Sleeping bags are, lets face it, practically a necessity if you’re an outdoors person. If you don’t have the right one for the job, chances are you’re going to be fairly uncomfortable on your sojourn outside.
But what is the “right” one? How do you select a sleeping bag thats going to do the job you need done, and not be overkill.
By and large, by research, but also, in many cases, by common sense.
If you’re camping in Death Valley, most likely you don’t need an arctic bag, although the weather at night in the desert is going to be a bit chillier than you might think, particularly if you’re new to this kind of camping.
By the same token, you certainly don’t want to go winter camping with a 14.99 Walmart special, rated for fifty degrees. You’re going to get frostbite on parts of your body you didn’t know could be frostbitten.
First of all, lets take winter camping. I tend to like it a lot, but it’s not for everyone. The equipment you’re going to use for sleeping has to be a bit more well built, and rated for a lower temperature.
The bags you might consider if you’re camping in the wintertime, particularly up north, in a mountainous region will be those which are rated for about zero degrees, and are down filled. They’re going to be a bit more costly but in the long run you’ll certainly be glad you paid the extra few dollars to keep yourself warm. I personally like the Storm king, however any baffled bag with down fill is going to be what you want. Choose one thats lightweight to carry and will do the job that you need done, for the climate you’re going to be camping in.
I like Storm King because they don’t use the insulation on the underside of the bag, where it’s just squished flat and is more than worthless.
Instead it has a pad sleeve that will hold a sleeping bag pad in place, which makes a good bit more sense.
I also, especially if I’m going to be walking a while, want the warmest or most compatible sleeping bag for the area I’m going to be camping in, which is the lightest to pack in and out.
That’s especially important if you tend to walk miles before you find just the right place for your sleeping bag.
When you are choosing a sleeping bag, pay close attention to the rating of the bag. It will tell you what kind of climate that its going to be best for, and compare that to the type of area and temperature that you’re going to be sleeping in.
Now you’re probably thinking to yourself , that goes without saying, but to the new camper, or someone who hasn’t done this before, you’d be surprised how many mummy bags with heavy down filling I’ve seen come into the desert in New Mexico. Granted it gets cool at night, but not quite that cool.
