Carry Your Weight - Sleeping Systems

The last of the Big 3 Items you have to carry is your sleeping system. My and Roslyn's sleep system is an inflatable sleeping pad. sleeping bag, and extra clothing layers as appropriate, using left over clothes a stuff sack as a pillow. Our system has worked well for us so far. With our current gear we have slept reasonably well down to -3C while wearing a couple extra layers.

When picking out a sleeping system, there are a number of options for each part of it:

1. Sleeping Pad - no pad, self-inflating pad, closed cell foam pad, inflatable pad
2. Top Layer Style - sleeping bag or sleeping quilt (might be others we haven't come across)
3. Top Layer Fill - down or synthetic
4. Pillow - none, scrounged pillow, inflatable pillow, foam pillow
5. Extra Layers - what will you wear while under your Top Layer?

Sleeping Pads

Sleeping pads are a critical part of any sleep system. While some people do go out in the summer without sleeping pads, unless the weather is very warm and the ground very soft we highly recommend taking one. The purpose of the sleeping pad is to keep you elevated off the ground, which will both keep you warmer as an air gap will slow the pace of heat loss into the ground and it will keep you more comfortable since all the lumps on the ground will be smoothed out. Each type of sleeping pad has some different characteristics:

Closed Cell Foam Pads - Solid foam pad that is very rugged, though does not provide as much cushion as the other pad types. Closed cell foam pads tend to be cheaper, more robust, but less comfortable than the other sleeping pad types

Self-Inflating Pad - Self-inflating pads are air inflated pads that have a foam core inside them to force the outer skin of the pad open. Most self inflating pads take about 10 minutes to inflate on their own, and adding a couple breaths if your own gives them some extra plumpness. Self inflating pads generally pack down smaller than closed cell foam pads, though they are not as robust and can be punctured and made unusable.

Inflatable Sleeping Pads - Inflatable sleeping require you to blow them up, usually requiring 10 to 30 breaths depending on the size of the pad. Inflatable sleeping pads tend to pack down the smallest of the pad types. Like self-inflating pads, inflatable sleeping pads can be punctured and made unusable.

Other than size and weight, when picking a sleeping pad you also need to consider the insulation value of the sleeping pad, the R-value. The higher the value the warmer the pad will keep you.

Our recommendation for a sleeping pad is an inflatable sleeping pad with an R-value of 4 or more, and at least one inch thick. A sleeping pad like this will be more than you require for much of the summer, but will also work well in the edge season and help you extend your backpacking season. If you plan on only going out in good weather, you can benefit from getting a sleeping pad with an R-value of 3 or lower due to the smaller size and weight.

Top Layer

Your top layer is the other critical part of your sleep system and there are two major choices to make; Sleeping Bag vs Quilt and Down vs Synthetic. If you pick a sleeping bag you also need to choose between a Rectangular Cut and a Mummy Cut style bag. The choices largely come down to personal preference though there are advantages and disadvantages to each option.

Sleeping Bag - Sleeping bags are essentially a tube of material that you slid into or lay in and close with a zipper that enclose you in insulated material to keep you warm. Due to their construction, sleeping bags restrict movement more than a quilt and tend to be heavier for their temperature rating due to having more insulation and material.

Quilt - A quilt is essentially a blanket that you place over yourself, with the main benefits being less restricted movement and lighter weight for the same temperature rating. Quilts take advantage of the fact that any down or synthetic material you are laying on generally won't provide much warmth since it is compressed, and do away with the material to reduce weight. This does increase the risk of drafts getting in under the quilt compared to a sleeping bag, but many quilts are designed to wrap down around the sleeping pad a bit to help combat this.

Mummy Cut - A mummy cut sleeping bag is shaped in a body silhouette to reduce size and weight. This does restrict your movement even more than a regular sleeping bag would, but also reduced the number and sizes of cold spots inside your bag.

Rectangular Cut - A rectangular cut sleeping bag is shaped in a rectangle and offers less restriction than a mummy cut bag, though they weight more and tend to have more cold spots.

