A backpacking sleep system refers back to the assortment of substances and clothes used for sleeping in camp. It’s referred to as a system as a result of the objects should work collectively and complement each other to carry out a standard perform. For instance, a sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and a pillow are all widespread parts of a sleep system.
A backpacking sleep system can be one of many Big Three:
- Backpack and Packing System
- Shelter System
- Sleep System
The gear in these classes is often the heaviest stuff in your backpacking gear checklist and gives the perfect bang for the buck by way of gear weight discount if you wish to lighten your load. There are further programs that backpackers use to categorize gear together with a Clothing System, Electronics and Navigation, Health and Hygiene, Cooking System, and so forth.
Multi-Function Gear
It’s vital to know {that a} single piece of backpacking gear or clothes may need a number of capabilities and be a part of a number of gear programs. For instance, the plastic bag that you just use as a water-resistant pack liner may also be used as a bivy sack to guard your sleeping bag from rain/wind/condensation or as a poncho in an emergency.
There may also be some dependencies between totally different gear programs, particularly between a shelter system and a sleep system. For occasion, most individuals who sleep in a hammock desire a high quilt and backside quilt for sleep insulation as a substitute of a sleeping bag and inflatable pad as a result of they’re simpler to make use of.
Example Sleep Systems
Here are three pattern sleep programs: one every for tent tenting, tarp tenting, and hammock tenting.
Sleep System for Tent-based Camping
If you camp in a tent, you’re more likely to have a reasonably primary sleep system with a sleeping bag or high quilt, maybe a pillow, a heat hat, and sleeping garments. The temperature rankings of most sleeping baggage and quilts additionally assume you’re sporting clothes and a hat which is one cause to put on them should you sleep chilly, though they may also be used as heat backup clothes in a Clothing System.
- Sleeping bag or high quilt and pad attachment straps
- Sleeping pad
- Pillow
- Fleece hat
- Long sleeve shirt
- Long underwear bottoms
- Dry Socks
Sleep System for Tarp-based Camping
Sleeping underneath a tarp, together with a mid (pyramid tarp), is often way more uncovered than sleeping in a tent as a result of you’ve gotten much less insect, wind, and rain safety. One method to increase a sleep system for tarp tenting to guard your self in opposition to bugs, cold-robbing wind, and rain splashback (underneath the tarp partitions) is so as to add a sleeping bag cowl or ultralight bivy sack with insect netting over your face and head.
If you sleep with a quilt, many individuals additionally put on an insulated down hoody or hooded jacket to supply their head and shoulders with further insulation.
- Bivy sack for added heat/wind/insect safety
- Top Quilt
- Quilt pad attachment system
- Down insulated hoody
- Sleeping pad
- Pillow
- Fleece hat
- Long sleeve shirt
- Long underwear bottoms
- Dry Socks
- Earplugs
- Gloves
- Headlamp
Sleep System for Hammock-Based Camping
Many hammock campers desire a high quilt and an underquilt as a substitute of a sleeping bag and sleeping bag as a result of they’re much less of a wrestle to make use of if you’re not on the bottom.
- Top quilt
- Underquilt
- Fleece hat
- Long sleeve shirt
- Long underwear bottoms
- Dry Socks
Alternatively, you possibly can lie on a foam pad in a hammock for insulation to stop cold-butt syndrome.