Sleep System
It is impossible to do much of anything without a good night’s sleep, and hiking is no different. Willing your body to climb mountains can’t be done with sheer stubbornness alone, you need time to rest and recover so that your body is able to tackle whatever obstacles lie ahead.
Sleeping in the outdoors can be uncomfortable and nerve wracking. Fears of animal activity and ax murders keep many folks up at night. It took me several weeks to feel comfortable sleeping outside. In the early days of my thru hike, I often would dose myself with Benadryl in order to fall asleep, and I tossed and turned most nights before falling into a fitful slumber.
It wasn’t until I began pushing my body to my physical limit that I started to truly sleep soundly. Most nights I was so exhausted I had to fight to stay awake in order to write my daily trail journal. I have found that when I travel, I have a hard time falling asleep in an unfamiliar bed/place, but after a day or two, I am able to adjust. Maybe that was partially why it took me some time to get used to sleeping on trail.
It’s also hard for the body to settle into sleeping inches off the ground when you’re used to a cushy memory foam bed. Although my trail sleep system doesn’t compare to the luxury of my bed at home, I feel like I slept like a queen while I was hiking. It took a while to fine tune my setup, and I tried to account for the different seasons/temperatures I would endure on my journey north. Here’s the complete list of all the items that made up my sleep system.
Sleeping Bag(s)
Winter Bag: Mountain Hardware Women's Lamina™ 0F/-18C
I found out the hard way on my shakedown hike on the Foothills Trail in February 2021 that I sleep very cold. Because of this, I knew that I needed a heavy duty sleeping bag. This was the cheapest 0° bag I could find on short notice. This synthetic bag is HEAVY (according to REI it weighs a whopping 4.5lbs) and doesn’t pack down very well, but man does it keep me warm!
One of the compromises a long distance hiker must make is weight over comfort. Staying warm at night was not something I was willing to jeopardize, so I chose to carry this massive sleeping bag. I used this sleeping bag from Springer Mountain, GA to Hot Springs, NC. I knew that the coldest weather I was likely to encounter would happen at the beginning of trail in the late winter/early spring months, so I wanted to be sure I would stay warm and sleep comfortably.
The coldest night I endured on trail was on April 1, 2021 when it got down into the single digits on top of Standing Indian Mountain in NC. I may not have necessarily been comfortable, but I knew that my bag would keep me warm enough to stay alive.
Spring/Fall Bag: Nemo Forte™ Women's Synthetic Sleeping Bag
My 20° bag is probably my favorite. According to Nemo, it weighs 2lbs and 9oz and is my favorite color (purple). I felt like a new woman after switching to this bag in Hot Springs, NC because of how much lighter it made my pack. Granted I also dropped several extra layers of winter clothing, but man oh man did it feel good to not have to lug around all my winter stuff.
I carried this Nemo bag from Hot Springs, NC to Harpers Ferry, WV, and again from Killington, VT to Katahdin, ME.
One of my favorite features of this bag is the “gills”. The gills help better ventilate the bag, so depending on if you’re hot or cold you can zip or unzip the gills to better control your temperature. Because it is synthetic, this bag can help keep you warm even if it’s wet. The trade off comes in weight, though. Synthetic material is much heavier than down but is still functional when wet.
Summer Bag: Marmot Women's Trestles 30° Sleeping Bag
My summer sleeping bag was the first bag I ever purchased on my own. I bought it in 2015 for a cross country road trip after graduating high school, and she’s seen lots of wear and tear over the years. This bag is a little heavier than my midseason bag (according to Marmot this bag weighs 3lbs and 7.7oz), but it was cool enough for me to sleep comfortably during the 80° summer nights in PA.
This is a pretty basic sleeping bag with few bells and whistles, but it serves its purpose well. Because my bag is so old, I doubt that it is truly 30° at this point and is probably more like a 40° or 50°. bag That is why I think it worked perfectly for me during the summer months. There were only a couple of nights on trail I remember being so hot that I had to sleep on top of my bag; most nights I could sleep comfortably snuggled inside without zipping it up all the way.
One of the best gear purchases I made was adding a sleeping bag liner to my sleep system. There are many benefits to a liner, like the ability to add extra warmth and keeping your sleeping bag clean. It can be surprisingly challenging to wash a sleeping bag, but it is very easy to throw a liner into the washing machine.
Because I sleep so cold, having several extra degrees of warmth helped to keep me comfortable on the frigid nights. I bought the most heavy duty liner I could find. The Sea to Summit Reactor Fleece Liner is advertised as adding up to 32°. I carried my liner even during the summer months just to have added comfort, and sometimes I slept in just my liner instead of pulling out my sleeping bag. For someone who is worried about being cold, a liner is a must!
