Sleeping in the great outdoors can be hard enough, with all those creepy nighttime sounds and the wind flapping your tent walls. At the least, you need a good, comfortable pad to cradle your weary bones. Camping mattresses come in different shapes and sizes.
Pads also come in various thicknesses and widths.
Again, thin, narrow pads are fine if you're one of those lucky people who can fall asleep anywhere. The thicker and wider your pad, the more it resembles your Posturepedic back home. In terms of design, there are two basic types of sleeping pads. Once you sleep on a cushy self-inflater, it's tough to go back to a regular foam pad. A self-inflater consists of a slab of open cell foam encased in a nylon shell.