Sorry for so many new threads of late.

What items do you carry when you are car camping or willing to take extra weght for comfort? I am making a determined effort to get my fiancee into camping and don't care if I have to carry 20kg of crap to do so, its good training for me anyway.

I already have a suitable PHD bag for her, so thats ok, but what about:

Comfortable camping matt? But what to get? I like the Neoair, but notice these 3kg dream sleep things, that is so heavy! Are they worth it?

Cooking set up to produce wonderful meals?

Some sort of seat but low enough for it to fit inside a Geodesisc tent.

Any other ideas?

My wife struggled with camping until she had the bright idea to bring a pillow. Wow! We have worked up to backcountry camping and have two 5-7 day trips planned for this summer. All because of bringing a pillow... A regular pillow for car camping and an inflatable Montbell for the backcountry. Getting a good nights sleep made all the difference for her.

Paul,

I'd suggest starting with staying in lodges where you can walk right out onto trails. Once she can spend the whole day out in the woods including peeing. Then step up to car camping. Eventually you will both be thruhiking the PCT : )

+1 on a good nights sleep


I can deal with many inconveniences without a problem, but not sleeping is very hard for me. I carry a lot of extra weight just so I can sleep well. Figure out what she needs at homw to sleep, and try to match it as close as possible. I use multiple pillows at home, and I thought I could do without when I backpack. I was wrong!! I need my pillows, but have found my down vest in a stuff sack works pretty well. I also just recently got a Big Agnes memory foam with air core pillow and I like it a lot. I have the BA insulated pad and their sleeping bag. They all work pretty well together. One other thing I learned, I cannot sleep well in a mummy bag. I ended up with the BA semi-rectangle.

If I am car camping I just bring all of my pillows from home.

Could you start off using bothies you have over there? Small steps and light pack.

+1 on the pillows!

Cheers

Bring her some chocolate - and I mean her favorite!!!

Exped Full length downmat 7 (even in the summer) and thermarest small pillow.

Don't always take it but happy when I do.

I lure my girlfriend into the woods with tasty little foods she enjoys eating.

ditto on the exped downmat 7.. just ordered it last week for this very reason.

Is there any point in the Exped 9?

Thanks for all sugestions so far.

Any thought on this Montbell pillow?

On a few occasions i have carried my 6000 ci pack when my wife goes, and i have carried a large inflatable air matress with 2 person sleeping bag attached. The dang thing must weigh 20 pounds, but....it makes her comfy and thats what i was after.

+1 on the Big Agnes sleeping system. It is almost as good as sleeping at home. I own 3 BA bags, 2 rectangular ones for car camping and 1 "mummy" for the bag woods. The reason I say "mummy" is that BA's mummy cut is waaaay bigger than most other brands. and the rectangular bags are HUGE.

I have tried several other bags, and still own a Mont-Bell UL SS #2 and a SD Nitro 30 (My son uses it) but my Horsethief, with an insulated pad is waaaay more comfortable than my Mont-bell with the same pad (even in a bivy where I couldn't roll off the pad). In the BA bags you can roll around all night and you don't get tangled up in the bag.

You really need to make sure you have an insulated pad though, since the BA bags have no insulation on the bottoms. Even the crushed insulation in a regular bag is better than no insulation at all.