That older couple in the Smokies taught me about sleeping bags

Back in 2019 I was at a campsite near Gatlinburg, freezing my tail off with a cheap bag rated for 40 degrees. This retired couple, probably in their 70s, noticed me shivering and the wife just said, "cotton kills, honey." She showed me their old down bag from the 80s, still fluffy and warm, and told me to stop chasing the fancy new synthetics. I went out and found a used down bag for $60 and I still use it every fall trip. Anyone else get gear advice from strangers that actually beat the reviews?

1 comments

1 Comment

mason28320d ago

Down bags from that era were built different. The old timers knew what they were talking about before all the marketing got loud. Synthetics have their place when it's wet, but for dry cold nothing beats good feathers. That $60 find probably outlasts anything new on the shelf today.