Down bag ? Wind shirt & pants ?

[JohnG10]

How does a down sleeping bag fare ? Does it absorb the humidity at night and need drying during breaks, or every town stop?

Are a wind shirt and pants worth bringing, or is a baselayer top and supplex pants fine on chillier days?

Thanks.

[leaftye]

How does a down sleeping bag fare ? Does it absorb the humidity at night and need drying during breaks, or every town stop?

I depends on the temperature and dew point. Once I get out of my bag, I try to squeeze out the warm humid air quickly before it has a chance to cool down and condense.

[bigcranky]

I've been using a down bag for years. I will air it out at lunch on sunny days.

Love my wind shirt, one of the UL single layers ones. Part of my basic layering system - light merino base layer, wind shirt, down jacket, rain shell. I also have wind pants that my wife made, 2.8 ounces, which sometimes make it in my pack. I hike in shorts, so they are useful in cool or cold conditions.

[Prime Time]

I've been using a down bag for years. I will air it out at lunch on sunny days.

Love my wind shirt, one of the UL single layers ones. Part of my basic layering system - light merino base layer, wind shirt, down jacket, rain shell. I also have wind pants that my wife made, 2.8 ounces, which sometimes make it in my pack. I hike in shorts, so they are useful in cool or cold conditions.

What kind of wind shirt do you have? Does it hold up to your backpack shoulder straps? I have a Pearl Izumi cycling wind shirt that probably weighs less than two ounces but I think my pack would tear it up after a few weeks.

[bigcranky]

I've been mostly using an LL Bean UL wind shirt that they sold for a couple of years. I also had a Patagonia Houdini but it was too small. The Bean model has held up just fine for >5 years. It came in tall sizes, making me even happier

I'll probably get one of the new Houdinis from Patagonia, in an XL this time. I like having the hood.

[MuddyWaters]

It can vary from little loss of loft, to catastrophic, depending on conditions.
Cold and wet/humid, is the worst condition. Air is already saturated, and dewpoint becomes inside the bag.
Have to use a VBL in those conditions for extended use.

Usually you will have slow loss, even in good conditions.
Never hurts to air out in sun for a few hrs.

[yellowsirocco]

and you can toss it in the dryer every now and then in town.

[leaftye]

It can vary from little loss of loft, to catastrophic, depending on conditions.
Cold and wet/humid, is the worst condition. Air is already saturated, and dewpoint becomes inside the bag.
Have to use a VBL in those conditions for extended use.

Yep, that's when it's nice to be using a large lawn bag as a pack liner.

[Kerosene]

I never used to carry a windshirt, but I love the Stoic Wraith Shell (2.5 oz with hood) for its breathability and smidgen of additional warmth. I sometimes carry Montbell wind pants (2.6 oz) in lieu of rain pants, but I find that I rarely wear pants while hiking.

I'm a long-time user of high-loft down bags. Today they come with DWR coatings that help to keep them from getting too wet, but you'll probably still want to hang them out to dry on a sunny day about once a week or so.

[BrianLe]

I've gone the opposite direction from Kerosene in that I always used to carry (and love) a windshirt, but more recently I use such a very lightweight and breathable rain shell that it fills that role for me. Depends on the trip, really. Never used nor wanted windpants, but I hike in long pants always. If I want something more it's rain chaps or rain skirt, or in winter sometimes full-on rainpants.

Down bag: definitely use down bags for all trips. I've owned synthetic bags, I think I still have one around as a loaner. I recall once in really inexperienced days getting the synthetic bag just soaked through --- while perhaps warmer than a down bag in those conditions, believe me that it wasn't at all "warm" either. It certainly was much heavier and bulkier (when dry).
I really hope that someday synthetic insulation for both bag and clothing can meet and ultimately exceed what goose down provides, but it's not there yet.

[Datto]

I used a down sleeping bag on my AT thru-hike and it stayed dry almost all the time. It wasn't until I'd gotten to Maine that the sleeping bag got wet (my bad). That did create quite a challenge for me in the 100 mile wilderness but I got past it. Since the AT I've used exclusively down for sleeping bags and haven't had much of a problem.

By the way, the Feathered Friends down sleeping bag that I'd used on my AT thru-hike -- after I completed my thru-hike I'd sent my sleeping bag in to Feathered Friends to get it reconditioned. Feathered Friends wrote me and told me that my AT sleeping bag had a manufacturing defect on the surface material that was decomposing and they sent me a brand new sleeping bag. Wow was the brand new sleeping bag lofty compared to the tattered bag I'd beat-up my AT thru-hike.

On the PCT I used a 30*F Marmot Hydrogen down bag in the desert and a 15*F Marmot Helium in the Sierra and further north. Both bags worked great and I still have and use both bags. The draft collars on both are excellent by the way.

I did once own a 5*F Western Mountaineering down sleeping bag and to be honest, that thing was so outlandishly hot inside I had a hard time getting to sleep sometimes, even in cold weather when I was wintertime weekend hiking in the Sierra Mountains. Since that bag, even used, was worth it's weight in gold I sold it and instead bought a more lightweight sleeping bag. When Western Mountaineering says 5*F, they actually mean that or warmer. There's a lightweight Western Mountaineering summer bag around here someplace and I've only been in that bag one time -- that bag is also like an oven at night. It's probably as warm as the 30*F Marmot Hydrogen I have but it's too short for me.


Datto

[Datto]

Are a wind shirt and pants worth bringing, or is a baselayer top and supplex pants fine on chillier days?

If it's windy you'd use your rain coat. If it's bitter cold and windy you'd use your insulating jacket underneath your rain coat. You get wet from sweat under your rain coat but you get used to it and it's no big deal for an AT thru-hiker.

I used cheap nylon pants the whole way from Springer to Katahdin on my AT thru-hike (carried them in Virginia but wore a swimsuit most days in Virginia). Only when I'd crossed Mt. Washington did I wish I'd had rain paints with me. I tried to buy rain pants a day or two after Mt. Washington but ending up deciding I just didn't want the extra weight. The cheap nylon pants I wore were warm enough when I was hiking, even in the rain, since an AT thru-hiker's body throws off gobs of heat from carrying that backpack up a hill.


Datto

[Blissful]

The Wind shirt is a great piece of gear. I had rain pants for the fall and spring, so there was no need for wind pants.

The "good" down bags all have a nice water repellent-like finish. They dry quick if there is dampness.