Northerners- learn me cold

I'm going to be occassionally doing some cold-weather camping over the next few months. Nothing too extreme, but I'm expecting 35-40 degree nights. I'll be in the smokey mountains in late October, and around Florida in December (and anywhere else I can get to in-between; I like camping).

I'm from Florida. I've spent lots of time outside in Florida. But except for one or two months it doesn't really get cold here. I've never tent-camped in the winter.

So, how do I stay warm? I'll be in a thick poly-cotton blend roof-top-tent with an insulated floor and a 3" thick mattress, so I think I'll be good there. Other than that, I'm thinking I'll be good in my 40 degree sleeping bag if I add a fleece inner bag, and I'll bring a wool blanket just in case.

Am I going to be comfortable, oh mighty forum?

40 degrees isn't cold.. i think it was that cold in my bedroom last night (mid 20's outside, windows wide open) and i slept like a baby..

As a northern tent camper, I can safely say that I would be comfortable in that rig, if not a bit warm. YMMV, but it should be OK.

When sacktime rolls around, don't be tempted to dress in sweatpants/long johns/fleece and heavy shirt, so you're warm when you crawl into your sleeping bag. You'll either wake up in a pool of sweat, in the middle of the night, or, if you manage to sleep through the night, you'll be freezing when you get up.

you will be very uncomfortable in a 40 degree bag in 40 degree or less weather.

the degree rating on bags is BS. think of it more along the lines of - "if I'm in a 40 degree bag in 40 degree weather, I will survive the night, but not be happy about it or get much sleep."

a quality zero degree bag would be my recommendation for those temps.

You have a LONG way before its cold, hell even chilly with the temp's you are saying!

In my experience you need isulation between yourself and the mattress if it is an air mattress. I spent three years sleeping in the woods in the smokies and I went straight to a 5 degree Mountain hardware bag that I often put inside a 40 degree walmart bag when it got really cold. We usually had some sort of a mattress underneath and I was rarely cold. You might want to consider a decent cold weather bag for late fall and winter nights it can get pretty cold up here in the mountains.

Silk footie pajamas.

Clarification: it's a foam mattress on top of an aluminum platform with fiberglass insulation, which is what leads me to think I don't need any additional insulation under me. Is that a fair assessment?

I wondered about the sleeping bag ratings... I have a nice quality 40 degree bag that I've always found quite comfortable on warm days, so I wondered how it would fare in cold weather. I froze in it at the Rolex this year, and I was in my truck!

An air mattress or pool floatie is a nice insulator, with all of the still air inside.

Any metal says cold once it is cold. 40 isn't cold until you get out of your bag. Cold is 0 or minus something out in a tent surrounded by that cold white crap. For a sleeping bag, get something closer to at least 20 degrees LOWER then what you are going to experience. Oh and I prefer a mummy bag to avoid the big air escape with the straight cut bags.

Ranger50 wrote: 40 isn't cold until you get out of your bag. Cold is 0 or minus something out in a tent surrounded by that cold white crap.

40 isn't cold until you've been hiking in the rain all day, it's windy, you don't have a fire, and the tent is your only shelter.

Then it's miserable.

Plan for miserable.

RealMiniDriver wrote: When sacktime rolls around, don't be tempted to dress in sweatpants/long johns/fleece and heavy shirt, so you're warm when you crawl into your sleeping bag. You'll either wake up in a pool of sweat, in the middle of the night, or, if you manage to sleep through the night, you'll be freezing when you get up.

^^^Very true I had never tent camped before going in the military. For a week we slept "under the stars"(no tent) in the hills of Camp Pendleton in February. We woke up with frost on our mummy bags. The temptation is there to hop in fully clothed, but as stated, it's not a good idea.

It was a little different environment than you will probably be in, but I would hop in the bag in shorts and a t shirt and have my cammies folded underneath me in the bag. They would be warm when I got up and got dressed in the morning. They were probably a little wrinkled but people were more concerned with not having a shower for a few days than how nice you looked.

Edit: Being off the ground is important. We just had iso mats but it was enough insulation with a cold weather bag.

peter wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: 40 isn't cold until you get out of your bag. Cold is 0 or minus something out in a tent surrounded by that cold white crap.

