Hey fellow campers!
It is approaching that time of the year when the temps fall along with the leaves. I am in the process of planning a mid to late October car camping trip with the spouse. This will be to a Indiana state park. No electric site. Temps can swing wildly in Indiana this time of year with avg highs in the low 60's and avg lows around 40. I remember taking the kids trick or treating in shorts/t-shirts one year and having to wear a winter coat the next, so I am planning for the extreme...just in case.
I have already purchased a decent 4 season, 4 man tent. I use a tarp underneath the tent to protect it and I am planning on using a couple of wool blankets on the floor inside to both protect the floor and provide a warmer place for our feet.
We have 2 Coleman Autumn Trail sleeping bags which are rated down to 20 degrees. We've used these for a couple of years, but the lowest temp usage was down to about 50 degrees...they did fine and we used an air mattress (with a wool blanket on top of the mattress). We won't be using our air mattresses on this trip.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J2GUTK/...R6X309JX&psc=1
We will be supplementing the sleeping bags with a fleece sleeping bag liner (if necessary) and we have polypropylene underwear we will change into at night (again, if necessary). Add in a fleece hat or a balaclava for our heads.
For this trip and this time of year, I decided the air mattress might not be warm enough. Luckily, my dear spouse redeemed some points she had earned at work for gift cards and we purchased a couple of Therm-a-rest LuxuryMap self-inflating insulated mattresses. R value on these is 6.8. These will be part of our new "sleeping system":
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have researched various forum threads for some additional advice and still have some questions:
Will I need to get a closed cell pad to use under the Therm-a-rest? Or is that overkill based on the temps I expect to experience?
Even though the tent has breathable inner fabric and 3 top vents and 3 lower vents, I still worry about the water vapor from our breath collecting and freezing inside the tent...and having it come down like snow on us in the morning when it is disturbed....I have read that some folks use a candle lantern lit overnight to help mitigate this condition (I am worried about leaving a candle going all night though inside the tent---maybe put it in the vestibule where it wouldn't be disturbed or drip wax down on us?). Does anyone have any experience with candle lanterns? Good, bad?
I thought about getting a Mr Buddy...but again...I am worried about CO2 and not waking up. Maybe use it just to take the chill out at night and again in the morning? Does that help prevent condensation? Or will it just melt any condensation that formed...and instead of tent snow we'll get tent rain?
Plan on eating well and doing a walk prior to retiring for the night to make sure our metabolisms are running on high. Bathroom break prior to bedtime. We have a Luggable Loo that we'll be bringing so at least a "midnight calling" doesn't mean exiting the tent.
Is there anything else in my planning that I have forgotten to consider or account for as to cool/cold weather camping? Any suggestions from the cold weather tent camping veterans? Thanks everyone.
Brian - a65hoosier
It is approaching that time of the year when the temps fall along with the leaves. I am in the process of planning a mid to late October car camping trip with the spouse. This will be to a Indiana state park. No electric site. Temps can swing wildly in Indiana this time of year with avg highs in the low 60's and avg lows around 40. I remember taking the kids trick or treating in shorts/t-shirts one year and having to wear a winter coat the next, so I am planning for the extreme...just in case.
I have already purchased a decent 4 season, 4 man tent. I use a tarp underneath the tent to protect it and I am planning on using a couple of wool blankets on the floor inside to both protect the floor and provide a warmer place for our feet.
We have 2 Coleman Autumn Trail sleeping bags which are rated down to 20 degrees. We've used these for a couple of years, but the lowest temp usage was down to about 50 degrees...they did fine and we used an air mattress (with a wool blanket on top of the mattress). We won't be using our air mattresses on this trip.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004J2GUTK/...R6X309JX&psc=1
We will be supplementing the sleeping bags with a fleece sleeping bag liner (if necessary) and we have polypropylene underwear we will change into at night (again, if necessary). Add in a fleece hat or a balaclava for our heads.
For this trip and this time of year, I decided the air mattress might not be warm enough. Luckily, my dear spouse redeemed some points she had earned at work for gift cards and we purchased a couple of Therm-a-rest LuxuryMap self-inflating insulated mattresses. R value on these is 6.8. These will be part of our new "sleeping system":
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I have researched various forum threads for some additional advice and still have some questions:
Will I need to get a closed cell pad to use under the Therm-a-rest? Or is that overkill based on the temps I expect to experience?
Even though the tent has breathable inner fabric and 3 top vents and 3 lower vents, I still worry about the water vapor from our breath collecting and freezing inside the tent...and having it come down like snow on us in the morning when it is disturbed....I have read that some folks use a candle lantern lit overnight to help mitigate this condition (I am worried about leaving a candle going all night though inside the tent---maybe put it in the vestibule where it wouldn't be disturbed or drip wax down on us?). Does anyone have any experience with candle lanterns? Good, bad?
I thought about getting a Mr Buddy...but again...I am worried about CO2 and not waking up. Maybe use it just to take the chill out at night and again in the morning? Does that help prevent condensation? Or will it just melt any condensation that formed...and instead of tent snow we'll get tent rain?
Plan on eating well and doing a walk prior to retiring for the night to make sure our metabolisms are running on high. Bathroom break prior to bedtime. We have a Luggable Loo that we'll be bringing so at least a "midnight calling" doesn't mean exiting the tent.
Is there anything else in my planning that I have forgotten to consider or account for as to cool/cold weather camping? Any suggestions from the cold weather tent camping veterans? Thanks everyone.
Brian - a65hoosier
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