I have a question for those who use a clothes bag as a pillow because additional items like a pillow is just added weight.
How many pieces of spare clothes do you all take on the trail?
Warm weather. On a 3 day 2 night outing, I might have a spare pair of socks. I like dry socks in the morning, even when warm out. Longer trips I may have extra undies and shirt. Cool nights, I put my rain jacket on (Packa).
Cool weather. I normally take what I need to wear at night. During the day when moving I might have an insulated shirt & bottoms in the pack, but in the evening I'm wearing it to bed. Wear the pants to bed also, unless there soaking wet, which wouldn't be a good pillow since there hanging out to dry.
Cold weather. Ok, this is a situation that I have spare clothes, most of the time. Like a heavy down jacket, or a light one. Or extra insulation. So in the snow angel month's I can leave the pillow at home and make use of the weight I already carry.
Long outing, like week(s)/month(s). This is another circumstance where I would probably have spare clothes.
Seems like if your not willing to carry a 2-3oz. pillow because it has one use. You would be willing to not take additional clothes weighing more. I understand everyone is different. Some of us could hike for days & miles and not get a stitch of dirt on us. Some of us get dirty just stepping out of the vehicle at the trail head. I also realize we have different climates and weather conditions all over, but if you hike there regularly, like I do in my normal areas. I know what to expect, so I take what I need and use it. If the weather turns colder than expected and I'm not hiking or moving and not ready for bed, I wrap my quilt around me. Or lay in the hammock under cover to keep warm.
I by no means have anything against spare clothes, pillows, what have you, I'm just curious. By the way, I need a pillow to sleep comfy. I used to use my packa as a pillow, I mean I carry it in rainy months anyway. But I realized one night after setting up in the rain. My pillow, the packa, was now wet. So no pillow. I also tried the spare clothes, but after cutting that spare weight out, I don't have that option (in summer and cool). So now I carry a dedicated DIY pillow that weighs less than spare clothes of equal comfort. Reason I'm curious is that every time a pillow thread comes up, someone always says, why carry extra weight, just use your clothes bag. I say, why carry extra clothing, drop that weight and get a lightweight pillow.
I didn't want to get off topic in the pillow thread, so I made this one.
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