I have a purpose for writing the next bit. I grew up in the outdoors and I am able to face most weather conditions. It is a rare exception that I abandon a tent. I have only done it 1-1/2 times. The first time (which I really shouldn't count because we slept fine, we just had to break camp without breakfast) we broke camp because the river rose withing a a couple feet of our tent...another time.
Anyway, over the years I have been blessed to go camping with friends from time to time. Most of the trips went well. A few trips stand out, where others were caught unprepared and had some miserable nights. These trips had low temperatures in the low fifties and I slept like a rock. My companions the next tent over had a very different experience. For me, the weather is something I constantly monitor. I worked outdoors in all weather fair and inclement for thirteen years. I'll get to my point.
Watch the weather and understand what the forecast is suggesting. If someone has an office job and they are used to climate controlled environments the varying temperatures of day and night might be surprising. The high temperature of 72 degrees during the day will generally fall about 20 degrees right before dawn the next day. 52 degrees can be brisk if your summer bag is not as fluffy as it used to be and you don't have anything to throw on top of it.
Another notion I run across is a "warm tent." I have looked into Arctic Oven tents but for most campers I come across, well Texas is not Alaska. Anyway, tents are not warm unless the weather is also warm. Don't expect the tent to do anything but keep the mosquitoes, rain and wind off you.
There are other ways to beat the cold, but the details below are how my then eight year old son and I slept peacefully and soundly.
I hope this helps.
The 2017/2018 winter was an unusually cool winter for Coastal Texas. Some of the coolest nights were well below freezing.
Clay and I took the opportunity to figure out how to comfortably sleep in this kind of weather.
By the time the above picture was taken I had five or so nights in a tent with frosty mornings. Two of those were at a deer camp. Being prepared for the cold weather helped.
What Clay and I did for sleeping in the cooler weather was as follows.
1) We dressed for the cold. That means we wore wool socks, thermal underwear and a sock caps.
2) We layered our sleeping gear. Our first layer was a self inflating air mattress. Atop this was one or two wool blankets, a "regular" rectangle sleeping bag, and two or three wool blankets on top of the sleeping bag. This method works but it does require some degree of diligence. Saying this, the cold air is a strict disciplinarian!
We don't get weather like this much. In the picture above a late evening mist/sleet that froze to the tent fly overnight. The ice weighed the fly down some. It was curious to watch and listen to the tent react to the breezes that shifted over. Frozen as it was, the fly sort of moved as a solid piece suspended over the tent poles. It sounded like thin plates of cast iron lightly clanging.
Anyway, I learned the key to keeping warm in a tent is layers and layers. Sometimes thinner layers are best. One asset is to keep air from getting in through the top of the sleeping bag. I can see where a mummy bag would be an advantage.
One thing I confirmed was my preference of a a rectangle bag with a cotton lining and cotton outer shell. The reasons are...
...in a cold sleeping environment,
1) synthetic linings are just cold. Even though my bare skin is not touching the lining the inner lining is just something else I have to warm. If you shift around you have to warm up that area of the bag.
2) Synthetic shells allow any covers to slid off in the night. Wool does not readily slide off the cotton outer shell
3) I realize many fine sleeping bags, maybe the best ones are mummy bags. For me, I am a large man and I like the room a rectangle offers. I like to turn around inside a rectangle bag, not turn side to side in a mummy bag. Should I use a mummy bag suited to most of my camping I doubt I could keep the extra layers atop.
I do not want to buy a sleeping bag I will use once every couple years. I have not done an in depth study but I suspect the better cold weather sleeping bag performance decreases as time passes. I imagine using a sleeping bag packs the filler down. Proper storage of a premium sleeping bag seems a challenge. Likely there are a lot of readers more knowledgeable on high end sleeping bags than me. Some day I will look into this, but for now a sleeping bag rated for below freezing temperatures is not an investment I will make.
Comentários