Sleeping Bags

With all the newfound wealth of Americans, is there any such thing as honest camping anymore? I'm not talking about the motor homes and the mega-trailers that folks use these days and call it "camping". I'm talking of throwing a canvas oil-cloth on the ground and throwing an old-fashioned sleeping bag on it. That's your bed. On a normal year, I probably spend 100 or so nights of the year in just such a situation.

Notes from a catfishing trip a week ago...

By 2000 hours, I was comfortably in the fart-sack, but acutely aware that my comfort was probably short-lived. Gusto (my 60-pound cowdog) elected not to share a bedroom with Katie (my 30-pound chukar dog), so he squeezed through the portal in the truck and joined me on the ground. Temperatures continued to plummet, and once the frost began to form, Gusto became rather insistent at becoming my bag partner. Sometime long about midnight, he nosed his way into the bag, burrowed to the nether regions at my feet, and refused any and all attempts by me at dissuasion. Had to be as uncomfortable for him as it was for me, but apparently warmth was more desirable than crowdedness.

Katie luxuriated in the truck cabin 'til almost 4 a.m., at which time she too decided to join in the sardine-esque accommodations on the ground. A modicum of warmth was had by all, but due to the confinement of 260 pounds of dogs and human within the confines of one insufficient sleeping bag (remember blivets?), slumber for all was evasive.

A sleeping bag thrown out on the ground has its own appeal, but I won't argue that it is as comfortable as my home-bed. Couple the sub-freezing air temps with the inevitable misplaced boulder and the occasional (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman)-ants across the face, and I'll vote for my home bed more often than not. Into the equation, insert a couple of shivering dogs, and one finds that the slightly restrictive sleeping arrangement is transformed into a torture chamber that would equal the wildest musings of the Marquis de Sade.

Ahhh, but on the other hand, one must weigh these discomfitures with the positives.....

I feel you're pain ha ha I've invested in a cowboy bed roll which is a heavy tarp then a foam pad or inflatable pad then your sleeping bag then the tarp clips on top covering the whole thing granted it won't help you with the ants but it will add a whole new challenge for your dog's ha ha

Allan

Not that many years ago I camped off my motorcycle much like that, only no dog. Really a great way of camping if you ask me but the older I get, the harder the ground becomes.

I have slept many nights in that fashion. Now i sleep on a fold out bed with an airmatress. Its queen size and folds into a rectangle about 14 inches square and 3 feet tall. The air mattress is inside a nylon cover and leaks are not a problem. Cold is. So I put an old sleeping bag with an iffy zipper on top the mattress and a good bag on top of that. I like comfort.

I went around Lake Superior two summers ago on my motorcycle, 2 man tent, air mattress and sleeping bag. Going to get a air mattress that you do not blow up, blowing up is not problem I have a air pump that I plug into the motorcycle. just to thick. I have an old GI sleeping bag.

I do lots of old fashioned camping. Normally hiking, canoeing or towing toboggans and snowshoeing. My last decent trip was a 800 mile trip around Algonquin park here in Ontario by snowmobile.





Titanium wood stove and pipe, lightweight tent. Whole kit fits on the sled and all gear weighs around 70 lbs including a gallon of extra gas.

Summer is generally sleeping bag and a tarp, but at thirty below this is the equivalent of just a bag and tarp in summer!

Years ago canoed from Cochrane to moosonee with only a tarp, sleeping bag and sleeping pad. And the pad was really there to keep you from sinking into the soggy moss! So yes, some of us do camp without motorhomes and such!

Im with you hutchy. i left out that in addition to a sleeping bag under me i have stove going too. I set up camp out of a trailer I pull though. I wasnt kidding when I said I like comfort. Tent has a floor, I have coleman stoves and lanterns. Put a folding table in mine too. Getting soft in my old age.

Coldest night I ever spent was in Wyoming sleeping on the metal bed in the back of a 68 Ford pickup. I like my tin Tipi that I pull behind the pickup.
The worst thing about sleeping in a tent is getting out of the sack to pee in the middle of the night. BRRRRRR

If you get a partner and can hold out longer than him, you can get up after he tosses a chunk or two in the stove

Having a strategy is key

I got a good laugh out of that, Jack and am glad I wasn't drinking anything or it would have ended up on my laptop. Mainly laughing because I can relate. Rowdy, my 55 pound GSP is quite insistent upon getting into my sleeping bag when camping and the mercury drops much below 25 or so. Thanks for sharing.

