The Sleeping Bag Purchase

Two days ago, we took a big step. We purchased gear. Ultralight gear. So it was expensive. At any point before that moment I clicked the 'Submit Payment' button we could have abandoned this idea of a thru-hike with no losses. Now we cannot do that. There is some kind of finality to spending money. This is why something as seemingly arbitrary as expensive rings and an expensive ceremony that lasts a few short hours are actually quite important. Those things are unnecessary for a marriage, but since society places such great value on money, spending a significant amount on it makes it more important to us. It fortifies the commitment.

So now there is no turning back from the Trail. Following, I will share the relevant information that led to the difficult decision of choosing the sleeping bags we thought was best suited for this particular journey and this particular blogger and his wife. If you have no interest whatsoever in learning about the differences between down and synthetic sleeping bags or what companies make the lightest and most cost effective bags then I will forgive you for jumping ship on this blog post immediately. If you, however, are looking to take the difficult plunge of deciding which bag to purchase for yourself or just want to learn something new about camping equipment and some of the best-rated sleeping bags in existence today, by all means, read on.

Down vs. Synthetic
These are the two major kinds of sleeping bags you can buy. Down sleeping bags are made from the fluffy undercoating of ducks and geese. These sleeping bags are both warmer and more lightweight than synthetic sleeping bags. Synthetic sleeping bags are made from polyester fabrics stitched together in ways to mimic down. Down bags are more breathable, allowing moisture to escape, but if it gets wet it takes a very long time to dry. Synthetic bags dry out much faster. However, the biggest reason why someone wold purchase a synthetic sleeping bag is because they are a ton cheaper.

We decided to make the splurge and go with down, especially since we are bringing a tent with us. Some thru-hikers opt out of carrying a tent because there are shelters all along the Trail and some sleeping bags come with a hood and a water-resistent bivy sack. While in the Marine Corps, we often used this set up and remained mostly dry through rainy nights. When I hiked the Appalachian Trail with a friend for a week and a half in 2008 we didn't bring a tent and did just fine. However, since we are hiking the Trail as a couple, we need the tent for privacy. It would be stupid to hike the Trail with down sleeping bags and no tent, but since we have a tent, we can keep the down sleeping bags from getting wet. Since my wife gets cold easily and the first few weeks on the Trail will be in winter conditions, down was the way to go.

Also, since we are trying to go as lightweight as possible, down was a good choice. So the search began at the place all searches begin. Google. Typing in 'lightweight sleeping bags' yielded results that were quite light, but not as ultralight as I would like. So I typed in 'ultralight' and found a website for a company that makes custom down sleeping bags far lighter than the sleeping bags I came across from REI, Moosejaw, L. L. Bean etc. The sleeping bag that was rated at 20 degrees F cost $469 at 21 oz. Several days went by before I was going to actually make the purchase. I decided to search for reviews of the sleeping bag which led me to an awesome website called outdoorgearlab.com. I highly recommend this website for anyone who is looking to find the best of any kind of outdoor adventuring gear. The reviews are extremely helpful and they actually test each piece of equipment in different conditions. They rate each piece of gear in an easy-to-understand way, share pros and cons of the equipment, and provide comparisons of comparable gear.

It is here that I found that there were many more options for ultralight down sleeping bags and I quickly realized that the lightest and best-rated were made by small manufacturers and unavailable from retailers. It became apparent that the best options for ultralight down sleeping bags was the Katabatic Gear Palisade which was the editor's pick, the Enlightened Equipment Revelation which won the best buy award, and the Zpacks 20 Degree which one the top pick award.

What bag to choose? The Enlightened bag was the cheapest, the Zpacks bag was the warmest and lightest, and the Katabatic bag was the most expensive, but seemed to be the best on average, taking in all considerations. This would be a difficult choice! I looked at all of their websites and was very interested when I saw that Zpacks offered a twin size sleeping bag. That is, a single sleeping bag built for two people to share which cuts down on the weight dramatically (instead of two individual sleeping bags) and allows for more warmth by sharing body heat. It is also relatively cheaper since we now only have to purchase one sleeping bag instead of two.

We purchased the 20 degree F sleeping bag at 26.5 oz total which is a mere 13.25 oz. per person, significantly lighter than two individual sleeping bags from any company. It is filled with premium goose down (the lightest of down) and has 900 fill power, which means that one ounce of down fills 900 cubic inches of volume for the bag. The more fill power the more warmth because there is more down in each cubic inch. The bag also comes with a free lightweight waterproof compression sack and we took advantage of a new option to make the down more water-resistent. This adds up to two ounces, but I think will be nice in case the bag does get a little damp somehow. Of course, it is still nowhere near as waterproof as synthetic bags. It only cost $560 which is a lot less than what I was expecting to pay for two individual sleeping bags, and comes with a one year warranty. The only thing that could be worrisome about the bag is that it it has a fixed, slim girth and baffle height which means if it gets very cold it will be difficult to fit inside with many warming layers. However, since we are both small, I don't think this will be much of a problem. I am very excited about testing it out, but since the company is small and each bag is custom made, it will take five to six weeks before it gets shipped out (shipping and handling was free as well!). I will write a review once we test it out ourselves.

The company was started by a young man, after he completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2004. His base weight (base weight excludes food, water, and clothing worn) for his pack was 8 lb. and contained almost entirely homemade gear. The average thru-hiker on the Appalachian Trail carries a base weight of 40 lb. I don't think we will be able to go quite as low as 8 lb., but anything significantly lower than 40 lb. will make us very happy as we walk the Trail. The Zpacks Twin 20 Degree Sleeping bag is just the first step in reducing every ounce possible for our light and happy thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail!