Sleeping Bags

Sleeping bags are an absolute necessity when you're camping anywhere outdoors, or even for day hiker if there's any chance the weather could change on you suddenly. A good sleeping bag not only assures you'll wake up rested the next day; it is also part of every outdoors man's survival kit.

There are two main types of sleeping bags, down bags and synthetic bags.

Down sleeping bags are the most expensive, but they pack down the smallest and lightest for carrying. Their content is made from the tiny down feathers from sea birds. The one bad thing about a down sleeping bag is that it won't keep you warm if it gets wet.

Down bags come in several grades of quality, and the best and most expensive type is genuine "eider down" which comes from the underneath chest feathers of some European geese. They live wild on some ocean islands where they go to breed each year. The locals go out in boats to collect the down from the birds' nesting places. (The locals aren't stupid either, they leave enough down in the nests so there'll be more birds next year.)

Cheaper grades of down bags will contain a mixture of down and feathers, while the cheapest of all will contain feathers only.

Down sleeping bags are more costly than synthetic sleeping bags, but they will last for a lifetime and they are certainly the warmest for their weight and packed-up size.

Synthetic sleeping bags are bulkier and heavier than down bags, but they will still keep you warm even if wet. They are cheaper to buy than down bags, and they come in several different types of filling. All of this filling is designed to trap pockets of air around your body as you sleep.

Synthetic sleeping bags can be just as warm as most down sleep bags, but the synthetic bags are much bulkier and they're heavier too. Then again, they are cheaper than down bags, so most beginning campers start with a synthetic bag. You can always upgrade to a down sleeping bag later if you decide you really need that small size and the light weight.

Air is a wonderful insulator as long as it cannot move anywhere. And the job of any kind of sleeping bag is to keep those trapped pockets of air all around you so they car get warm from your body heat.

Sleeping bags come in square shape or mummy shape. Mummy bags are at their widest around your shoulders and belly; they taper down your thighs and calves but flare upwards providing a taller vertical space for your feet. This conserves the maximum amount of body heat in your sleeping bag, yet uses the minimum amount of materials.

A mummy sleeping-bag is warmer because it conforms to your body's shape. The bag's diameter is smaller around your legs and wider at your torso and shoulders. This is harder to manufacture at the factory, so mummy bags cost more than ordinary, square-shape sleeping bags. A mummy bag also has an insulated hood to minimize heat loss from your head, and extra room above your feet, so your toes aren't cramped.

The cheapest sleep sacks are rectangular shaped, which have an L-shaped zipper all the way along one side and the bottom. A 6 x 3 foot bag unzips into a 6 x 6 foot quilt you can use on the bed at home or in a camper or RV. And can usually zip two rectangular bags together to make a double sleeping bag, for really cozy snuggles with a friend.

Most kids sleeping bags are rectangular shaped, and are not much use for real camping.

A sleeping bag liner is a good thing to have because sleeping bags can be really finicky to clean.

A mummy bag unzips down your chest, while a square sleeping bag has an L-shaped zipper which unzips all the way down the sleeping bag's side and bottom. But when undone completely, the square sleeping bag does excellent double duty as a quilt at home.

The other advantage is that two identical square bags can usually be zipped to each other to make a double sleeping bag. (A few mummy-shaped bags have zips at the side and will make a double sleeping
bag as well (my Roman sleeping bag, made in Australia, is an example), but you have to buy a left-zipped bag to go together with a right-zip bag.)

It only takes one night in the cold with a poor sleeping bag to convince you that the few dollars you saved have just cost you a good night's sleep.

It's no fun waking up at two in the morning and being too cold to sleep... You just huddle there in misery and wait for the sun to come up. I think we've all done it as kids at one time or another.