7 Best Hiking Jackets of 2026, Tested on the Trail

The Arcadia II is the women’s counterpart to the packable shells we liked on the men’s side: the same idea, a thin waterproof layer that lives at the bottom of a daypack until the sky changes. It weighs almost nothing in the hand, the hood comes forward over your face rather than perching on the back of your head, and it takes up less room in a pack than a spare fleece.

It earns its place as the lightest genuinely waterproof jacket here for women. Water beads and runs off, velcro tabs at the cuffs close the gap between sleeve and glove, and the main zip sits behind a storm flap so the wind doesn’t find a way in. On a warm day it’s barely there in a pack; on a wet one it does the job without any drama.

Sizing is the catch, and it’s worth taking seriously: this jacket runs small, so if you plan to wear it over a fleece, go up one size. Get that right and the cut is loose enough to layer without swamping you, with deep hand pockets and a hood that covers your face in a headwind rather than flattening against it.

There’s nothing technical about the Watertight II and that’s the point. It’s a thin waterproof layer with a hood, a zip and two pockets — the jacket you leave rolled up behind the car seat or at the bottom of a daypack so that a changed forecast never ends a walk early.

We think it’s the best of the packable shells here for that job. It keeps heavy rain out, it doesn’t cook you when you step into a warm cafe still wearing it, and it packs down to something you forget about until you need it. It’s quiet in the wind as well, which matters less than waterproofing and more than you think on an exposed path.

The fit needs a word of warning: it runs big and the sleeves run long, so a smaller frame can end up swimming in it. Order your usual size if you layer lightly, and drop a size if you’re between. It won’t warm you on its own — no shell will — so plan on a fleece underneath once the mornings turn cold.

The morning we took the 33,000ft out, wind was doing more damage than rain, and that’s the weather this jacket is built for. The fleece lining takes the bite off a cold start, the inner cuffs close snug at the wrist so wind doesn’t run up your sleeve, and the shell blocks the gusts well enough that you keep walking instead of turning around.

It’s a softshell rather than a hardshell, and the waterproofing should be read that way. It shrugs off showers and keeps you dry in steady drizzle; in a long, heavy downpour you want a proper rain shell over the top. What you get in exchange is stretch — reaching for a hold or stepping over a fallen trunk doesn’t fight the fabric — and warmth without the bulk of an insulated coat.

That balance is why it’s our pick for cold-weather hiking. Warm enough for a frosty start, thin enough that you’re not carrying a coat once you’re moving, and stretchy where a climb asks for it. It’s the jacket we reach for when the forecast says wind and showers rather than a settled downpour.

The listing puts the package at 2.78 pounds, and you feel that on the trail: this is a substantial fleece-lined softshell, not a shell you fold into a pocket. What the weight buys is warmth, pockets and a fabric that takes a scrape — the jacket for cold, filthy days, winter trail work, a muddy dog walk, a slog in sleet.

It’s well equipped for the money. Pit zips dump heat on a climb, the hood is deep enough to pull down over a cap, and there are enough zipped pockets to keep gloves and a phone out of the wet. The fabric is quiet in the woods too, which we appreciated on a still morning.

Where we’re careful is the hardware. The zips are the weak spot: stiff from new and the part most likely to let this jacket down, so work them a few times when it arrives and don’t force them in the cold. Everything else about it is built to be used hard — this is not a jacket that needs looking after.

The first thing you notice is how much of you it covers. The hem drops to the knee, the two-way zip opens from the bottom when you’re striding out, and on a cold, driving day that length is worth more than any membrane: the wind never gets at your back.

Underneath, it’s fleece-lined through the body and sleeves, with two big inside pockets as well as the zipped outer ones — the kind of coat that swallows gloves, a hat and a phone and still does up. Warmth is the headline: this is winter walking outerwear, and it’s the one we reach for when the temperature drops and the wind gets up.

The length that makes it lovely on a flat riverside path is the same thing that gets in the way on a steep climb. There’s a lot of coat here, it swings when you move quickly, and on a proper mountain day you want something shorter and packable.

So it’s our pick for the walker rather than the climber: winter miles on forest tracks, coastal paths and towpaths, where coverage and warmth matter more than grams. If your hikes involve hands-on rock or a scrambling ridge, take one of the shorter shells here instead.

The baleaf is the least expensive jacket in this guide, and it’s the one we hand to a friend who wants a rain shell for summer day hikes without thinking too hard about it. It’s a thin, packable waterproof layer with a hood that rolls into the collar and a back pocket that turns inside out into a stuff sack.

The details are better than the price suggests. The zipped pockets sit where your hands actually fall, the bright colorways are genuinely visible on a foggy morning, and the hood velcros down flat when you don’t need it. For a jacket that lives in a daypack from May to September, that’s most of what you want.

The water resistance has a ceiling, though. It handles a steady shower and a wet walk home happily; a full day of driving rain will eventually soak through, and this is not the jacket for an exposed ridge in bad weather.

Sizing is the other wrinkle — it runs inconsistently, small for some builds and huge for others — so order from the size chart and expect to swap it once. At this price, that’s a fair trade for a shell you can keep in the car all summer.