Counting Sheep…

Sleeping Bag

I already have good 4 season sleeping bag now but it’s way too big to bring along, probably wouldn’t fit into the kayak hatch opening at all and if it did, would take up way too much precious room.

Went with a reasonably priced synthetic mummy bag called the ASOLO-Silva. Stayed away from down filled because they take forever to dry if they get wet and I don’t want to have to deal with that drama. They are also hugely more expensive than synthetic equivalents.

This is a compact ultra-light sleeping bag which also comes with it’s own compression sack, amazing how small it actually packs up and how light it is, around 1/4 or more the size of my 4 season and only weights slightly over 2lbs.

3 Season - rated to 0°C, not an issue given this will be July/August timeframe. I did want the blue one but they were out of stock and only had the blue/green (puke green) I’ll get over it, just didn’t feel like going somewhere else or having it ordered.

I haven’t used a mummy bag before and hope I don’t find it too claustrophobic, I like to move around when I sleep, it’s smaller than a rectangle bag and I was going for size and weight, suck it up.

Bag Liner

Also picked up a silk bag liner to go with it, my thought process was that if it gets too cold out then this can be used to add additional warmth of up to 10 degrees. If it’s too hot out then I can just use this as the sleeping bag.

They had cotton liners as well but cotton when wet takes forever to dry, silk is quick drying and packs up smaller anyway. Cotton ones were relatively cheap but the silk one was almost as much as the sleeping bag itself, ouch.Wasn’t a surprise, all the reviews I read said they were pricy but well worth it.

Pillow

If only I could bring my real pillow (my favorite) settled for second best, picked up a Compression Pillow, went with large so it’s a little bigger than something I could probably get away with but would rather be comfortable. Went with ThermaRest midnight blue. Couldn’t do the whole paisley thing that looked like it should be sitting on the end of a couch somewhere.

Sleeping Pad

I have a very comfortable self inflating one already, it’s probably the biggest item i have so far which is kind of funny. I’m going on the assumption this should fit in the kayak and will decided if I need to get a different one once I get a chance to pack up a Kayak and see how everything goes.

This one is great, 2” deep fully inflated and 1/2” memory foam. Has a nozzle you open on top and it just puffs right up in under 2 minutes, close the valve and go to sleep, open the valve and roll it up when you’re done. It doesn’t fold and is somewhat bulky but damn, it’s comfortable and I don’t want to feel like I’m sleeping on the ground.