John Wayne's Bag

Extreme Down Bag

Sleeping Bag Reviews

Sleeping Rough

I didn't always know this, but the most pleasant repeatable experience in backpacking is lying down at night. In contrast to climbing into bed at home – an activity most of us hardly notice – crawling into the tent and sleeping bag can be intensely sensual. Usually it's cold, even if you're camping in summer – fifty degrees may be toasty when you're hauling forty pounds of gear down a trail, but at night when you're sticky wet and tired, it's cold outside. The worst experiences I've had as a backpacker all involved sleeping in the cold without the right gear – I've made mistakes on either side of the issue, both the hot and the cold, but the cold seems the most unpleasant. For example -- on my first independent canoeing trip, when I was sixteen and knew all there was to know about camping, I decided that a sleeping bag was unnecessary and instead took only a blanket. more ...

On one of my trips across country, touching base with America by walking and hitching rides, the goosedown mummy bag turned out to be just about perfect for the wintry conditions. I remember a crystalline clear night when I stepped out of a stranger's car into the snow and the cold and walked to a field behind a drive-in movie, made my simple camp with only a foam mat and that down bag for shelter, and ate my warming meal of canned tuna and mentholated sugar in comfort, lying back luxuriously on my cushion of feathers and snow. When I felt like sleeping I pulled the mummy bag's nylon cord snug, so the only opening was the size of a half dollar, tied it with a slip knot, and was immediately dead to the world. I almost stayed that way. more ...

If you’re going beyond the air-conditioning you’ll need some versatile and specialized gear. A sleeping bag like Snugpak’s Jungle Traveler Bag won’t always be perfect but it has practical features built to get you through the tropical night. - - - Pricewise you could save hundreds of dollars on this bag, compared to an expedition quality goosedown bag from REI. The Snugpak Softie 18 costs literally half as much as the top REI Himalayan bag. The question is, do you get the same level of performance? And the answer is, no, you don’t. But you get a good bag for much less money, with some features goosedown doesn’t offer. more ...

You probably know how to build a brush shelter, but have you ever slept in one? Reading isn't the same as doing. Next time you go backpacking or camping, use some survival tricks to simply make life in the back country more comfortable. Sharpen skills you'd need in a real emergency by using them for fun. more ...

Powered by Free Website Templates