Date: 2017-01-14
To: What I'm taking, Part Two
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Things to put in the tent. I've been sleeping on a NeoAir pad for seven years. Not the same one. I am a restless sleeper. I *can* sleep on a 20" wide pad, but I keep having to wake up and readjust things to support the knee that has inevitably slipped off the side. On a 25" wide pad, I sleep much better. I therefore purchased a 25" wide NeoAir. However, I'm not 7' tall, and I don't need a lumberman's pad. So I cut about a foot off the end of my NeoAir. Now it's much more my size. I've done this for both the Xlite NeoAir and the Xtherm NeoAir. The Xtherm is handy when it's cold out. The Xlite is slightly lighter. In midsummer it's handy to have a less insulating sleeping pad.Xlite: 14.9 ozXtherm: 16.5 ozI also carry a Gossamer Gear Thinlight 1/8" foam pad. It's made of Evazote. It is far too thin for me to sleep directly on the ground, but it makes a great addition. I use it as a sit pad, as extra insulation for my inflatable sleeping pad, and (most importantly) as a wedge under the downhill side of my sleeping pad at the inevitable sloping campsite. Sliding downhill all night is NOT RESTFUL. A wedge can make a huge difference. The Thinlight pad is a little grippy, so it's perfect in this role.Thinlight: ~2.5 oz (mine is pretty beat up by now, so it may weigh less)Sleeping bag: See above re: restless sleeping. I like to use a quilt so that I have more freedom of movement. In cold weather, air creeps in around the edges. So for cold weather I have an extra wide quilt with a tiny zipper so it can be used as a bag. For warmer weather, I have a wide quilt with no zipper.The problem with the quilts, though, is they won't keep things out. Like mice. Or skunks.   Or spiders. Or anything else that wants to cozy up to me. On thruhike #1, I spent far too many nights sweltering in my bag with a mesh net over my face, because the mosquitoes were terrible. Sometimes there was no place to set up a tent, and sometimes there was but I was too tired or it was raining and I didn't have the moral fiber to deal with a wet tent.I've thought about carrying a mosquito netting to hang from the shelter roof, but so far the weight has always been too much. I'm hoping for more moral fortitude, which is extremely lightweight.Anyway, here are the specs on the two bags I use:Zpacks 20 degree quilt: "broad width" 66" girth, ~ 22 ozZpacks 40 degree quilt: "standard width" 61" girth, ~12.5 ozSpeaking of sleeping bags, I have an old Nunatak quilt that isn't very warm anymore. I used it to fill space and add a little weight in my training pack one year. Right before my trip, I took out the training weight and put in what I was actually taking on the trip. The first night of the trip, at the beginning of the Hundred Mile Wilderness, I unpacked my gear and found that dang Nunatak quilt snuggled away inside the pack. I ended up carrying two bags 100 miles. Oh, I was steaming when I found it. It made a nice pillow, though.Oh, also? I use a trash bag to inflate my sleeping pad. I got the Therm-A-Rest AirTap Pump Kit . It's just a tube that attaches to a trash bag. The tube will seal over the valve of the sleeping pad. I got it to avoid filling my winter pad with my nasty, humid breath. But it made my life so much nicer that I carry it full time now.Thermarest Air Tap Kit - 1 oz