Pad Options for Cowboy Camping on Sierra Granite at 20 Degrees F

> Yup, so an extra piece of foam from shoulders to lower back definitely makes it more comfortable.

Thanks for confirming my own results. You'd think that if you get a sore hip from sleeping on foam you should add more cushioning below your hip, but no, it's better to add more cushioning from shoulders to lower back.

Two nights ago I slept on the foam mat assembly and last night I slept on the air mat assembly (see first post for photos and descriptions of each mat).

For future trips I'm going to use…

Well, I'm not sure, but the key point is that the foam was close enough in comfort to the air mat that I'll certainly consider both. If I had been able to sleep through the entire night on the air mat without waking I would take it in a heartbeat, but that wasn't the case. I did sleep better on the air mat, but probably not enough better to justify the extra expense, weight, fiddle factor, durability concerns, etc.

Your experiments with using extra foam to create a depression for your hip (by raising your torso higher) reminds me of sleeping on foam in sand – digging out depressions for my butt, shoulders and head to have an amazingly comfortable night's sleep. Creating a body map with foam or any substance can give you an amazingly restful sleep!