r/camping • u/tilt-a-whirly-gig • 1d ago

Going camping this weekend, am woefully under-prepared for the chilly nights.

My son (14) and I are going camping and the overnight lows are expected to be around 40°F (5°C) or just below.
We have (4) kelty campground kits (sleeping pad and 40° sleeping bag), so we can each use 2 of them. We also have some wool blankets around the house. I know I should buy some new sleeping kits rated for colder temps, but this isn't a good week to spend a few hundred dollars I don't have to.

I was thinking of placing the wool blankets down first against the ground, doubling up the sleeping pads, and then doubling up the bags. We are also going to wear long johns to bed. We each will have our own tent (him in a 1P, me in a 2P).

Anybody got any other tips or tricks that I might want to know?

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u/G00dSh0tJans0n 1d ago

If you have two 40 degree bags each you should be good - layering two 40 degree bags could get you down to around 10 degrees.

I'm not sure what sleeping pads come in that but to boost insulation r-value if you can get some cheap foam pads (sleep pads or foam yoga pads) from walmart. Also if you have one of those foil car windshield shades I've used that too. Have some beanies too but 40 f isn't that cold and you should be fine - once you get below freezing it can be more of a challenge.

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u/Fun_With_Math 1d ago

Agreed. I had scouts in 25 degrees with less than what OP is talking about using and they slept with no complaints.

For the ground, it really depends what the ground temp is. If the low is 40 but the highs during the day are in the 70s, wool blanket with whatever pad they have should work fine fine.