I've done the bedroll on the ground thing with a good bag. Later I graduated to a cheap 8'X10" PVC tarp to cover you from the dew and rain. When I was in my 20s I would go out in the pasture around home when the snow was deep and it was cold. To do my survival thing with just a good bag, a saw and a few other back pack things. Made a survival shelter from red cedar branches underneath a bigger cedar. Slept in my bag on top of a pile …. a big pile of cedar branches with a tarp top cover with insulating snow





and a fire burning in front. Not much sleep as I kept the fire going but I proved to myself I could survive, long as I had a saw and evergreens were abundant. I really thought I had it all figured out when I went elk hunting first time with a small camper tent …… minimal gear. It rained for 2 days and then a foot of snow. I was cold , wet, tired ands exhausted after a week...…. but by goly I had a super time being a "mountain man".... a small town flatlander from Nebraska surviving in the rockies !!! But since then I have made much of what I need when me and a buddy or two go elk hunting. Wall tents, cots, wood stoves, hot showers, a heated (if need be ) outhouse, cook shacks etc. Been out in a foot of snow and lows around zero. Slept in my briefs on top my sleeping bag. The older I get it seems the smarter I got !!!!

I usually sleep inside the fresh carcass of the animals I killed. Trade the hides for jerky and tea. Now that I’m older I’ve started at least wearing clothes on my camping adventures.

If nude hiking day can be a thing, why not nude hunting??

https://www.mensjournal.com/adventu...-to-legally-make-the-most-of-it-w489096/


Props for taking it to the next level!

Appears that there are some old-style campers still out there! Thanks for the feedback guys. To my way of thinking, the more nights I can spend "under canvas", the happier and healthier I am. I just turned 60 (a few years ago), and I use that as an excuse for liking a sleeping pad underneath me now as well.

Tell me more about the "bed", Danny.

Admire the American flags at each set-up, NebrCatMan.

Nice set-up, Hutchy!

Sorry 'bout the GSP memories, Eric.

I'm thinking about that same set-up, Allan.

Carry on!

Jack

All of you guys, thanks for sharing the explanations and pictures. Back in the 70s and 80s I would sleep just about any where, from the ground under a rock to the bed of my old pickup. Gulo, I like the sounds of being happier and healthier but my idea of camping out is having three squares a day at the main lodge, of having someone make the bed after I have gone fishing and sleeping on a comfy bed! LOL

Just a few years ago I was flying to Los Vegas for a National Home building show. It was a North Easter, and we got delayed in NJ for a few hours. There was not time enough to go find a motel so I curled up with one of those paper thin airline blankets and slept on the concrete for three or four hours. When I got up to catch my flight I remembered why my camping style has evolved over the years. LOL

Mac, maybe I will enjoy creature comforts more as I get older (doubtful, I am already stubborn), but I try and find ways to make great food out of a tent, or just about anywhere.

I discovered freezer bag cooking. Simply put, meals based on dry goods in a freezer bag with a predetermined amount of boiling water. Pour water, and wrap in a sweater and wait ten minutes while it steams. Like mountain house freeze dried meals, but much much cheaper do it yourself versions. Lots of recipes available online.

Simple, I find them delicious, can add wild meat, ready in about fifteen mins with no in the field prep, and no dishes or cleanup.

If I am going to be somewhat spartan, there will at least be a lot of food!

Whats nice too is, you can have hot meals for lunch if backpacking, hunting, etc so long as you can boil a cup and a half of water. And in a bag, you can eat while walking if you like.

I use a MSS bag/bivy with a decent sleeping pad. The pad makes a world of difference.

I sleep pretty close to the fire. Not for the warmth but so I can get it going again in the morning from the comfort of my bag.

I When I was a teenager and in my 20’s I never used anything but a sleeping bag. Froze my gems off on occasion. I tore an old trailer apart and rebuilt it about 8 years ago. Sold it a few years ago for 3x what I paid for it. I have only used a tent since. Probably not a coincidence that my wife hasn’t gone camping with me in that same amount of time

Hmmmmmmmmmmm Gusto or Miss Lisa !! Tough choice !!

