Sleeping Bag vs Bags – and temps for a multi-bag system in SouthEast US?

I live a little further south but hike about the same temps. I have a 20* down quilt that's 27oz and I'm making a 45* quilt that should be around 12oz. The summer quilt will replace my fleece sleeping bag liner. Warmer and about half the weight. I will also use it as an over quilt for the few times I find myself on a trip with temps in the teens.

"What set up would you go with if you were in my position?"
Lots of choices out there, but I made the switch to quilt use in January. I live in AL, and hike year-round, mostly in N. AL and TN's Cumberland Plateau.

Can't say what works for someone else, but here's what I ended up with:
-Katabatic Palisade, 6' Wide.
This is a <20F quilt for me, and I've used it comfortably as low as 0F with extra layers(12oz down hoody and grid fleece bottoms over baselayers), and so far up to lower 40s with boxer briefs last week. As I sleep exceptionally warm, a normal sleeper might want to add 15F to temps I say I can use it at on the low end.

-Underground Quilts Flight Jacket 50F, 72" length, 55" width. Just got this, and opted for the snaps/drawstring footbox, since it's for warmer weather. Seems a good match for the temps you list for late spring through early fall.
The 72" length is recommended for up to 5'9" users, and at 5'7" it fits me almost perfectly. Just enough room to stretch out my toes.

A 30-40F quilt that has a footbox you can open up in warmer weather and room to supplement with layers when it's cold *might* work for you. It would certainly cost less! That was my original plan, but I felt it would be too much or too little too often.

Enlightened Equipment Revelation 30* at around 21oz(depending on fill selected) for a long/wide(78×58).

For colder temps, you add a 50* Prodigy synthetic quilt, which would take you down another 15 degrees or more. The combination of quilts would weight about what your Eureka bag weighs, but you will have a modular system that gives you options.

Also with the combination of down and synthetic, having the synthetic quilt on the outside will help keep condensation out of your down bag.

There are a lot of quality cottage quilts out there, but I can't recommend Enlightened Equipment enough.

I use a 20deg Zpacks bag at 25oz (xwide/xxlong) and then a 40deg MYOG quilt at 12oz for warmer temps. The 20 deg covers the coldest temps I typically see and the 40deg covers everything else.

If I could only buy one bag/quilt for this region it would be a 30deg Zpacks bag. The zipper will allow it to be closed tight on cold nights and used as a quilt for ventilation on warmer nights.

Ryan

DJ,

I am in Bowling Green too. I also do a fair amount of backpacking in the southeast and other locations when I can pull it off.

Based on your backpacking times and locations, I would recommend a 30 degree quilt. If you haven't used a quilt before, you should note that you may want to size the width differently based on your size and sleep position. But I really think you'll be much happier in a quilt. On warm nights, its so easy to vent or partially cover yourself at night. You can cover a much broader temperature range in comfort with a quilt than with a bag. Let your girlfriend try it out some night and she'll be a fan too.

I have a quilt from Enlightened Equipment and have been very happy with it. Other brands I would consider are Hammock Gear and Zpacks.

I would stick with just a new 30 degree quilt for now. That will cover 99% of what you are doing. If you see a cold trip coming, pack extra clothes or break your old heavy bag back out.

If you start doing winter trips, I would get a light syth quilt you can put over your 30 degree quilt. It will insulate enough extra and keep frozen condensation off your down. Since you aren't really doing winter trips now, I think the 30 quilt now is what you need. This combination will outperform a single bag most times.

You should know that its often a lot more than 5-7 degrees colder in the Smokies too. I'm often amazed how much colder it is there. Regardless, my 30 degree quilt is good for most trips in the Smokies through November. After that, I usually need to supplement with another light quilt/bag.

Good luck. I hope to see you out backpacking sometime soon.

Central KY?

I certainly hope you make it over to Red River Gorge, if you haven't already!

Like stick shift in a car, having a two-bag solution may offer a wider variety of options over a single bag approach, especially when you are dealing with "actual lows", and not "average lows."

What I don't understand from your post: are you planning on keeping any of what you have, or just wondering if to replace some of it, or all of it?

Anyway, the summertime in KY may only warrant one single quilt (or semi-rectangular bag) that you can drape over the both of you. I do this often with my wife & I in June/July/August (using a 30d Feathered Friends semi-rect. bag).

In the shoulder season, I use the 30d FF bag and she uses her 15d mummy. For winter, I use a -5d and she uses her 15d with the 30d FF bag over top of both of her (with much more ground insulation.) She's not as much into winter treks as I am, however.

I assume you can mate your sleeping bags together as well. That can change the dynamics as well.

Thanks for the input everyone! I really appreciate all the advice!!!