Down Fill - Down fill is a natural feather fill that offers better warmth per size than synthetic fill does. Down tends to be more expensive, does not work as well when wet, and required more care than a synthetic fill does.

Synthetic Fill - Synthetic fill is a manufactured fill that is bulkier than down for the amount of warmth it provides. It does retain some insulating properties when wet, is less expensive, and requires less care than down fill does.

When picking a top layer you also need to determine what temperature rating or fill power you want out to go with. Higher fill powers are warmer and are used for lower temperatures. Many top layers will have either an EN or ISO temperature rating however, so you do not need to determine what you want based purely on the fill power.

We recommend finding a top layer that has an EN/ISO Comfort Level (for women) or Lower Limit (for men) temperature rating about 5C lower than the lowest temperature you expect to go out in. In our experience, the temperature ratings are a bit optimistic. Otherwise, pick the top layer style and fill that best suits your sleeping and budget preferences.

Roslyn and I use a mummy cut sleeping bag rated to about 3C for the majority of the season, with Roslyn's being synthetic and mine being down filled. For edge season we have mummy cut sleeping bags rated to about -5C for the relevant temperature level, and the are both down filled.

Pillow

Pillows are a less critical sleeping item, but are still important for most peoples comfort. For a pillow you can bring an inflatable pillow, a small foam pillow, or a scrounged pillow.

Inflatable pillow - Like an inflatable sleeping pad, this as a small inflatable piece of fabric that you can roll us and store while hiking. They tend to provide the best results as they can be the size and hardness you desire.

Foam pillow - Foam pillows take up a lot of space compared to the other options, but if you can fit them in they can work.

Scrounged pillow - A pillow created from a left over sack of some kind and whatever you have to fill it. Scrounged pillows are usually sufficient, but add absolutely no weight or cost to your system.

Roslyn and I use scrounged pillows. We take whatever clothing we are not using and fill out sleeping bag stuff sacks with it to act as a pillow. We've found that this works well enough for us and recommend it if you are not a picky sleeper.

Extra Layers

Your sleep system also needs to take into account any extra layers you are going to be wearing. Base layers, socks, puffy jackets, and extra pants all come into play to help keep weight down by wearing them instead of taking a warmer sleeping bag. Lower temperature sleeping bags in the 5C and lower range also expect you to be wearing some kind of base layer to be comfortable in their expected temperature ratings.

A normal set of extra layers for us is a light top and bottom base layer to help with any drafts and to help wick moisture away. In colder weather, we also wear 1-2 pairs of socks, toques/hats, gloves, a puffy jacket and extra pants. With our warmer sleeping bags (comfortable to around 3C) and out cold weather outfits we have been able to sleep okay in temperatures down to about -4C.

Your sleep system is going to be one of the most expensive and bulky parts of your backpacking gear and should be well thought out. It will also impact your comfort levels and recovery a lot, so you should make sure it is adequate for your needs.

If you liked this or found it helpful, leave a comment or share this around so that we can reach more people to help them out too.

Back in the Saddle... err the Canoe - Lamprey Rapids Trip

Last weekend we headed out on another adventure, a canoe trip to Lamprey Falls. Depending on the route you take, it is between 12 and 14 km to get there. We had the pleasure of getting there in 16 km due to some detours!

The route we took on Day 2, wind was coming from the west.

Focusing on the route for a moment, you can easily spend the morning weaving through the islands and looking at the scenery on your way in to Lamprey Falls like we did. The water, pine trees, rock, and terrain is pretty classic Canadian Shield. There were plenty of bald eagles as well as other birds to look at while we paddled, and some of our friends saw a giant turtle in the water.

The campsite at Lamprey Falls is quite wonderful as well. There is a wooden shelter with a wood stove in it (presumably for winter use) as well as two picnic tables, a fire pit, and an outhouse. There's also room for 5-8 tents comfortably, but you could squeeze more in. On the north side of the campsite there's a great rock out crop for swimming and staying cool when its hot out.

