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  1. #1
    Senior Member BearChaser's Avatar
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    Question A little different Pillow thread, and spare clothes.

    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.

  2. #2
    Senior Member rip waverly's Avatar
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    nice. i agree. with ALL of it.

    i'm using the ahe cub.
    "Jeff-Becking"

    DOWNTOWN BROWN!!!!

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    LOL...I will almost certainly never, ever, EVER be confused with anything resembling a light-weight hiker.

    I carry a pillow. I carry spare clothes. I carry rain gear. I carry darned near everything but the kitchen sink.

    I've learned that there's NO "one true way".

    Odds are, I'll never be found in the woods without redundant knife, fire making tools, trash bags, and water containers.

    Frankly, after spending most of my adult life in the bush for various reasons, I'm not comfortable trekking around with anything less.

    Most people would be mighty uncomfortable lugging around what they'd consider useless weight.

    It's all about what works for you...what works for the other guy is good for him.

  4. #4
    Senior Member ShadowAlpha's Avatar
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    good points Bearchaser.

    in cooler weather i take off an outter layer & use for pillow.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Knotty's Avatar
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    I agree with your thinking BC. A comfy pillow helps minimize my sleep problems so it's an important part of my kit. Just rolling up an article of clothing doesn't cut it. Neither does putting clothing in a stuff sack. My down sweater in a Thermarest Trekker pillow case is my favorite option. If I'm hiking in warmer weather then I don't have the clothing needed to make the Trekker case comfortable I'll bring a dedicated pillow, usually a Thermarest Compressible Pillow in size small.
    Knotty
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  6. #6
    Senior Member pgibson's Avatar
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    Some Good points there BearChaser, and right along the same lines if why I made the first Cub Pillow for myself. Clothes were not comfortable and I normally don't take anything but what I need to hike in unless it's car camping. My Jacket is usually on me to sleep in and my spare socks are on my feet at night while the ones I hiked in air out next to my shoes. 3 ounces and the size of a soda can in the pack makes a world of difference to my sleep and comfort.
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  7. #7
    Senior Member Stumblefoot's Avatar
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    Like Paul said...

    Don't argue with the alligator until after you cross the river.

  8. #8
    Senior Member obxh2o's Avatar
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    I agree with most of what's been said, but ... sorry to be contrarian here, however, I've learned that I do not need a pillow in a hammock. I'd rather carry a spare T-shirt or extra dry socks when I'm worried about grams.
    "I go because it irons out the wrinkles in my soul." -- Sigurd Olson

  9. #9
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    As a bigger guy, I never worried about a little added weight here and there. But I was never a fan of the space a pillow can take up. My big head smashes down pillows flat, and synthetics feel about as good as stuffing clothing into a pouch, never really comfortable for me.
    I was messing around with a DIY hammock pouch to stuff my Wilderness Logics Big Daddy rain fly into. The kind the guys at 2QZQ make, that fits into the end of my HH or WBBB, when it hit me. Silnylon is slippery! The WL came with a good stuff sack, but it was small, and I didn’t like trying to fold or fidget with the fly to get it to fit.
    I modified the 2QzQ idea into a pillow pouch. My DIY pouch is cut just like a pillow, which I can stuff my slippery silnyl rainfly into easier. Since the material moves inside the pillow pouch smoothly with less friction, it feels way better than socks or a shirt. It compresses under the head enough for a comfortable feel, and since I stitched Velcro tabs at right angel on one side of the pillow pouch, they fold over the ridge line in a conical triangle shape, tucking out of the way!
    I actually like the stuffed Sylnil better than any other pillow stuffing I have tried. Though, as you mentioned before, I may be a little screwed if it started raining! Cause I don’t wanna go back to stuffing other things, and I’m too cheap to purchase that much Silnylon for just a pillow.
    The weather in KY comes and goes, so I always carry the fly. Most the time it wasn’t used. Now it is!

  10. #10
    Crash's Avatar
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    I have spare clothing in the winter but not usually enough in the summer to stuff in a sack. So I bring a small blowup pillow from Cabela's with me in summer. I tried using a water reservoir filled with air then wrapped but that never felt right. My old sleep bag had a pocket to put the pillow in and that was great. The new one doesn't. The trade-offs we have to make.

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