I started from Springer last Wednesday. Sent home my bag liner and a mid weight layer 3 days later.
I started from Springer last Wednesday. Sent home my bag liner and a mid weight layer 3 days later.
https://tinyurl.com/MyFDresults
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. ~Paul Dudley White
It's definitely a zero degree bag... Fahrenheit.
The North Face Inferno. 800 down fill. It weighs 3lbs exactly. It's very warm bag, but like I said, I'm a very cold sleeper so for me I wouldn't want to use it below 32degrees, unless I had some extra warmth base layers and fleece. Which is what my original post was about.
I'm 5'11" at 150lbs.... My body just doesn't produce heat when I'm stationary. I've used plenty of other bags in the past rated for 20 degrees and they just don't cut it for me. I freeze. I'd probably get TNF Inferno -40degreee bag for anything that actually goes down to zero degrees.
I see you mentioned your sleeping pad had a R6 rating. Could you post what type it is? Also you have to remember that you only get warmth from the top of your sleeping bag. The part you lay on is being crushed, therefore losing most to all of its insulating value. You are therefore relying on your pad for the bottom insulating quality. This is one of the reasons i switched over to a hammock. Top and bottom quilts don't get crushed. I even use the top quilt when i do occasionally tent camp. I carry a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XThrem pad to sleep on when tenting.
Blackheart
atweather.org
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The heat-sensor mannequins used in the EN tests are clothed in one layer of long underwear and a hat, so "extra warmth base layers" are already figured into the temperature ratings.
A couple of pieces of advice that might help you stay comfortable:
- Eat something just before going to sleep, because your body needs fuel to generate warmth.
- Start warm. Get into your bag and do a few push-ups and crunches before zipping up all the way. Your resting metabolism will take a long time to warm up your bag and the air inside. Your active metabolism will warm things up in a jiffy.
It doesn't take below freezing temps for hypothermia. Regardless of what temps you can expect or what temps are the norm or what some smartphone app says remember the motto of the BSA "Be prepared".
The OP may get a little chilly at the end of this week (May 4 - 7). The forecast for the Georgia Mountains has some lows around 35 F with rain and wind chill around 25 F. Some elevations may experience a little snow, but the situation of wet wind chill will have most layering up before bedtime.
It's overkill to be tenting through GSMNP using a 0* bag during your timeframe even using Rain Man's High Country weather link.
Another good weather link for GSMNP is: https://www.mountain-forecast.com/pe...forecasts/2025
OR, get NOAA's forecast for Clingmans Dome historical weather during your time frame for being in GSMNP. It's your highest elevation on the AT through GSMNP. It's a better weather location to research as a prep jumping off pt than Newfound Gap. CD is 1500 ft higher than NFG equating to an about 5* colder location.
It's my guess you're not going to be cowboy camping out in the open in the altogether through GSMNP so bag temps are only a starting point in sleeping soundly.
Although snow falling is closely correlated with temp dependency it is not the only thing that determines if snow can be experienced. Snow falling - the existence of snowflakes - not necessarily snow accumulation - has been recored in atmospheric temps in the high 40*'s not that uncommon on the east coast. It's not that uncommon for AT NOBO thru hikers to experience falling snowflakes in temps above 32*.
Been feeezing in the Smokies the past couple days. 441 opened up today for a few hours, but then closed again due to snow and ice. Most hikers are holed up in Gaitlinburg.
It's too cold for me to hike and no way would I try to camp out up there. I went up to Clingman's earlier today. The snow and wind were brutal. It must have been 30-35 degrees, without windchill. I dont understand how anyone could enjoy that, but hey, everyone is different.
At least two dozen hikers are holed up at Fontana Hilton waiting for it to pass. Thats a 3 day wait, at least. What a bummer.
I think I'm going to head home and try again on June 1st. I take no pleasure hiking in such cold weather. I'm fine dealing with hunger, bad food, fatigue, misquitoes, sun burn, heat, etc... that stuff doesn't really bother me. But the cold does and there is not a gear solution for me. All the warm gear can do is help retain heat my body is producing, but if my body is not producing any heat, then it's all for naught.
July.
Be safe.
Wayne
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Eddie Valiant: "That lame-brain freeway idea could only be cooked up by a toon."
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You started May 1 and are already at GSMNP? You are either a real speedster or did you just jump up the trail a bit to see conditions? But yeah, anything above a gentle breeze and the cold just cuts right through you without full winter gear. There's a big difference between going out for several hours in the cold and wind and rain and ??? but being able to retreat to heated shelter vs. having to live outside in the elements 24/7.
The last week shows just how much temps can vary this time of year in GSMNP.
One week ago, day time highs in the lower elevations were upper 80's. Fast forward a week and the upper elevations have night time lows below freezing.
"I wonder if anyone else has an ear so tuned and sharpened as I have, to detect the music, not of the spheres, but of earth, subtleties of major and minor chord that the wind strikes upon the tree branches. Have you ever heard the earth breathe... ?"
- Kate Chopin