<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hi I am new to this world o backpacking (4, 2-3 solo trips total) and am planning my first thru hike, not a long one…150 miles for just after labor day. I am looking at day time temps in the mid 50s to 60s, but usual nighttime temps in mid to low 30s with temps in the mid to low 20s being entire possible. Should be dry. Unless it’s not. It which case it will be wet. On ne sais jamais. Y’all know how it is in the northeast.</p>
Anyway I got a double walled tent that is EMS’ Copper Spur clone and it’s weighing in at 2 lbs 6 ozs with stakes, guys and footprint after 2 minor modifications. I don’t LOVE it. But the whole package new with footprint was $105. And I picked up the Nemo Tensor Insulated pad open box new for $95 which I def LOVE and is the same weight as the XTherm, 15 oz and preformed beyond expectations in its first field test. So 3 lbs 5 oz in I want to upgrade my bag or maybe move to a quilt. Having saved some $$ with these first 2 purchases – I am thinking I can buy what I really want.
I say I am a side/tummy sleeper but my real preferred sleeping position is the “flamingo” (if you have never tried it, it’s amazing!) I can live with a mummy bag for warmth and weight if I have to but I find them uncomfortable. I have been looking at both the Nemo Nocturne 15 (750 fill down) And the EE Revelation. I have never slept with a quilt and I do move around a lot. (Rolling from left side flamingo to right side flamingo is work even in sheets.) My first and only night im my buddys hammock was uh…interesting. There may or may not have been screaming involved.
I seem to conveniently sleep right at the EN comfort level in just long undies – no baselayer or puffy. I like my puffy as a pillow.
The quilt has 4 or 5 ozs of weight advantage. But I will probably never be able to sleep in a hammock so it won’t ever be a double duty item. But I could see how a quilt would be nice on warmer trips to spread out. At the same time I can see myself freezing at 35 degrees after I have managed to pull it off me entirely after a few hours of flopping around.
On the other hand this Nemo spoon shaped bag and the reviews from other “active” sleepers seem enticing. It would be nice if they sold it with 800+ fill down and got it down about 3 or 4 more ozs (it’s listed at 2 lbs 5 ozs) for the price they are asking considering it’s duck (not goose) I think. But I want to get something I am comfy and sleep well in without falling into the spec for value trap.
I probably won’t be able to really test beyond a few nights out in August. If you know upstate New York, my trip is scheduled pretty much that week when mother nature flips the switch and says “its below freezing at night now.” I may get lucky last week of August and can get up there to take it out. (Its when my boss would give me the time off – he knows this is a thru hike so I probably have a few days of flexibility in the event of a downpour, but I probably can’t push this back like a week or I would.) This trail has plentiful state sanctioned campsites with fire rings and not a lot of people so I should be fine to warm up at night. Plus I think fires are allowed at stealth campsites (which are also legal at the 150 ft mark) but I prefer to leave no trace.
In general the coldest consistent temps I will probably sleep in are mid teens to 20s. Ideally I would like to be able to take this out in those temps as well once or twice per year. Which is why now I am leaning toward bag so I can get a liner.
Any thoughts on these two compared. Or any other ideas for gear that could work?
Thanks in advance!
