sleeping in florida

[hatchet toe]

So I am getting gear together and I am trying to decide on a sleeping bag/ top quilt... in general I cant see why I would need anything less than a 40* bag/quilt and I am actually wondering if I cant get away with something even lighter since I prefer to have it a little cold when I sleep anyway (not to mention camping in the summer) So what do most of you use when camping here? in the spring/winter and in summer?

[cj2874]

While the average temps seem mild. Due to humidity it can feel pretty cold at night in winter. It also fluctuates quite a bit. For this reason I like to use quilts. I typically use a 30 degree quilt in winter. It can hit the 40's at times. During summer stick with a 50 degree synthetic quilt or just a fleece. Summer nights can be hot, humid and wet.

[Hikes in Rain]

As an example, it's supposed to get down to 35 here in Tallahassee tonight. It's been down to or below freezing off and on for a couple of months. Granted, that's unusually cold, but....

[bigcranky]

Is this for a thru-hike of the Florida Trail starting around Jan 1? If so I'd want something a little warmer.

[saltysack]

As damp as it is here in north fla I'd rather have same gear I use on the southern AT..I'm a cold sleeper but very hot on the move...
Marmot helium 15 deg...
Jrb 45 deg quilt....




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Praha4]

I had one night in the mid 30s in Ocala NF back in Feb-2013. Had a 45* quilt and was up all night shivvering. Next 3 nights it warmed up at night to high 40s. Temps are all over the place in Jan-Feb in north Fla.

[SteelCut]

We had temps in the high 30s a few weeks ago in Ocala NF. I had a 40* quilt and wish I had something a bit warmer.

[atmilkman]

Don't let the word Florida fool ya. In Feb. I've been in the Glades in the low 30's to mid 80's. Just depends. I've had a 45º bag at 50º and shook all night. In Ocala, same thing. Low 30's. Up around Gainesville, low teens at night going to mid 70's during the day. When you get up you're piling on the clothes, as you walk you're peeling it off. Panhandle area leading up to Alabama can seem colder than North Georgia in the single digits. I wouldn't fool around with this time of year. I'd take something rated to at least 30º if not lower. You can always uncover or unzip but you cant add what you don't have.

[perdidochas]

As an example, it's supposed to get down to 35 here in Tallahassee tonight. It's been down to or below freezing off and on for a couple of months. Granted, that's unusually cold, but....

Pretty typical in Pensacola to have weather like that.

[Hikes in Rain]

True, you're not that far away. In the same weather pattern.

[MuddyWaters]

I growed up in the panhandle, and Id say most winters have fair amount of nights in 30s, with a few into the upper 20s, one or two in upper teens and hard freezes. Every now and then a stable high pressure system keeps the fronts from getting that far south in a winter, I can recall a few hunting seasons growing up where the temp never got under 40f and the mosquitos never went away.

I also recall one christmas eve when it was 10F, with a high of 24 on christmas day. And another week before christmas with 4" of snow on top of 1" ice in 1989.

It can be all over the place. But generally a weather pattern establishes for the season if it wont get that cold, and stays that way, keeping all the fronts to the north.

[theoilman]

2 years ago I was in Torreya on the Apalachicola River, temp around 30 deg with 20 mph winds overnight. I was really cold in my 35 deg bag!!!

I agree with Hikes in Rain, we have had q good number of sub 30 deg nights this winter!!!

[BrianLe]

I've been getting by with a 30F rated bag these last few weeks in northern Florida, but caveats: it's a western mountaineering bag, so an honest 30F. I typically wear virtually all my clothes in it. An I've had a couple of very slightly uncomfortable nights.

Hoping to do the southern half of the trail next year and might just bring a 20F bag then. Though over all the 30F bag turned out well for me this time. Question is how willing are you to have a night or two (or more) where you survive, but not comfortably so. And how well you can crank out some extra miles if needed to bail out of unexpectedly cold temperatures.

[hatchet toe]

I am typically a warm sleeper, I am going to be in Seminole State Forest this weekend and I went with a 40* marmot synthetic bag... the meterologists say it will be about 57*... I wont be through hiking for a bit I.

[hatchet toe]

I guess i should have been more specific in my op, I am very concerned that it gets closer to summer that I am going to be uncomfortably hot at nights...

[JaxHiker]

I guess i should have been more specific in my op, I am very concerned that it gets closer to summer that I am going to be uncomfortably hot at nights...

This is pretty much a given. Camping and Florida summers are usually mutually exclusive.

[MuddyWaters]

This is pretty much a given. Camping and Florida summers are usually mutually exclusive.

Not just florida, all of the lowland southeast. Temp greater than 70 f with humidity just gets uncomfortable. The gulf actually moderates temperatures, it gets hotter farther inland.

[Hoofit]

I had a 20 degree bag and a down jacket inside my tarptent and still woke up during the night cold, thankful
for a few nips of Scotch to warm me up...
But then Feb 19th and 20th in the north Ocala Forest was unusually cold...woke up with frost on the tent!