40 isn't cold until you've been hiking in the rain all day, it's windy, you don't have a fire, and the tent is your only shelter. Then it's miserable. Plan for miserable.

Nah that is life in the outdoors in the Pacific Northwest

But then I sleep with my bedroom window open even on nights that are single digits and approaching 0. Heck go out and chop fire wood for 2 hours when it is -15 degrees outside and if you don't you won't be warm that night

All I know is that I had a lot more tolerance for cold and general discomfort when I was your age than I do now. On the rare occasions that I do camp these days, I overdo it on the warmth. You can always remove things if you get too hot.

Truth! And I second the that's not cold. Cool, but heck at those temps I might have a sheet. And if you froze at Rolex in that bag, I would get something heavier. Been a while since I've done the camp out under the stars in the mountains thing, but if you don't enjoy cool weather, bring extra to warm up with.

When it drops to 40, I start carrying a flannel shirt with me.

When it drops to 40, i throw on boxers and my manly beard handles the rest.

Exped Synmat 9 is very nice to have for insulating you from the ground.

Then go get this guy; http://www.rei.com/product/797113/sea-to-summit-reactor-plus-thermolite-compact-liner

Adds a lot of thermal retention to a bag. It's kind of like layering for warmth but for sleeping. Something else that can really help is finding a stocking cap that is comfortable to sleep in but still keeps your head warm.

Since you have the mattress, you should be ok, so long as you have a decent bag or blanket setup. I have a big Agnes synthetic. +15 degree bag I picked up at the rei garage sale a couple years ago.

Here are a few tips... I frequently winter camp in a cold tent (cold tent is camper slang for a unheated tent) In Algonquin Park, middle of winter...

Tip#1 Do not use an air mattress in any weather even remotely cold. An air mattress wicks heat away from you. You should only us an air mattress in HOT weather. If you want to stay warm. In Hot weather, air mattresses are great for keeping cool.

Instead use a foam mattress, camping pad, pine boughs or damn near anything else that keeps you slightly suspended from the ground. Again, avoid an air mattress... It will only make you more cold.

Tip#2 Set the tent up in a sheltered area. If it is windy, the wind draws heat from the tent, plain and simple. Set it up in the middle of a grove of trees, that (likely) wont fall on you in the middle of the night.

Tip#3 Eat hot food just before going to bed.. Need I say more... Make it while you are drinking your last beer. After your last beer eat it then go to bed.

Tip#4 If you have a real Lantern (Kerosene powered) Turn it on full blast inside the tent about an hour before going to bed...*Disclaimer* Only do this with all windows open and the lantern off the floor of the tent with nobody inside the tent, and nobody going in and out. This will pre-heat the contents of the tent making it much easier to get to sleep. Shut off the Lantern, remove the Lantern from the tent, then shut the windows. Then go to sleep.

Tip#5 Place the clothing you plan to wear the next day in your sleeping bag the night before. Nothing sucks more than crawling out of your sleeping bag and putting on cold clothes. This is like a tire warmer for your clothes...

Tip#6 If you are in the tent with a someone you are comfortable sleeping naked with, or mostly naked with; zip your sleeping bags together, and sleep as undressed as possible with the next days clothes in the amalgamated sleeping bag. Two person's body heat can (even in winter) be super warm even with poor quality sleeping bags.

I am about to guarantee your sleep is a lot more comfortable, and by the I mean warmer:

Socks. Have a clean, unworn, preferably thick wool pair to put on right before you go to sleep, one pair for each night of camping, ideally. Wearing the socks you wore all day (and thus soaked with sweat, even though it was only probably 55 or 60 during the day) will quickly turn your feet into ice cubes. And as we know, if your feet are cold, you are cold. Don't know why that is, but it is.

And also, a 40 degree bag will be chilly in 40 weather. If you expect anything in the 30s, a mummy bag will be better.

mtn wrote: Silk footie pajamas.

Works for me!

tommy come up to NH this winter and we can do some snow camping.

I've camped in cold, and below freezing weather. Get a hat.

40 is pretty warm still. Come February with 40's you might see me in shorts and t-shirt shoveling snow.