Sleeping bag and tent

First you need to decide if you need a 3 season or 4 season tent. 4 season tents are a little heavier than the 3 seasons but do much better in the snow.

Most of the backpacking tents and such fit really easily in your pack.


watch steepandcheap.com and go to backcountry.com outlet for their deals, its the only spot I go to for my backpacking supplies.

dont forget campmor.com great place to look for bachpacking gear.

twitch thanks for the links, i never heard of them and am stoked to check them out!


as far as recomendations?

you'll get 10 different answers from 10 different people.
i use for tents, marmot ESO 1 man tent, my favorite, outdoor reaserch bivy sack, works but is getting used less and less for the more comfortable marmot, and a DO-it, cheap peice of crap, that has an awsome desing, but sweats like a **** in church. it is my "loaner" :) after guys borrow it, they make sure to buy their own:)

bags: i use a Northface 10 degree bag. works great for me, but i have a buddy who will be on the same trip with me, will freeze his butt off in his -20 degree slumberjack. different for everyone. but as a rule of thumb, the colder it is good for , the heavier it will weigh. then you can off-set a little of that buy paying a ton more. but YOU have to find the happy medium for yourself.


at the CAMPMOR sight you can look at a ton of bags and tents. decide what is the best for the $ you want to spend. it can get expensive.

i also have a buddy who makes a lot of my same trips using walmart , very cheap, gear. and he seems to do just fine. spending alot of money wont make it easy, if you really want to do it , you can make anything work.

I totally forgot about campmor.com #-o

I don't have a recommendation for the tent or the bag, but do have a recommendation for upgrading the comfort level of any sleeping bag.

I always carry a poncho liner with me. You can get them at any army surplus store. If I need to I can line my sleeping bag with it to add some additional insulation. Adds another 5 - 10 degrees of protection for me. Of course this will vary with each individual and their sleeping bag.

I am preaching to the choir here, I know, but, with the exception of my foot gear and any wet clothing, I get undressed in the sleeping bag. This does a couple of things:

a. all the contortions you go through warms the sleeping bag.

b. leaving your clothes in the sleeping bag with you adds additional insulation and the clothes are warm when you put them on in the morning.

c. I think this is the most important thing. Do not go to sleep in your bag with clothes on (except in realy extreme circumstances). You will sweat inside your sleepiing bag, which means that you negate a lot of the insulation capability of your bag. It also means that when you climb out of your bag in the morning your clothes are damp, if not wet, and you will get realy cold realy quick.

I hope i did not insult anyones intelegence. Just wanted to put out some lessons learned from 19 years as a grunt.

Stay warm, stay dry, stay alive.

I aquired one of the new ECWS sleep systems before I got out of the army a few years ago. They're modular, and AWESOME. I never got wet or cold in mine. If you can track one down I highly reccomment it.

you can check out REI as well, the good thing about REI is the reviews. I was going to but a new ultralight tent that I saw in a magazine, but it got bad reviews. The only other piece of advice I have is to take your time and buy everything once. It's better to spend a little more money now instead of having gear laying around that you don't use.

It's better to spend a little more money now instead of having gear laying around that you don't use

I agree 100%. With backpacking gear I believe that you definitely get what you pay for. That doesn't mean just go an get the most expensive stuff you can find but sppending a little more really pays off as it will usally last longer and perform better. I've had my 2 man Serria Designs tent for 10+ years and it's still a great tent.

As far as reccomendations, I would go to an REI type store and talk to someone there so you can see what will work best for you (then buy chaper online!). They are usally pretty knowledgeable and there are a lot of great brands to chose from. Don't go to Cabeleas most of the people that work there don't know sh*t! (the one in UT anyway)

I have the REI Half Dome tent and its been great. It is a little on the heavy side at 5 pounds but It keeps two people comfortable and dry. Also REI stands by their products. Northface makes great sleeping bags. I have the snowshoe and am very happy with it.