“Like stick shift in a car, having a two-bag solution may offer a wider variety of options over a single bag approach”

Well since I do like to drive a stick shift…
I like the idea of a two quilt system that can be used separate or together, perhaps a 20* or 30* combined with a 40* or 50*. I also like the idea of a foot box that can open, mainly on a warm weather quilt. It seems like it would allow more versatility and cooling on hot nights. I might just start out with a 30* quilt as you suggest Ben and add a warm weather quilt at some point. I’ve also read about adjusting temperature by moving down around in the continuous baffles which seems like it would increase versatility. Also you are right on the lower temps in the smokies. I think I picked the wrong town to look up those comparison temps, it didn’t seem quite right based on past personal experience on cold nights.

I’m excited about transitioning to a quilt as I have never quite liked the enclosure of mummy bags, especially being a side sleeper.

I haven’t really considered 2 person quilts mainly because my girlfriend doesn’t go on all the trips. To answer your question Matt, I am still somewhat trying to decide if it makes sense to keep any of what I already have or if I should ditch it all. I’m ok with getting rid of all the current bags eventually to transition to a lighter and more versatile system. I am kind of leaning toward going that route.

I also visit the Plateau area, Eastern TN, Western NC, and make it to NE GA on occasion. All beautiful places! Kayaking is what has brought me to these places initially but I find they offer some awesome hiking/backpacking as well.

I’ve been to the Red River Gorge quite a bit since I first started hiking there in boy scouts in the mid/late 90’s. My backpacking tailed off since then but I’m really trying to get back into it more these days. Picked up a nice book last year on all the unmarked trails in RRGorge hoping to avoid the crowds and it seems to be working for the most part!

Thanks again for the help!

Derek

To start I'd recommend a Western Mountaineering Alder for her and a 25-30 F quilt for you. Get a Summer Coupler from Western Mountaineering and you've got a great summer system for two, or you can use the two separately.

The most versatile system I've found is two Nunatak Back Country Blankets. Its only drawback is price. I'll bet you can manage the same with some of the less expensive quilt makers.

I really like the versatility of the western mountaineering semi rectangular bags. My wife and I have 15 degree Ponderosas, overstuffed, making them about 10 degree bags, which handles almost anything we'd ever do. Two zippers makes it easy to regulate temperature or open it as a quilt. In summer, we can use something they sell called the summer coupler and just bring one bag. My favorite part? The way they mate, you can put the zippers on the outside rather than down the middle between you, and each unzip per your own comfort.

Downsides? No hood if that's your thing, a bit heavy for summer (not hard to regulate temp, but more weight than needed for summer) and of course they are pricey.

I assume Feathered Friends has some similar setup.

Sweating a little is better than being cold.

But not by much.

I would go with a thin synthetic quilt as your second layer. This would function better in helping to migitate condensation issues.

You could go with the Katabatic Gear Palisade and combine it with a MLD Spirit 38 synth quilt. You could also consider the Chisos with the MLD Spirit 28 synth, but I think you would be better off with the Palisade as it's such a fantastic and versatile quilt already – meaning you don't have to carry the quilt as often, and when you do, the quilt would be the lighter 40F one.

This way you really end up with something that both covers a little more cooler weather and something that won't be as hot in the summer.

I would go for 3, 2 quilts and a bag.

Get a 20* bag for her and 2- 40* quilts.

Have both quilts fit you (unless she's taller) and 1 be wide enough for her to use as a bag with a full length zipper on it.
The other option is to have EE put 1 male and 1 female clips on opposite sides where the pads clip in.
Then you can just clip it closed (much more bag like.

In the summer, she uses that 40* quilt described above and you use the other 40* quilt.
In the winter, she uses the 15-20* bag and you use the 2- 40* quilts together.

Obviously the better option others are talking about is for her to use a light synthetic bag for the summer instead of the quilt and you use it with the quilt in the winter.

I think I'm leaning towards a palisade for myself and warm weather synth quilt to pair it with. The palisade looks really nice based on everything I've read. I like the looks of the prodigy as a potential combo.

Still waiting to see what my girlfriend thinks about the semi-rectangular vs. standard mummy. I do like the idea of getting something for her that could also be used with the summer coupler.

I work at Enlightened Equipment, so obviously I'm fairly biased about the specific brand, but I think if you can, two quilts (of any brand) is a really versatile system. In Northern MN I took 20° and a 30° quilts combined on an Xlite down to about -15°F (and that pad is obviously not made for anything near that, so the quilts were working pretty hard) and I didn't really have issues (other than refilling the pad with air once each night; again, obviously that pad isn't made for those temps).

If your budget can't jump on two quilts right away, there's no reason you can't build one of your sleeping bags into the system either. Potentially you could sell one (the 0°) and then get something around 20° for a quilt, and so you'd have either of those as an option for "warmer" conditions (down to 20) and could still combine the sleeping bag with a quilt to get down to 0. Then, if you decide to move fully towards two quilts, you can sell the other bag to offset the cost there.

"I also visit the Plateau area, Eastern TN, Western NC, and make it to NE GA on occasion. All beautiful places!"

Thought about this reply last night, and the mention of it getting cooler than forecast in the Smokies, as I was checking temps for the coming week in western NC at higher elevations to decide which quilt to use.
Check out this site:
http://www.mountain-forecast.com