Transporting a Sleeping Bag
Well, you’ve finally gone and done it, bought the
sleeping bag of your dreams; a large, luxurious bag with exquisite down
insulation and a host of other great features that could almost make the
great outdoors feel like a rustic but charming bed and breakfast.
However, when the moment arrives for you to take it on your first
adventure, you discover, to your great displeasure, that your dream bag is
simply too heavy and cumbersome to lug around on its own.
In desperation, you look around for anything that you can stuff it
into to help you carry it, but the best you can come up with is an old bag
for groceries. This may be a
worst-case scenario, but it only underscores a rather important
consideration with sleeping bags: you have to be able to take them around
without unduly burdening yourself.
Carrying a sleeping bag around shouldn’t have to be a chore.
Here are a few things that you can do to keep the load light, and
make sure that your sleeping bag is properly transported in a way that
avoids ruining it.
- Maximum
Weight – when it comes to sleeping bag weight, there are plenty of
different options available to you.
Lighter bags are normally down-filled and a little bit more
expensive, while heavier bags have synthetic fill and are much cheaper.
What you can handle is ultimately up to you, but ideally, your
bag shouldn’t weigh more than five pounds, which constitute about 10 to
20 percent of your total pack weight.
- Maximum
Compressed Size – if the bag is light but huge and bulky, it’ll be
very difficult to carry around, and you run the added risk of the bag
scratching against something like poison ivy or poison oak, which will
make sleep time very uncomfortable.
Many contemporary bags shrink down to a fraction of their
expanded size, with down bags having twice the compressibility of
synthetics.
- Pick Up a
Compression Sack – sleeping bags are best carried around in a
special sack that provides secure storage while allowing the bag to
breathe, which is especially important for bags with down fill.
The compression sack you buy should be waterproof, durable, and
possess some form of abrasion resistance.
No rolling is normally required when you work with these sacks;
just stuff them in, although you should always put the sleeping bag in
foot end first. Some bags come
with a sack attached to their foot regions, which may be convenient if
you are prone to misplacing your sack, but not so if you divert your
sack to other uses, such as to make an improvised pillow or temporarily
stow other stuff away.
- Secure with
Straps – if you must attach the sleeping bag to your pack, do not
use bungee cords or other elastic types of bands, as they may end up
getting unhooked at the most awkward or inconvenient moments, dumping
your bag into a stream or down a jagged slope.
Use sleeping bag straps, available at many outdoor equipment
stores, to secure your bag on your back.
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