At what temp do you not bring a sleeping bag?

Hey Kevin,

Here in the Redwoods of NorCal it is typically 50-65 degrees 24/7 so I am usually able to go with a really light setup, sometimes just put on a down jacket and I am good to go all night.

However, if it gets much below around 47 I find myself wishing I had a bag or quilt.

I had the MBULSS#1 and sold it and bought the MBULSS#3 and it has served me very well. I too am a cold sleeper and just with it I can do around 22-24(f). If I put on my Patagonia Cap3s I can get down into the 18 range (probably a bit colder, but that is as cold has it has gotten up here in the last couple of years.)

I have, in my quest to cut grams really started to wonder how much of a bag/quilt is mental. For the fast majority of our lives we sleep under a blanket at home… but, do we really need to? How much of that is mental and an actual 'need'. I suspect after a bit of conditioning we could easy go out hiking without a bag/quilt down into the near freezing temps w/o problem. After all, the homeless and hobos do it every night, eh!

I will add that I will have long johns underneath the clothes I will be hiking in. And to correct myself it's a MB UL SS DH #1 (I have a #3 on the way from when campsaver.com had their sale; yeah I know still haven't received it because i was just a couple seconds late before they ran out but my sale still went through). I will also be rocking a MB down jacket.

I've been caught off guard several times when I woke up freezing in temperatures I was actually too warm in before going to sleep. Our metabolism is severely reduced at night, and the lack of motion doesn't help.

I have a Sea to Summit Thermolite Reactor Extreme. They claim it adds 20 degrees to the rating of any bag, which from my experience sounds about fair. I tried it with long pants and a light wool long sleeve base layer one night a few weeks ago at Point Reyes that dropped down to about 50 under a tarp with a moderate breeze and woke up several times. I tried Mike Clelland's tip of doing crunches and calisthenics to get the blood flowing, and that warmed me up enough to get back to sleep, but I wished I had brought a bag. Then again, the lack of any windbreak might well have been a deciding factor.

With a good windbreak (tent, bivvy, whatever) and at least a light insulating layer above what I had (hat or light balaclava as well), I think you'd probably be fine without a bag.

A few factors come to mind:

1. What sort of insulating clothing you have got with you.
2. You probably wont freeze to death, but will you get any sleep. If it is just one night and you don't get much sleep then you will probably be OK for the next day. Night after night will be a different manner.
3. How long you spend in camp. If you walk until near dark and especially if you get up at the very first light and start walking uphill it will be a different matter than spending those cold early morning hours in bed.

Hobos might do it every night, but they some of them tend to drink a bit more than the average hiker:) Also we are generally hoping to be fairly comfortable and maintain performance at a certain level. I do agree though that you can probably make it through the night alive with a lot less than most of us take.

Good luck.