I find that a lightweight pair of pants and a separate lightweight pair of shorts is infinitely more versatile and usually weighs the same. More on reddit.com

Personally I love my Adidas joggers pants for that. They have zipper pockets and are very comfortable. I also have some cargo shorts with the bigger side pockets that have zippers on them, pretty sure I got them at Kohl's. But, usually I just take a drawstring bag to parks and leave it on the platform, so I don't have to deal with shit in my pockets. 1) it's uncomfortable and 2) even if I have zippers I'm still slightly anxious. Edit: 3) I usually bring my DSLR to parks and that doesn't fit in pockets. But I also found this vest with a ton of zipper pockets that I wore to CP. The thing held 3 phones & wallets (for my friends), my point and shoot, and spray sunscreen and it didn't interact negatively with any restraints. And it was light enough to wear during the summer and shove in the tiny SteVe lockers. You'll definitely look thoosie but it's incredibly practical More on reddit.com

Kuhl Renegade Convertible Pants . Expensive but I think they check all your boxes. I love mine. More on reddit.com

I personally never use those. The logic in picking your hiking pants should be down to the environnement you'll be hiking in. By example, where I hike most of the time, there are a lot of ticks, meaning that you should ALWAYS wear long pants even when it's warm during tick season. Analyze where you'll hike to determine if long pants are a better idea (by example, if the trail is in the amazonian jungle, you need to wear long pants and waterproof shoes). I personally prefer long pants all the time because your skin, as the largest organ of your body, also needs protection. Long pants protect from the sun, the cold, the underbrush, insects, etc. I will also usually wear long sleeves for the same reason. More on reddit.com