Yeah, it’s January. But just the other day Jon said something to me about wanting to go camping. CAMPING! I suppose all that time on the Snowman Trek makes one eager to return to the wilderness, even with the heat cranking in our home.
I won’t be heading out on a camping trip this January (unless it’s like, in Mexico), but I certainly have the gear for it, including Sierra Designs Backcountry Bed.
This is the bag I slept in for 24 nights while trekking in Bhutan. Luckily, temps never got down to 15° Fahrenheit (which this bag is rated for), but it was definitely cold enough that I really appreciated this style of bag.
What makes this sleeping bag so unique is that it does not have a zipper and, instead, has an opening fitted with a blanket-like insert. If you start to heat up (which never happened to me on the trek, by the way), you can simply pull open the blanket to allow air in and if you’re cold, you can snuggle up by wrapping that blanket around you.
While this bag doesn’t pack down quite as small as other bags I’ve had, it was still compact enough to fit in my Eagle Creek No Matter Duffel along with all of my other trekking gear.
The fill is an 800 rated down treated with DriDown. This is supposed to ensure that the down doesn’t get wet and clump. On a number of nights on the trek, I found the bottom of the bag to be a bit wet from the cold and damp (it often rained or snowed overnight) and I found that after repeated nights of this, there was indeed a bit of clumping. But just a bit.
Otherwise, I always stayed warm and liked the ability to move around rather freely, from my back to side and stomach. On uber cold nights, I pulled the top of the bag over my forehead and eyes (leaving my nose and mouth exposed so I could breathe easier) and I found this helped me stay warm.
I’ll be returning to do the Snowman Trek in 2016 and unless something else comes along that’ll knock my socks off, this bag is coming back with me.
Available on Amazon for about $440.
Be Bold,
Beth
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Disclosure: Sierra Designs provided this sleeping bag to me for review. Regardless, everything I have said in the post reflects my honest opinions.
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