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Thread: Car Camping - Tent or Cot?
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10-25-2006, 10:59 AM #21
For a few more bucks, they have these new down filled air pads. I got one for my Heaps Canyon trip and you use the stuff sac to inflate the thing (ya don't want moisture in the down) I think that thing is rated at about -15 degrees and has an advertised R value of 9 or some such thing. It is pricey but very warm and comfortable, light and fairly compact. The stuff sac even has some padding in it to be sued as a pillow. I can't remember the brand but if anyone is interested I will check when I get home and post tomorrow.
Life is Good
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10-25-2006 10:59 AM # ADS
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10-25-2006, 11:10 AM #22Originally Posted by Scott CardRemember kids, don't try this at home. Try it at someone else's home.
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10-25-2006, 11:34 AM #23
My canyoneering partners asked me about my pad and I actually told them not to buy one but rather to get a big agnes. I am not a big snow camper any more but I tend to still be in the desert in the winter. The down filled pad is a luxury item and too spendy even for me. I just happened to score one but I must say, the thing was very warm and comfortable.
Life is Good
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10-25-2006, 10:01 PM #24Originally Posted by Scott Card
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10-26-2006, 04:36 AM #25
(generalized) freudian slip
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10-30-2006, 09:56 AM #26
Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. I have been busy on line spending my hard earned money. I've taken most of your advise and it's looking good. So far:
REI Half Dome tent: Like that it's freestanding, easy to assemble.
Coleman 25 Deg Ash Canyon bag. Heavy as all get out. Wouldn't want to pack this thing! Should be nice and comfy by the Jeep.
Big Agnes 15 degree pad. I want to get a Thermarest, too. Thinking Base Camp.
On this weeks agenda: Stove & Lantern. Going with Coleman for the car camp thing.
WinQuoting my best friend, Bob McNally, after a bad boating trip: "Nature scares me!"
Utah photos: www.winpics.fototime.com
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10-30-2006, 11:10 AM #27
Gear online shopping is half the fun of going camping!
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10-30-2006, 12:21 PM #28
Big Agnes has come through again. I went down to The Swell over the weekend to do Forgotten Canyon. I slept on my Big Agnes in sub-freezing temps and it didn't lose any pressure. I didn't have a piece of foam under me or anything. I'd have been right down on the rocks on my Therm-A-Rest.
I'll post a TR when I get some time and/or get the internet at home.Remember kids, don't try this at home. Try it at someone else's home.
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10-30-2006, 01:15 PM #29Originally Posted by Cirrus2000
By the way, my pad was really nice in Heaps. Very warm and soft.Life is Good
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10-31-2006, 09:52 AM #30
I LOVE my big agnes pad. Everyone I know who used to use thermarests and have tried big agnes' don't ever go back. I may be totally burned out at the end of a long day backpacking, and I might have to do a little more puffing to get the big agnes inflated, but the great sleep is worth it. I question the worth of having the down insulation in the pad though because blowing it up always introduces moisture inside, and the down is just going to be more surface area for the moisture to stick to and down is pretty worthless when it's wet. It might take a while to get to that point, but if that does happen, then what? Plus if you're not using a big agnes sleeping bag with the pad to complete the system then you already have some mashed up insulation between you and the pad. Anyone seen any real test data to support the down in the inflatable pad?
Cool thing I found out when I was looking for a hole (my own fault for laying on it on bare slickrock last week in the grand canyon) I held my pad up to the setting sun to shake some water I was using to find the hold off of it, and I could see that tiny hole no problem. Doing that will save so much trouble if/when I get another hole. I've slept on it about 30 times and this is the first one I've gotten.
The north rim campground is free again this winter. It got down to 14 degrees when I spent the night there on Oct 22. The backcountry office on the north rim closes today. The Kaibab Lodge just outside the park remains open through the winter. If the highway is closed you can always try one of the dirt roads just outside Fredonia that go to the more western portions of the park since portions of that area are at lower elevations.Mike
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10-31-2006, 10:00 AM #31
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Just a few miles from Zion National Park
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Originally Posted by mroy
Highway 67 has been closing about mid-December the last couple of years, but it closes when ADOT can't plow it by one man in a 10 hour shift.
What trails did you do while you were there?
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10-31-2006, 10:24 AM #32Originally Posted by tanya
I did Bill Hall -> Thunder River -> Tapeats -> Deer Creek Loop It's one hell of a trail.
Here's my TR:
http://www.mikepearce.us/PermaLink.a...a-258c0c1168d7
Here's the pics:
http://www.mikepearce.us/tapeats-deercreek/default.aspMike
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10-31-2006, 10:46 AM #33
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Just a few miles from Zion National Park
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Originally Posted by mroy
photos of Thunder River
http://www.zionnational-park.com/ima...ms/index93.htm
The photos link to a trail report as well.
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10-31-2006, 11:06 AM #34
Cool pics - I think we've successfully derailed the topic completely ;)
If I were to do it again and plan on 3 days for it, again, I would camp in Surprise Valley and day trip it through the loop. Maybe head up the red wall the 2nd day if there was enough daylight. Without packs, the loop would be very easy to do, and I enjoyed camping in Surprise Valley a whole lot more than I did in Deer Creek, and both Tapeats sites didn't look all that great to me.
The haul to Deer Creek from Surprise Valley looks so easy on the topo. If you were just going to the spring it's only half as bad, like Thunder River, it's kind of the middle of the last big elevation drop.Mike
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10-31-2006, 11:20 AM #35
- Join Date
- Oct 2005
- Location
- Just a few miles from Zion National Park
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Originally Posted by mroy
I would (I think? -- but I often change my mind) rather just stroll up and down Surprise Valley than lug a backpack there, but it does cut down on the trips if you are doing both Thunder and Deer. --- Red Wall --- Scott mentioned something once about the Red Wall -- I never got there? I really enjoyed camping on the Esplanade. We found a sandy spot that was not too hard and there were big hoodoos all around which were cool.
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10-31-2006, 12:07 PM #36Originally Posted by tanyaMike
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