Showerthought: That $300 down sleeping bag was a mistake for wet weather camping

2 comments

2 Comments

honestly i gotta disagree hard on this one lol. a good down bag isn't a mistake for wet weather, it's more about how you use it. people act like down turns into a sponge the second it sees a cloud but if you've got a halfway decent dry sack and a bivy or tent you're fine. i've taken my 850 fill bag through some nasty PNW rain and never had issues cause i just keep it packed until i'm ready to crawl in. the real mistake is buying a cheap synthetic bag that weighs a ton and takes forever to dry out anyway, you know? plus down compresses way better than synthetic which matters more than people think when you're trying to fit everything in a pack for a wet trip. and let's be real, if you're camping in constant rain long enough to soak a down bag through a dry sack and tent, you've got bigger problems than your sleeping bag choice lol. a good down bag with a waterproof stuff sack is still warmer for the weight than pretty much anything else out there.

the_jessica7d ago

A buddy of mine tried that approach on a weeklong trip in the Smokies back in 2017. He had a nice 800 fill down bag in a waterproof dry sack, thought he was set. Third night, condensation inside the tent got his bag damp anyway, not soaking wet, just clammy. By day five, that bag was like a wet towel, and he was shivering through the last two nights, never got warm. He switched to a decent synthetic after that and never looked back, even though it packs bigger.