Here’s some advice from Wade Bastian on the Appalachian trail gear he carried on his hike. Wade set out onthe 2200 mile trail withfellow Eagle ScoutBucky Kellorgin February. As planned, Wade interrupted his hike to spend the summer employed as a peak steward in New York’s Adirondack mountains (he’s stewarding a peak in the photo above). Bucky completed the trail in July, here he is on Katahdin with fellow hiker Brightside...
Your choice of sleeping bags starts with figuring out where it will be used, what size you need, and the types of fill and construction are available. See the sleeping bags I recommend for Scouts (and all kinds of other gear recommendations) on the Outdoor Gear Guide. Don’t miss these other helpful Gear Infographics! If you’d like to print this infographic download the PDF file below formatted for 8 1/2 x 11 paper....
Don’t assume your Scouts know how to sleep warm while camping, it’s important to instruct them and be sure they are properly equipped. In especially cold weather changing clothes before getting in a sleeping bag can make a big difference, as can having a pair of loosely fitting wool or fleece socks just for sleeping. Sleeping bag insulation will be compressed when it is packed ss fluffing it up and redistributing the insulation is important....
1. Go to bed Warm Jumping jacks, push ups or something similar – just enough to warm yourself up but before you start sweating. If you getin a sleeping bag when you are cold you’ll likely stay cold. 2. Fuel up If it’s going to be a very cold night consider a pre-bedtime snack that will keep the furnace burning. Slow burning fatty snacks like cheese; avoid refined sugars or caffeine....
Sleeping well can make or break a camping trip. As I get older it becomes even more important, and sometimes more difficult, to sleep comfortably, so I choose my sleeping gear for camping carefully. In 1974 the first Therm-a-Rest self-inflating foam sleeping pad was manufactured by Cascade Designs in Seattle; a company started by laid-off Boeing engineers. Therm-a-Rest pads completely changed camping for me; I slept much better floating on a cushion of air than I did on a foam pad....
Good advice about how to wash down sleeping bags at Tom Managan’s Hike Hacker: … don’t wash the bag a lot, but do launder it at the end of the season before long-term storage, or after your annual two-week backpacking trip. Where to wash it? Not at home: washing machines with agitators can tear up your bag. You need a front-loading, non-agitating machine found in a laundromat. Lots of folks these days have home-sized front-loaders, which can work in a pinch (though my wife, an unsurpassed authority on household cleaning, insists the tubs in home front-loaders aren’t big enough to thoroughly rinse the soap out of a sleeping bag)....
This review was first published in 2008. I still carry and highly recommenced my Big Agnes setup! For many years I carried my trusty Gerry goose down sleeping bag on Troop camp outs. My father bought it for me in 1976 prior to an extended trip to Alaska. At the time it was among the best bags he could afford (or ill-afford). But even the best sleeping bag may have be retired after twenty or thirty years of faithful service....