So I will go ahead and admit to this, but I spent a pretty cold night without much of the appropriate gear. I took my daughter camping this weekend, and it was a new campground. Where I expected it to be, would be in the mid 80's in temps, and nothing to fret over. Luckily my daughter is cold natured and brought a jacket with her. Me on the other hand ended up at about 5,500 ft elevation with what started out as a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. As we were approaching the campground heading up the trail my daughter was kind enough to point out "Whoa dad, it's 57 degrees outside" courtesy of the dashboard indicator. I then started to realize I was in for some fun.
I guess I was a little prepared as I brought an extra pair of jeans and another shirt. I managed to find a third shirt in the truck as well. So after a while I found myself wearing the shorts, the jeans, and all three t-shirts. The last one, I pulled my arms in, and looked like I was limbless while attending the fire most of the night. I did have a hat, but would have preferred the wool cap that my daughter had brought.
I still can't for the life of me figure out how she came up better equipped for the cold than me, but I used the pride to give me extra warmth. We both had hammocks (el cheapos from the store) and good sleeping bags. Nothing with a catchy name, but rated pretty good. I am guessing it was mid 40's with at times, probably 20mph gusts. We both slept good, but I had to take a nature break I would guess no less than 5 times that night, and it was quite chilly unzipping everything. I am considering a catheter next time. One funny exit was when the zipper on the mummy bag got actually caught on the nylon for the hammock. I had one arm out, one arm in, and was not only stuck inside the bag, the bag was stuck to the hammock. It was about 3AM, and all calls to my daughter were answered with snores. I was on my own so I mustered up the strength and "took out" the zipper. About an hour later when trying to use the bag as a quilt just wasn't working with the wind that was blowing, I did some surgery and got the zipper back on and working.
Had a great time, though was a little on the cold side. Whew. So to sum up, don't forget the extra gear in the car, like a spare jacket or blanket. I was going for a "minimal weight, pack in what you want and that's it" camping expedition, but should have brought at least a jacket. I could have left it in the car if it wasn't needed, but I couldn't make one appear. My mistake. Also, this seems to be a catalyst to get the new hammock sewn up.
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