In total we spent about 5 hours, 45 minutes  paddling, 3 hours 15 minutes on the Saturday in and 2 hours 30 minutes out on the Sunday. The winds were pretty calm both days around 8 km to 12 km. If the wind was coming from either the West, South West, East, or North East at 15 to 20 km/h it would add some time to the trip. You can shelter from the wind in the islands and along the shore, but the long channels north and south of the strip of islands in the middle funnel the wind and waves pretty well if the wind is blowing in the correct direction.

This was our first trip on the water since our mishap on Crowduck Lake and we were pretty nervous about Sunday as the wind was supposed to pick up to 25 km/h in the afternoon. Luckily, everyone with us was on board and we cruised out early enough in the morning to dodge it. Passing some other lakes on the drive home after the wind had picked up, everyone was glad we were not out on the waves we were seeing.

Roslyn and I think it was a good first step back into doing trips out on Manitoba's lakes and we are looking for a couple other trips to do this year still. We also want to do some practice on a day where there are  20 to 25 km/h winds just to get a feel for what its like so we are (potentially) more comfortable with some of the weather we get out here.

Embrace the Suck! - It's Your Perspective the Counts

Something you hear a lot in the backpacking community is 'embrace the suck' or 'become comfortable being uncomfortable'. When we first heard these sayings, Roslyn and I figured that it was all about having a large amount of will power and overcoming difficult situations. That we would be able to power through the truly miserable moments and come out successful on the other side having suffered through it. And that is partially true. Over the last couple weeks though we have realized it's more than that.

For some background, we have been trying to plan out a trip for some of the weekends over the summer. One of the most consistent comments we've heard when talking about the weather is that it looks like we shouldn't go, or that its pretty poor weather to be outdoors. Roslyn and I were very confused about this at first. To us the weather looked okay, not good but more than reasonable for going outdoors in. The only thing that we would've wanted changed was the light rain that was in the forecast, about 3-5 mm per day.

It honestly took us 5-6 times to realize that to others, that level of rain made the trips we were planning cancellable. And looking back on it, we might have avoided doing some of our trips if the weather had come up like that in the past as well.

Roslyn and I talked about it a bit and we realized that to us 3-5 mm a day was not a big deal. We figured we were also willing to hike through small amounts of snow and sleet without really caring. It's not so much that we could bear down and will our way through the bad parts of a trip, but that those parts didn't seem all that bad anymore due to our accumulated experiences. Now we could easily get through the 5 mm of rain or sleet days and use our will power on the even worse days.

Anyone can do this. It will take time and practice, but you can slowly ease yourself into building up more confidence and a different perspective if you want to. We have realized that it's not much different than physical conditioning, you just need to go at your own pace and you can slowly expand your comfort zone.

Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake - June 2019

Date: June 15 and 16, 2019

Length: 34.3 km

Time: 6 hours, 43 minutes (Day 1), 2 hours 54 minutes (Day 2)

Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake

Caddy Lake to North Cross Lake is an iconic Whiteshell canoe route that passes through two tunnels under train lines on the way. From Caddy Lake Resort where we rented canoes to the north end of North Cross Lake is about 14 km if you take a fairly straight path like we did on Day 2.

On Day 1 we arrived at Caddy Lake Resort later than expected, and didn't get onto the water until about 10:30 am. Roslyn and I were in an aluminum rental, Tyler and Steve had rented an aluminum canoe, and Joel and Kyle were sharing Joel's parents fibreglass canoe.

About 3 km into the trip you get to the first cave. When you pass through one of the tunnels you need to blow a whistle and make sure there is no response before entering. This is to help prevent accidents and injuries due to the low ceiling and narrow walls.

First Tunnel Entrance

First Tunnel Exit

After the first tunnel, the route opens up again to South Cross Lake, which is a long narrow lake. About half way up the lake it becomes about the same as a slow moving river. The west side has a fair amount of overhanging bedrock cliffs, while the east side has a thin strip of march building into a dense pine forest.

The narrow end of South Cross Lake

The cutest flower on the water

Entrance to the Second Tunnel

The second tunnel passes from South Cross Lake into North Cross lake. Right at the exit of the second tunnel is a bit of a slalom. There four sets of poles that you needs to navigate between due to a lot of sharp rocks being in the water. This is likely more of an issue for motor boats, but we didn't feel like getting one of the aluminum canoes hung up on a sharp rock either.