Need to take your ginko biloba Jack !!

Brought back a memory. Years back at yearly cnty 4H horse camp greeting a family, asked the father if he had brought his sleeping bag ? Looking at his wife he commented " got her with me"......... she smiled . Tut

This is probably borderline , Jack, but here goes ....

I use a good thermarest inflatable mattress to separate the ground from myself , in any situation. I found out about them decades ago, and they have really been a good comfy resting spot for me , in any conditions in the outback. Just roll them up in tie downs, then inflate them and tying off the valve stem when done. I have used them on frigid snow floors, or backpacking tents in summer.

When I go walkabout, my gear is less than four pounds in tent and fly, and backpack provisions generally not more than 50 lbs. That is for 10 days at a time . That means, food, shelter, everything , round trip. Up and down swtichback pass trails all over the Rockies in the NW.

I am into comfort , good food, and the perfect outhouse setup ever . Ive had others tell me that they've loved my private , but scenic , and very comfy resting places chosen First morning sun to melt frost from a wood seat, to enjoying the view , with no intruders close, or in optics of distance.

I do have the outback experience down in the details

Not a few nights I have lain quiet, wide awake in my thin 4 pound tent , hearing a large being, such as a moose, stepping through the sand bar gravel in slow methodical cadence right up to my canvas, snuffling loudly at me, and stepping off....

I could never bring myself to just sleep in the open ....I always convinced myself that even a thin veil of tent wall would give me warning to be able to announce myself in earnest emergency , along with all my firepower I always carry

One of my memories , the coldest I have ever felt...was the most seemingly silly...but for me, it was real every moment.....in late summer along the divide , high in the NW Territories in Canada . Above BC. I was on a drive of 50 horses being escorted to their fall/winter pastures. Every night camp was so cold then, and my sleeping bag was not suitable for that occasion, though in my planning, I thought it would be . I mustered up the energy to help the wranglers drive all those horses along the river and over the pass of jagged , breathtaking mountains ....but we did it. The big white mare I rode was cynical and mean in general, but by a short time, we connected and respected each other greatly.

Point being....to experience the stars and northern lights so close , as to feel them connect you in rooted love , from your body in a down sleeping bag , to the universe , and the huffing, breathing big beings in between, with a thermarest mattress deciding your comfort, is the factor of life lived and loved , without words to explain.

Just like the song of David Mallett....the northern lights.....

See you on on the surface .....

Thermarests are the way to go. For winter I use a closed cell pad first for additional warmth, and a thermarests on top. In certain situations i will use my downmat 9 deluxe. That's like a regular mattress!

People don't understand that insulation in a bag is caused by loft, or dead air space. In a sleeping back, the insulation below you is crushed by your bodyweight, so you are in effect totally open to the cold from the cold ground.

Aside from comfort, the sleeping pad resists compression and is insulated. It keeps you warm from cold conducting up from the ground. That's why you should always match your sleeping pads, or combination of them to the temps you will be sleeping in. Not a problem as much in summer, but early spring, fall, and winter will leave you shivering without incompressible insulation underneath you.
You mention 50 lbs weight and gear total for ten days? In the lightweight backpacking world, food usually comprises 1.5-2 lbs per day to equal the necessary calories. What's your total gear only weight for three season backpacking? Not including food and water that is.

Hutchy, I agree on the effectiveness of thermarest. I have the longest size, because I don't like my legs and feet on the tent floor.

My pack is internal frame , two main compartments and side pockets. Thermarest rolled and tied on top . A collapsible gas small cook stove, with two or three full gas containers, pans that fit into each other, two decent sized knives, eating utensils, a tiny grill grate . Soap, shampoo, toothpaste , field glasses, other stuff , etc. Down sleeping bag, a liner, and a sheet I sewed together to fit inside the liner, all fitting in a bag. Clothes, sweater , big towel, coat taking up space , my tent . A small day pack , trash bags . An extra pair of light shoes for camp .

I don't carry water . Every trip I have taken has been in well watered country, and it gets treated on the go, or boiled before use. Food, I generally carry more than I need , going in groups of several people , we all stuff more in there than just for ourselves, especially on longer trips. I admit, an amount of food isn't in the freeze dried form, carries moisture weight . A bag and rope to cache food every night. I can eat like a horse expending that energy .

