Quote Originally Posted by cougarmeat View Post
You can search for treads about this - there seems to be two schools of thought on warmth and sleeping attire. I like to wear some light cotton jammies because it's easier to wash clothes than it is to wash down quilts. Some suggest the less you wear, the warmer you will be - because your gear doesn't make the warmth - you do! All the gear does is help you keep what you make. I guess the idea if you bundle up too much, you don't make that cocoon of warmth surrounding you. But I'm guessing these A vs B situations are talking about really different temperatures, like -15 degrees vs 20 degrees. Try wearing less - just something light that doesn't restrict circulation - and let your top quilt/bottom quilt do their job. If you need extra heat, those pocket hand warmers work great and give 4 to 6 hours of warmth. Be careful though - because they can leak and you'll find black stuff on your hands or gear (depending on the quality of the "hot pocket").
I’ve heard that often over the years as well, that bare skin to bare skin (like your bare legs together) is warmer inside a sleeping bag than you’d be clothed inside the same sleeping bag. However, my school of thought is I might have to get up in the middle of the night to take a short walk outside to answer the call of nature and, frankly, I don’t want to have to leave the warmth of my cocoon to DRESS in the cold before embarking. In the winter I wear layers to bed—a BREATHABLE base layer (longsleeved runners top and yoga pants or leggings), then a BREATHABLE winter top and fleecy jogging pants, then my microtherm down jacket with my oversized best up old down vest over that. Oh, and I wear thick long wool socks. NOT the same socks I was wearing inside my shoes, but dedicated “in the hammock only” socks, because even if you’d swear the socks you had on before going to bed are dry, they aren’t. And your feet will freeze all night if they are in barely damp socks...better to go without socks at all than to try to get away with wearing the socks you had on during the day. (In non-winter, I just wear 3/4 length yoga pants and a short sleeved BREATHABLE top. I never pack any cotton.) Over all that, I have my down topquilt. If it’s going to be under 40 degrees, I just pack my zero degree HG Econ TQ. If it’s not going to be under 40, I use my 40 degree UG Bandit TQ coupled with my 50 degree LL Operator TQ. If it’s a chilly night I sleep with the LL quilt inside the Bandit. If it’s not cold enough for both I pick whichever I need and toss the other out of the way (but still in easy reach) in my peak shelf. Beneath me I always have a WB Wooki UQ covered with a 2QZQ UQP...or, if it’s really windy or nasty out, a WB sock which, often, I leave unzipped most of the way because I like lots of fresh air even when it is frigid out. Also, less apt to wind up with condensation that way. But the sock gives me total wind protection on the back side and decent wind protection on the side where I have the top half of the arched opening unzipped. I also leave my Trail Lair’s big net deployed year round—keeps my pillow and covers from sliding over the edge of my hammock and spilling out. For my tarp, I use a WB SuperFly if expecting harsh weather or lots of wind or will be camping in a crowded situation where privacy might be at a premium, but 9 times out of 10, it’s just my WB MiniFly that I bring. The Minify is my favorite.

I ALWAYS bring a large dog—big enough and confident enough to engage a bear or other intruder while I get a head start down the trail(!), though, truth be known I’d probably be staying behind ganging up with my dog, worried about him. Because I travel with a dog, I always string up an extra ridgeline off center from my hammock’s ridgeline and lower...about eye level and just a little in front of me when I’m sitting in my hammock. On this line, I have a reposition-able Prussic Loop that I clip the dog’s mule tape “leash” on—keeping it short enough that he can’t get wound around my tarp stakes. But, honestly, the dog’s ridgeline has turned out so handy that I’d put it up even if I didn’t need it for him! In the summer I drape my hiking pants over it and clip my shoes to it and hang my backpack off it. That way every thing is handy to reach from my hammock, yet out of the way, off the ground and still under my tarp. If I need to get up in the night, I slip my loose fitting hiking pants over my yoga pants before tromping out into the weeds. Then when I get back, slip them back off while holding the dog’s ridgeline for balance, drape them over the ridgeline and crawl back into my hammock knowing I’m not dragging any trail grime, stick tights or ticks back in with me! The dog’s ridgeline is also where I hang wet clothes to dry on rainy trips. And it’s where I drape my poncho...keeps it enough away from my hammock but within easy reach still under my tarp.

For the dog I have a floored, DIY 3 sided tarp windbreak that I hang from the dog ridgeline and position so that my hammock partially shields the open side of his “tent” and I throw a thick piece of CCF pad on the floor of his “tent”. It has to be pretty brutal out for him to actually USE his 3 sided tent, though. Generally he winds up sleeping with his head poking out from under my tarp and his rear end right where my feet will land if I get out of my hammock.

That’s my set up.