After getting out of the second tunnel, we paddled on for another kilometer before breaking for lunch. We tied on at a campsite and pulled out our food and laid back enjoying the sun. We also watched about 6 or 7 groups cruise right by us, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake on our part.

After lunch we started looking for a campsite. As we came across them they were all full. We started getting worried and split up to each search one arm of the lake for a spot. Well, Roslyn and I did and Kyle and Joel did. Steve and Tyler had a very wide, very slow canoe so they stayed in a central location. After about 2 hours and another 5 km of canoeing up and down the lake, we stopped at a pretty crappy spot for another break. Not wanting to camp there, Roslyn, Joel and I jumped in the lightest canoe and took off to the end of the lake hoping to find a free spot. 

It took us about 20 minutes, but we got to the end of the lake and took a look around. There was a pretty great campsite with a privy, as well a small dam to explore another couple hundred feet away. We went back and got everyone moving to the new site where we had a nice evening relaxing and fishing.

Near the bottom of the dam

Past the dam, more adventure awaits!

Very brave frog

Dragonfly close up

The next morning I woke up in time to catch the sun rising and spent some time just watching it come up. No one else was awake and the bay between our site and the dam was almost perfectly still and quiet. Definitely worth being up at 5:30 am to see something like that.

Phenomenal Sunrise

Once everyone started getting up, we had breakfast and packed up camp. We decided to try and get out as fast as possible to get back to Winnipeg for supper. With that goal in mind we managed to get back in only 3 hours of paddling with out any real breaks. Compared to the almost 7 hour trip in from the day before we were pretty happy. We also shaved 6 km off the route by knowing where we going.

All in all, this trip set us on another path of adventure. We now own our own canoe and are looking into completing some tandem moving water courses to get comfortable with canoeing through rapids.

If you want to see a video of this trip, check out out YouTube Channel here: Caddy Lake Canoe Trip - June 2019

Epinnette Trail - Day 1

Date: September 15, 2018

Length: 23.4 km

Elevation: 161 m

Time: 7 hours 10 minutes

The Epinnette Trail heads east from the highway in Sprucewoods Provincial Park and winds along the top of the valley. Roslyn, myself and our friend Joel headed out on it to see what it had to offer. This was Joel's first long distance trip, and he was pretty sore by the end of it carrying all the backpacking gear. Overall though, he said he enjoyed himself and were planning another trip with him this summer!

We spent most of the day walking the trail, as per usual. The weather was overcast with a breeze, which was nice when we were moving, but a bit chilly when we stopped for a break. We made pretty good time on the trail as its about 3 to 6 people wide and well kept. We made it to the third campsite it good time, setup the tents and enjoyed supper and hanging out at the picnic table.

Overall, the hike was okay. Roslyn and I enjoyed being out in nature and hiking with Joel, but the trail left something to be desired. There were no spectacular views or entrancing wild life sightings, which was expected given were we were travelling. The trail was also fairly easy (sorry Joel!) and didn't offer the challenge that we normally enjoy. All in all, the Epinnette Trail system is perfect for people looking for a leisurely hiking for the purpose of getting out into the woods, but lacks the extra punch of a challenge or spectacular views for the more experienced hiker.

Mantario Trail - September Long Thru Hike, Day 4

Date: September 3, 2018

Length: 10.5 km

Elevation: 378 m

Time: 4 hours 10 minutes

Day number 4 of our Mantario trail hike. We were up pretty early, early enough that going out side was really, really cold. We woke up early enough to get some pictures of the sunrise over Hemenway Lake and manage to take some pictures of it and the surrounding area as the sun rose.

Interestingly, getting up early has been one of my favorite parts of the hike. The early morning air, the stillness, and the smell all combine to make it a very peaceful time of day. It's also really nice to get up and moving well before the temperature starts to rise, and getting 10 to 12 km in before lunch makes you feel pretty accomplished.