Finally, the greatest weight factor, my two guns and extra ammo . My .45 stays on my hip, my Marlin 1894 lever 44 mag is carried on the outside of my pack, in easy access . Extra ammo is stashed in outside pockets on the pack bottom. My motto : if I need it I have it...if I don't and need it, I'm unprepared and in trouble.

That about sums it up, aside from any other things that last minute gets stuffed in there . Around 50 lbs is the max for me, often less than that , depending on the number of others in a group , the season, and the amount of days , which all vary . Often the longest trips have the goal of establishing a base camp , with easy day trips in the area , free of the extra weight. That's where the small daypack comes in. So that max weight is hauled in then quickly discarded for set up, at the base camp. On trips where hiking is every day , setting up new camps every night, I pack lighter , carry less.

I can't tell you the times I have wanted a horse to help ! And the view from up there is so much better. But the minuses to that are also left out by hoofing it with boots.

Ideally, the way to go , is by plane or chopper drop off , and the views in flight are unsurpassed . And don't forget the sat phone to call Jack so he can fly in to the rescue , if needed

Back in the old days I used to do at least one annual Dall sheep hunt. They were brutal. I generally hunted the Wrangell's, but a couple times in the Talkeetna's, the Chugach's, or the Alaska Range. I knew I'd be coming out with 120 pound pack with sheep meat, cape, and horns. I'd go into Los Anchorage to a military surplus store and buy a 12x12 tarp/tent and a cheap military fart-sack, which was reputed to be filled with 100% goose down, but was actually crushed turkey wings. Also carried a tiny primus stove and bottle of fuel, spotting scope, and rifle. With a bit of food, that was it. On the last day of the hunt, I would eat all the leftover food (which wasn't much usually) and gorge on as much sheep rib meat as I could stand. Then, any leftover stove fuel was dumped on the tent and sleeping bag and they were torched. Then, the walk out of the mountains. Only thing I regret is not ever taking a camera. Too much weight back in the day. Too, those were some mighty uncomfortable camps in the most beautiful country in the world.

Never hunted dall sheep. I'm thinking its a hunt for somebody younger than me now. Have back packed in CO some. A little late fall, going deer hunting. Mostly summer time for fishing. I have a little pup tent for if it rains or snows. Not good for daytime rain but it has a floor and is a nice place to sleep. Whole tent doesn't weigh more than 5 pounds and fits in a bag about the size of a paper towel roll. I never brought water either. Didn't need to. I did carry a canteen so I could get get a drink between creeks. I never did anything to it but drink it. I brought tea bags, instant coffee, (in a zip lock bag) powdered eggs, instant rice, dehydrated peas and carrots, andoule sausage. for a stove i just brought kitchen strike anywhere match's. Carried a 22 pistol. could shoot something sometimes. When fishing i could often find wild strawberries and greens. rain in the day was cold but it doesn't last a long time in that part of the world very often. lightning is scary. those mountains attract a lot of it.

Jack,

I did a couple of those Dall Sheep "death marches" up in the Brooks Range. Carrying a film camera added a little weight, but glad I packed one now. I actually went out and bought a smaller camera, for the first hunt I did up there. The picture with the broomed ram, you can see the little push button remote, in my right hand. The other photo, if you look close, you can see the film got scratched horizontally, in a few places. Might have been the "rugged" trip out? These are from a few decades ago now, I guess? I notice I still had hair then!! HA!





Down here around home, I used to go even rougher, just bring an extra layer or two of old worn clothes, no sleeping bags, just a fire, and the added clothing. Then burn the old clothes before heading down. In August, it's only dark for about 4 hours, so just layer up and nap around the fire, until daylight. On the pictures from the deer hunting trip, notice I cut off the lower legs of the jeans, but left the rest, for added abrasion resistance, on the way down from the mountains. I usually spend at least some time on the seat of my pants, negotiating that fun old tag alder and mud band, above treeline. Good times!! HA!

Holy-Moly T4E, that's some mighty fine, honest hunting you were doing back in the day! Most sheep, as I remember, were a piece of cake compared with some of those August alpine deer packs out of the Chichagof or Baranof rain. I used to make backpacks out of those deer; looks like you did the same. Is it really fair to call those the "good ol' days"?

Jack