#044 Evolution of a Lightweight Backpacker - Sleeping Pads
The right choice in sleeping pads could be the difference between a good wilderness experience and a bad one.
Never underestimate the importance of a good sleeping pad.
Sleeping pads have multiple purposes. It’s main purpose to insulate your body from the cold ground. Beware the mindset of my sleeping bag is thick, therefore I don’t need a pad. The filling in your bag compresses under your body weight, therefore losing loft, and will lose its insulating ability. A sleeping pad will create a barrier between your body heat and the heat-sucking ground.
Another purpose for the pad is comfort. Backpacking is less rewarding when your body is stiff and exhausted from sleepless nights on the cold hard ground. The right choice in sleeping pads could be the difference between a good wilderness experience and a bad one.
The colder the ground the more necessary the proper pad becomes. Pads have what is known as an “R” Value, which represents how much insulation a pad provides. The higher the “R” Value the more insulation it provides.
“R” values of 1-2 for warmer conditions, 3-4 for autumn and spring conditions, 5 or more for winter conditions. You’ll have to take into consideration the night time temperature you’re most likely to sleep in, whether you’re a warm or cold sleeper, and the rating of your sleeping bag.
My first pad was a foam (closed cell) Therma-Rest sleeping pad. This thin 13oz sturdy foam pads was the least expensive and lightest option I could find. It provided great insulation, but as a side sleeper this .625in pad was not the most comfortable way to spend a night. I still have the pad but haven’t used it for backpacking in over a decade, though some people won’t use anything but one. It serves me better these days by keeping my backside warm while sitting in my camp chair on cold nights around camp fires.
My second pad was an REI (open cell) self-inflating pad. It inflated most of the way by simply unrolling it and laying it on the ground. Then you blow a few puffs into the valve until it reaches your desired firmness. The you turn the valve to lock it shut.
It was a very comfortable pad, great for temperatures well below thirty degrees, and at an inch and a half thick it was great for us side sleepers.
It served me well for many trips over the course of a few years but eventually began leaking, I couldn’t find the source of the leak to patch it so I shipped it back for a partial refund, then replaced it with another pad.
My next pad was a of a similar design as the second pad, a 22oz Therma-Rest ProLite. With this pad, coupled with my 20 degree sleeping bag and liner, I have slept warmly in sub-zero temperatures many nights.
The proper sleeping system (tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag) can become a cozy cocoon on freezing cold nights. I’ve slept in conditions that would have been dangerous, even life threatening, without the proper gear.
This pad also began leaking after a few years, again I couldn’t find the leak to repair it. I keep it around as a loaner with the warning that it will slowly deflate overnight.
On Christmas 2020 Santa left an 15oz Nemo Tensor air pad in my stocking.
It inflates a little differently than the others; by attaching the small air bag to it, blowing one puff of air into the wide mouth of the air bag, then rolling the air into the pad. It only takes about three blows and rolls to fill the pad.
The nemo packs down to about half the thickness of the other two inflating pads, about one-sixth the size of the big foam pad.
This pad doesn’t have a high “R” value, mainly to keep the weight down, as I mainly use it in milder temperatures. So far, I’ve used it on a six-day bicycle touring trip along NC’s East coast, a two-week AT section hike in Virginia, and a five-day coastal road trip with friends as we camped each night on and the sand.
I’m really enjoying this pad. It is three inches thick, which came in handy on the Appalachian trail in 2021 when a heavy rainstorm came through just after supper. I quickly found out I set my tent up in a dip in the ground which became a pool of water. I pulled all my gear to the foot of the pad, laid myself on op of the pad with my legs resting on my gear, and dozed off without care as the floor of my tent took on water.
The Nemo proved itself in only a few trips to be dependable, comfortable, and a good fit for me. I have many more journeys planned for it.
The evolution in sleeping pads have caused my pack to drop six ounces from my pack weight.
Note: The air bag and stuff sack adds another couple ounces to the overall weight (18oz).
Comfort: Inflating pads are more comfortable than foam pads.
Durability: Foam pads are more durable than inflating pads.
Join me next week as we look at sleeping bags.
Who knew there was so many choices for sleeping bags!