Patagonia had a business epiphany. If they broke down what you wore camping and hiking into three parts -- the base layers that sit next to your skin, the insulating stuff that keeps in your body heat, and weather-resistant shells -- they could make a whole lot more money. Here, greed was good.

The three-layer outdoor clothing idea really did work. Yes, outdoor garments became punishingly expensive, and you could expect to spend about $1,000 for a full set of outdoor shells, insulating clothing and base layers. (And that's exclusive of shoes and backpacks, which will run you another $500 or so, done right.)

But for those prices, you bought raw, luxuriant comfort and performance for the outdoors: Modern adventure clothing weighs about a quarter of what similar garments did even two years ago.