Sleeping Pads
I started the trail with the sleeping pad that I bought for my 2015 cross country road trip, the Thermarest ProLite™ Sleeping Pad. This again is a pretty basic sleeping pad, and I didn’t know until I was comparing gear with other hikers that this pad is not luxury. It inflated just enough to keep me off the ground, but as a side sleeper, I found little comfort and had to roll from side to side during the night. I also got lightheaded most nights from trying to blow enough air into the pad to keep it inflated overnight.
Finally in Hot Springs, NC I bit the bullet and bought a fancy sleeping pad. The Nemo Tensor™ Ultralight Sleeping Pad is just about as luxurious as you can get in the backcountry. I loving refer to this pad as my “yacht” because it is so big. This pad also comes with a pump to blow the bag up, so no more huffing and puffing!
My only issue with the Tensor was that I got several holes in it, and would wake up on the ground in the middle of the night after the pad deflated. This happened initially in Erwin, TN and I was able to patch the holes. The second time it happened near Port Clinton, PA I discovered too many holes to patch and filed a complaint with Nemo. The company’s customer service was great and even sent me a replacement, but that wasn’t until after I finished the trail.
Around the time that I was dealing with my deflating sleeping pad in PA, I was hiking around an older gentleman named Haymitch. He heard my complaints about the holes in my pad and watched me trying to patch the holes several days in a row. Eventually, we hiked into Port Clinton, PA together, and he offered to buy me a new sleeping pad at Cabela’s in town. Initially, I was reluctant, sleeping pads are expensive and I didn’t feel comfortable accepting such a generous gift. But after another sleepless night on a deflated pad, I decided to take Haymitch up on his offer.
At Cabela’s, Haymitch bought me the most expensive sleeping pad in the store, the Instinct Insulated Sleeping Pad. I was able to make it the rest of the trail using this sleeping pad and only had to patch it once. While the Instinct might look funny, it sleeps surprisingly well. I lovingly refer to Haymitch as my “trail sugar daddy” because of his generosity; the trail truly does provide.
Some crazy gram weenies only use a foam pad to sleep on, Truffles being one of them. I prefer more between the ground and I than a thin piece of insulated foam, but I think they make great sit pads. I halved a Switchback with Party Dave early on in GA and carried the 4 panels all the way to Katahdin. I sat on this pad while eating most of my meals and used it to stretch out during the evenings. I knew several hikers who carried a whole Switchback plus a sleeping pad but used the Switchback as a makeshift yoga matt or extra layer of insulation.
Things I Would Do Differently With My Sleep System
The next long trail that I do, there are several things I would like to change about my sleep system. Many of them are upgrades and will likely be expensive; when I was initially purchasing gear in early 2021 I was very price continuous and tried the buy the least expensive items. You truly do pay for what you get, and the higher quality items are often the most expensive. The deeper into the outdoor industry I dive, I am realizing that gear is an investment and that sometimes it pays off to upfront the cost.
My understanding of the difference between a sleeping bag and a quilt is that a quilt lays on top of you whereas you lay inside of a sleeping pad. Truffles used an Enlightened Equipment Enigma Quilt that only weighs 22.23oz. The weight alone makes me want to upgrade! There are other notable brands that make quilts such as Feathered Friends, and REI has even jumped on the quilt bandwagon to try and stay competitive in the ultralight game. My next big gear purchase will likely be a quilt of some sort just in order to cut down on weight.
I mentioned previously that I only carried half of a Nemo Switchback pad in order to use it as a sit pad. For my next hike, I think I will definitely carry an entire Switchback just so that I can have extra room to lounge and an additional layer of insulation to sleep on.
One thing that I won’t be changing is my sleeping pad. I LOVE my Nemo Tensor, especially since I have a brand new one sent to me courtesy of Nemo’s fabulous customer service team. Weighing in at only 1lbs and 1oz, I think that is a pound I will happily sacrifice and carry the extra weight in order to be extra comfortable and sleep great.
Important Takeaways I've Learned About Sleeping Gear
These are generalizations and my personal opinions, but these are rules of thumb that I have found helpful as I’m wadding through gear.
1. The comfort rating of sleeping bags is likely 10° higher than the actual rating of the bag.
For example, my 20° sleeping bag’s comfort rating is likely around 30°. That means it will keep me safe at 20°, but that I will sleep more comfortably at 30°. I try to keep this in mind when thinking about the coldest temperatures I want to use a bag at. Will it keep it safe and/or comfortable?
2. The higher the R Value of a sleeping pad, the more insulated it is.
When it comes to sleeping pads, the more insulated the warmer it will be. Sleeping pads are designed to keep you off the ground in order to stay warm; the ground is cold and sucks away your body heat. I still don't know what “R Value” actually is, but I do know that the higher the number, the warmer you will be.
3. Down is more lightweight and easily compressed compared to synthetic, but down is also more expensive.
I do not own many down items because of the price, but most of my equipment is also very bulky and heavy. You pay for the quality of equipment, and down is likely the best quality material. Keep in mind that down does not perform well when it is wet, whereas synthetic materials will still perform when well.
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