How do you pack your sleeping bag?

[jgaffney]

• In a stuff sack in the basement.
  
• Crammed in the basement with no stuff sack.
  
• Basement? I just cram it in with everything else.

[AlmostThere]

I pack my sleeping bag in a stuff sack, in the backpack.

I store my sleeping bag in a breathable zippered suit bag hanging in a closet to let it breath, keep it dust free, and uncompressed so that the down does not suffer for long periods of compression.... but it doesn't get to do that very much since I backpack at least once a month, and there are three longer trips this year.

I also don't really use a sleeping bag, but a 22 oz down backpacking quilt -- no zippers, no extraneous weight, comfy into the mid 20s without extra layers. And quite happily for the past ten years of backpacking.

[Phil]

The right way is to only stuff it when it's being used. The rest of the time it goes in a larger storage bag that allows it to loft back up and breathe. If you can, hang it up in the closet where it's dry and no mice can get into it. My bags are all Western Mountaineering, so I'm religious about it.

Might as well follow up with more of my sleeping bag wisdom since we're on the subject.

Most know that down is worthless when it gets wet, and this year it's not only a good thing to remember, it might save your life. If you didn't, well, it is. Absolutely worthless. Instead of using your factory stuff sack, use an Ultrasil sack, preferably with a roll top. Compression sacks, whether they be "waterproof" or not, tend to really break down the down fast, so they're not generally recommended. If you have to use one because of spatial considerations, it's extra important to at least release the straps or get it out and into its storage bag when you get home. Machine washing also damages the down quickly. I wash my bags by hand maybe once or twice per season. In between trips, I take them out, turn them inside out and leave them in the sun for a day. Sunlight (UVA-B) has anti microbial qualities, so even though it's not getting washed all the time, it doesn't get funky and I'm not sleeping in last trip's sweat residue.

And now, for my next post, I'm going to share with you all my doctoral thesis on backpacking pillows and their sociological implications for rice farmers in Indonesia. It's only 483 pages, so you can start getting excited and holding your breath as soon as you're done here.

[AlmostThere]

Most people keep it in the stuff sack in the bottom of the backpack. In the garage. And ask me why the bag didn't last forever and they get cold when they use it because the compression destroyed the insulation.



Science.

[Phil]

Most people keep it in the stuff sack in the bottom of the backpack. In the garage.

No, most people own Colemans or cheap Keltys and wouldn't know the difference unless they paid $50 for an REI class on the subject. My sleeping bag is.....blue.

My daughter lets her friends use my bags during sleepovers when I'm not around. I ask her if she realizes that they're sleeping in and spilling food on a $700 bag, but then she complains and hits me up for $20 because I can obviously afford it.

[AlmostThere]

A friend had a 30 year old Snow Lion down bag. He brought it out on a November (!) overnight without really pulling it out of the sack first, and nearly froze to death in the low 20s while ice formed on the trail, in the lake, in the leaves over the stream.... I was fine, meanwhile, in my hammock with my three season gear, warm and cozy.... in the morning he showed me how there was hardly any down left in the baffles of his bag.

Snow Lion was once a decent brand.... He'd left it in the garage, compressed, for a decade.

[Phil]

Dust it off, hose it down, good to go.

Are we even remotely on-topic anymore?

[AlmostThere]

Was there a topic?

I suppose I could have answered "none of the above" and left it at that.

Currently, I'm packing for five days -- the quilt, the pad, the tent, the DEET, the headnet, the Bearikade that's slowly being filled with dehydrated meals and packets of lemonade (anticipating continued warm days), the stove, the fuel, the first aid kit, the microspikes, neoprene socks, permethrin treated long sleeve shirt, big dorky hat, PLB, etc. is all slowly assembling on the gear room floor.

Soon and very soon, I will see how far the melt has really progressed. And how many bridges on my route are still there.

[Phil]

To go along with the dorky hat, I think you need to strap your PLB on one side of your shoulder harness and then a ridiculously heavy and oversized survival knife on the other.

[AlmostThere]

LOL, the oversized survival knife. And a colander on one side of the pack, and a lawn chair on the other. I'll probably also need a shotgun.

[Phil]

Ahahaha! Don't forget the eggs....and this ball game, and this chair, and this ashtray...and that's all you need.

[AlmostThere]

The real answer is that you pack your sleeping bag in the hot tub, until you empty the beer keg. Then you pack the sleeping bag in the beer keg with the sled, the inflatable kayak, your rubber duckie and the empty wine bottles.

Any fish you catch, those you keep in the hot tub packed in what's left of a snow bank.

[Phil]

And the real answer is...a Sherpa.

"Tenzing, I feel a bit of a chill coming on. I certainly hope that you've adequately fluffed my sleeping bag and properly assembled my cot."

[balzaccom]

Back to the OP....

I pack my bag in the bottom of my backpack, in a stuff sack. IN the bottom, because the only time I pull out my sleeping bag is when I set up camp...and that means everything else has to come out anyway. On top of it I pack my bear can and tent...and on top of the go the rainshell, down jacket, etc.

I store my sleeping bag in its huge cotton storage bag in a closet...nice and fluffy.

[AlmostThere]

Back to the OP....

I pack my bag in the bottom of my backpack, in a stuff sack. IN the bottom, because the only time I pull out my sleeping bag is when I set up camp...and that means everything else has to come out anyway. On top of it I pack my bear can and tent...and on top of the go the rainshell, down jacket, etc.

I store my sleeping bag in its huge cotton storage bag in a closet...nice and fluffy.

That wasn't one of the options, you know. You're not saying anywhere that you put it in a basement.