Lesson from 2018 Family Backpack Trip

[spencer rifle]

This year it was part of the AT through Michaux State Forest in Pennsylvania (previous years were Deam Wilderness, AT in northern Virginia, North Country Trail at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Lantau Island/Peak in Hong Kong). Once again, we had one missing. Went about 27 miles over 2.5 days. This was our coldest trip yet - good chance to test out the winter gear. I won't bore you with all the details, but some stuff we learned:

Storing sleeping bags in stuff sacks long term is a bad idea, in spite of how much room they take up when out. They compress and lose loft and insulation value, and it doesn't come back if you leave them stuffed for too long.

Freezing makes you creative. SWMBO and I always zip our bags together to stay warm, but that wasn't enough. Neither was the woobie we added inside. It didn't help that camp food created Dutch Oven conditions. Eventually we squeezed our oldest daughter in with us and draped her bag and woobie over all 3 of us. That helped some. Our youngest had the newest, best sleeping bag - down rated to 0 degrees. He slept well all night. Everyone else was miserable. How cold was it? Even though we were inside Birch Run AT shelter, there was ice in our water bottles in the morning.
We were not looking forward to another night like that, and hiked the rest of the way out that day so we could sleep in a motel.

First day was rough - adjusting packs and loads, adjusting to the work and hills, adjusting layers. Should be the shortest hike, and was. Second day was the longest planned, and still rough, though warmer. Third day we got in the rythm and it went well in spite of the longer-than-planned distance.

We never did use our tents, though if set up inside the shelter might have made for a warmer night.

Layering kept us comfortable when hiking, and gloves were good to have.

Dried apricots are heavy, freeze-dried peaches are light.

Pizza will stay good for days in cooler weather, but it is also heavy.

Frogg Toggs are a good outer layer for warmth.

There may be more as I think of them.

ETA: Had to arrange EDC to comply with NYC (our oldest daughter lives in Manhattan), the Maryland Democrat Zone (where the oldest son lives), DC Anti-Constitutional Area and the PRNJ. Left the Benchmade Infidel behind and took the Spyderco Manix (no spring). I was OK to go into the DC Air and Space Museum with the Manix and Leatherman, but not the Native American Museum. The NYC American Museum of Natural History didn't care about the knives, and had lots of politically incorrect quotes from Teddy Roosevelt on the walls. They would all have peed their pants if I had brought the Kahr. I was nervous the whole way driving through the PRNJ - didn't stop for anything nor spend any money there. If they had searched our van I'm sure I would still be there "being detained."

 

[Topshot]

Storing sleeping bags in stuff sacks long term is a bad idea, in spite of how much room they take up when out. They compress and lose loft and insulation value, and it doesn't come back if you leave them stuffed for too long.

Certainly very true for synthetic insulation, not as much for good down but they always recommend storing unstuffed.

I also wonder if you didn't have good enough pads/mats? The bag will provide very little since it's compressed so you need a decent R-value under you on cold ground. R3 works OK for me at freezing.

Frogg Toggs are a good outer layer for warmth.

Largely because they block wind so your heat stays near your body.

 

[spencer rifle]

We had pretty good pads, and weren't on the ground but up in the shelter, which was a wooden platform. We even had our Crazy Creek camp chair under the mat, but were still quite cold. Once we got enough extra layers to keep the heat from escaping upward we were warmer.

 

[Brad69]

The air under your family made it much colder no pad made will stop that.
You would have been fine on the ground I learned this sleeping in a cot in sub freezing weather. Once you place a good barrier between you and the ground the pad will slightly warm and no longer be a cold area. You in essence had every direction a cold area.
I assume you were in your underwear inside the bags? Skin layer only or your body heat will not warm up the bag enough to stay warm

Grown men will spoon at 31f to stay warm!

 

[actaeon277]

For every ONE layer on top of you, you need THREE layers under you.
The ground sucks heat from you.
Add plastic sheets, or even newspapers.
That woobie may have worked better under you.


Shelters tend to leak air like a sieve.
Yes, setting up the tent would help.
So would plastic sheeting.


Sleeping bag ratings mean that at that temperature, they will keep you ALIVE, not necessarily comfortable.
If it's rated for 20, then at 20 you will be cold.
So if you want to be comfortable at 20, get a 0 degree rating.


Before bed... CHANGE clothes.
NOT the next morning.
Your underwear has all the sweat and oils soaked in it from the day, and will chill you at night.


A clean winter hat can help you keep warm, even in the bag.
Otherwise, heat will still try to escape through the noggin.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

My Marmot sleeping bag came with a big mesh bag for storage, in addition to the compression bag used for back-packing. I only smoosh it small when it goes into the pack. Also, my kids got me a nice thick pair of fleece pants to go with my fleece tops. We camped in a tent during the January antler-less season this past, and it got down near zero that night. With my fleece layer on, inside a zero-degree Marmot bag, on a Therma-rest Neoair pad, I was plenty warm.

One thing I did learn was that, no matter how cold you think your feet are when you get into your sleeping bag. Don't put hand-warmers in your socks. I did and I woke up in the middle of the night with what felt like hot coals in my socks. Contorting my body to reach my socks without getting out of my mummy bag, I then got a killer cramp in my left quad muscle. The next morning, my son said he thought I was being attacked by a wildcat in a dream the way I was thrashing around.

I've been collecting back-packing gear for a little over a year and I can't imagine gearing up a family, since I've dropped some serious money just on my stuff. And, cheapskate that I am, I have totes full of low-dollar items that I thought would be "good enough" or "light enough", only to break down later and get the real good stuff. The last item to be replaced is my pack. I've been using a vintage American Camper external frame pack that I got at a rumage sale fifteen years ago for $5 bucks. It worked ok after I fitted it with a new waist belt that I got from Amazon, but I've already ordered a new one. I hate to relegate that old bright orange pack to the garage wall, we've made some good memories this past year, but I tried on my son's internal frame pack and I was sold.

 

[Alexis Machine]

Gregory, MSR, Wiggys, Keen, Nemo, Helinox, Camelback...Buy once, cry once. I have learned over the years to only buy the best that I can afford. You will never complain about having excellent gear.