Summit Sleeping Systems, Bags and Pads for your Next SOTA trip

You people using the MSSS must have huge packs. I use mine base camping and it is a great, warm bag..but it is huge. There are many others that are much more compact and warm enough that are better suited for backpacking.

 

Most people these days aren't prepared to go out in public on their own, much less the wilderness. Simply going outside is roughing it for those types.

 

Usually the same types who want to regulate everyone else it seems. Right now here in Ma. There is a debate about the coyotes on Cape Cod. Kid just got attacked on the beach and those people are having a fit that cops shot it. It still got away so now that kid has to have a rabies series. I guess that's ok because no animals will be harmed.
I spent summers on the Cape and never saw one and my parents didn't need to worry about it. Ain't progress great?

 

Coyotes are starting to become a nuisance animal in the Mid-Atlantic. Where they used to be confined to the Blue Ridge Mountains, now they're being spotted "in town" an hour away. Same for black bears. Nextdoor.com is lousy with bear and coyote sightings and dire warnings (along with pleas not to shoot them, etc).

The growth in those two predators in this region has put downward pressure on the deer population, but it just makes predator hunting more fruitful.

Saw this while on a winter camping trip earlier this year. There were a bunch around our campsite, but we never saw or heard them. We were there just to camp and play radio, not hunt, so we let them be and they extended the same courtesy to us.


Chris

 

We have yotes here in town, we also have cats, big cougars come into town all the time.

 

Believe it or not here in central Florida we have the red wolf, coyote, bobcat, lynx cat, panther and black bear.

 

You carry what you need for the season and conditions. In 20+ years I have only carried the entire system once...on a 4 day trip in Alaska with night time temps around -30f.

Only an idiot would carry the entire system on every outing....lol

 

.44 Magnum from my Vaquero seems to cure them of their ways here in Alabama. Nailed a female coyote/wolf hybrid and female coyote last winter.

 

Is this a product showcase?

 

How did it taste?

When I went to summer camp, the rule was you kill it you eat it. Robbie Potatohead Morris had to eat a lizard.

 

Tasted like chicken. Because it didn't kill my chickens I got to eat one.

 

(The punch line is: better than spotted owl.)

 

Decent basic info for those new to overnight stays in the wilderness. Tons of other sources on you tube and elsewhere on the subject, but like all subject matter on the internet, have to sift through the yahoos and BS to glean the good stuff. fwiw re bags, all mine are Western Mountaineering now, except for a 0 deg Snow goose by Marmot from the '80s, just cant' kill that thing, lol. As far as pushing specific brands or being a product showcase, I saw none of that here. He just used REI site as a source for info/general samples/etc.

 

BTW, you folks that do get out and camp as part of your radio adventures should consider hammocks. I switched over to hammock camping a few years ago and found I much preferred that to regular tent camping. My buddies tried it and now we all hang when we camp. I use an Eno Doublenest hammock, Eno Housefly shelter (most of my camping is done from mid Fall to early Spring), an Eno Ember underquilt, and various different sleeping bags depending on temps. That's usually a Cabelas -15deg bag because I'm a cold sleeper, but I have a North Face +15deg bag and an REI Sleepsack +55deg bag for warmer trips.

The great thing about hammocks is you don't need to find a flat space for your "tent".
This spot was sloping sideways but you couldn't tell from in the hammock (one of my rare warm weather trips, the lows were in the 60s):


Chris