The trail out from Hemenway quickly made it to Big Whiteshell Lake, and flirted with the shore line on and off for the last 7 km until a small climb up to the parking lot. There were a couple of nice beach walks and the morning sun coming over the lake was pleasant. Around the 7 km mark we ran into cool landmark and the trail started following a quad trail.

While walking on the quad trail we saw a lot of animal tracks, including some decent sided black bear prints. We were going in the opposite direction so we weren't too worried about it. What we did end up needing to worry about was wasps again though! After a beach walk we were jumping back on the trail and Roslyn stepped over a long and stepped on another nest. Another sprint and we were well along the trail and away from the nest, but Roslyn was stung 5-6 times on her legs, which made the last kilometer of the trail a bit less enjoyable.

We arrived at the parking lot a bit before noon and Roslyn started soaking the wasp stings to make the swelling go down while we packed everything into Tyler's truck. Then it was back to the south parking lot to get our car and into Winnipeg to shower and go eat a victory supper!

All in all the hike was one of the best experiences we've ever had and we are looking forward to doing many more in the years to come.

Where to Start, Where to Start

Roslyn and I have decided to complete the West Coast Trail next summer. Its a 75 km long 1508 m of elevation trail that's half way across the country from us. We're going to be showing a bunch of our planning here and occasionally on our youtube channel to help others plan their own long trips.

The first step to any backpacking trip is either deciding what time you have available to go backpacking or what trail you want to go backpacking on. Since Roslyn and I already know what trail we want to do all we have to do is figure out a time to do it! For local overnight or day trip trails this is pretty easy to do, and for longer local trails in the 3-5 day category is becomes a bit more difficult but still not too onerous. Unfortunately for us, the West Coast Trail is half a country away and from what we've read so far takes 6 to 8 days to complete.

Here's a list of what needs to be considered when selecting when to go:

1 - How long will the hike take?
2 - When will the weather permit the hike?
3 - What are travel arrangements like?
4 - What happens if you need to extend the time on trail?
5 - What happens if we don't get a trail permit on our ideal day?

Lets work through each of these one at a time.

1 - How long will the hike take?

The West Coast Trail is 75 km long with 1508 m of elevation gain according to AllTrails. While not mountain climbing, that's still a lot of height changes over that distance. From reading the reviews and talking to a co-worker that has done it, 6-7 days seems to be about average. Roslyn and I are going with 6 days, putting us at a mere 12.5 km per day of travel. That should give us plenty of time to look around, explore, and if something happens like a creek being impassable we will be able to make up the delay.

2 - When will the weather permit the hike?

Since its on the coast, the window of good weather if pretty wide, but we still want it to be warm out. We narrowed our window down to June, July, or August, as that was the time period with a temperature and rainfall amount we found acceptable.

3 - What are travel arrangements like?

We are going to be travelling to BC 3-4 days before our hike starts to visit with Roslyn's sisters. Because of this, we really only need to figure out 4-6 hours of travel to get to the trail head from their place. The only other consideration is that you need to do an orientation session at the trail head, which is only held twice a day. Since the 4-6 hours travel time means we will miss the morning orientation, and we don't want to start the hike a 3:30 we are going to have to arrive the day before we plan on starting the trail.

4 - What happens if we need to extend the time on the trail?

Due to the chance of injury or lots of rain, there is a possibility of having to stay on trail for an extra day or two.Roslyn and I are planning on staying with my dad for a few days after were done the trail, so we can eat into that. If you aren't planning on staying in the vicinity of the trail after you're done, you should give a day or two leeway on your final departure date. Missing planes or other expensive travel costs makes an injury or trail delay even more disappointing.

5 - What happens if we don't get a trail permit on our ideal day?

Given the above information, Roslyn and I picked an ideal start date. But because the passes for the trail are first come first served, we needed to pick a couple of secondary (and tertiary) dates. Since we were staying in the area both before and after our hike, we picked dates in that were right beside our ideal date so that it impacted our overall plans as little as possible.

If you can go through and answer those five questions you will be well on your way to planning a longer backpacking trip. The next steps are to actually figure out our travel itinerary and how were getting around, but before we can do that all of the start-end dates needed to be figured out.

If you have any questions about this, or anything else, let me know!