Unbeknownst to me when I received my "Big Agnes" air mattress as a Christmas gift last December, she can be paired up with a "Big Agnes" sleeping bag. The company making these have optimized a sleeping "system" by offering the possibility of integrating the air mattress into the sleeping bag.
The "ground-side" insulation in a sleeping bag is practically worthless as it gets compressed by your weight, and you end up in direct contact with the ground (I have first hand experience in this from camping on the side of the road outside Aspen in 1975 - I think I shivered all night.) "Big Agnes" has designed a sleeping bag with no ground-side insulation, but instead, a sleeve in which to insert your air mattress which by its nature, provides both comfort and insulation in the form of an "air cushion". As an added bonus, since the mattress is in the sleeve of the sleeping bag, you can't roll off it and onto the hard ground during your sleep. As well, when you break camp, you deflate the mattress while it is still in the sleeve. All in all a very well thought out, integrated design.
Given these benefits, and 65+ nights of camping coming up in a month, I ordered the integrated sleeping bag on Sunday - it arrived via UPS on our front doorstep today. I tried it out and it works really well. Since it only has half the insulation, I was able to compress the bag, air mattress and a full sized pillow into my waterproof "stuff sack".
It is amazing how much camping gear has evolved since our cross-Canada family adventure in 1966.
That is me 2nd from the right in the family photo - Mt. Edith Cavell, August 1966.
Unfortunately I will not be able to revisit the spot where this photo was taken - it is about 130 miles to the north of Lake Louise where our route turns south towards Banff.
4 weeks to departure...
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