Blob or nugget?

“Okay here is a ponderable, the other evening some friends and I were discussing how to pack your sleeping gear. Say you have a bag, bivy and inflatable pad. Now I can get mine into a large compression bag but it gives me ONE LARGE LUMP.
Another bivy user friend of mine uses the small bag for the pad, and one for the bivy and one for the bag. I am wondering woudl it be better (easier to stuff small things in the pack) to go with a couple of small bags or one large BLOB?”

“I'm not an expert on this and will give you no advice. There was a large blob in my life, but she's been gone for many years.”

“I'd go with separate bags, but for a different reason. Chances are the bivy will be wet from rain or condensation (inside or outside due). You probably wouldn't want that moisture soaking up in your sleeping bag.”

“I like seperate. Gives me more nooks and cranies to stuff full of little bits and pieces.”

“I would put the sleeping bag in the bivie loose and then stuff the bivy in the bottom of the pack. fills in all the dead air space left by stuff sacks.”

“ohh, i thought this was a thread about dog poo”

“Seperate bags for me. Like Zac said if the bivy is wet I wouldn't want it packed with my sleeping bag. I have often though about packing my sleeping bag loose in the bottom of my pack but I haven't. Maybe when I get my new ULA Pack”

“I have often though about packing my sleeping bag loose in the bottom of my pack

i've thought about doing this too...is there a problem with this?...i still use an external frame pack and there's really no way to put my bag in the pack rolled in the stuff sack”

“This is great...wow good advice...I never thought about the bivy being damp.

NOW...DA^nit I want to find a time to hike and try this out.”

“Man, have I've been wrong.I thought exterior pockets on a pack were for wet things and the main water proof pack body was too keep things dry.”

“LOL...sale, I had a kid put a HOMEMADE Water bladder in his pack then STUFF equipment on it. Luckily it was warm and his stuff more or less dried out over night.”

““LOL...sale, I had a kid put a HOMEMADE Water bladder in his pack then STUFF equipment on it. Luckily it was warm and his stuff more or less dried out over night.”
FUEGOFox
2:20:12 PM
10/09/06

I had a manufactured water bladder do that and it was cold (at least below freezing) that night. Fortunately the stuff sack for my sleeping bag was mostly waterproof and it was a synthetic bag, which dried over night from my body heat. I have since changed where I place the water bladder.”

“I like leaving little nuggets whereever I go. Tried the blob but that hurt.”

““I have often though about packing my sleeping bag loose in the bottom of my pack

i've thought about doing this too...is there a problem with this?...i still use an external frame pack and there's really no way to put my bag in the pack rolled in the stuff sack”
The only problem that I could see with this is that you would not have the stuff sack from the sleeping bag helping to keep it dry. Maybe if you used an oversized stuff sack.”

“I'm with Nigal. If it happens to be raining when you pull out the Bivy there is less chance of the bag getting wet.”

“OK, who is this Killer Rabbit??
Grrrr.....

I have stuffed the down bag into the bottom of the pack and it does fill up dead space nicely.....but I would bring the stuff sack in any event.

I usually use my sleeping bag sack to hang food anyway. Gotta have a food sack.”

“don't do that in grizz country or the Beast will be on YOU!”

“No Griz in Wes' Varginny......................yet.”

“I simply bought a larger pack and don't have to worry about it.”

“I am thinking that this will work I may try the separate pack process...may work better”

“I usually use my sleeping bag sack to hang food anyway. Gotta have a food sack.”
MarkOTheBeast
6:55:40 PM
10/09/06

What!?!?!?! and lose my pillow? My sleeping bag stuff sack gets filled with my clothes and slept on. I carry a biner rigged bag for my "bear bag".”

“I go with the rev, I have a couple of stuff sacks I use with some biners for a bear bag. LOL...or I store it next to some other poor fool's tent.”

“Gack!!!

Let me check the trip rosters more closely...

Fuegofox is the nick?”

“LOL...actually I get pretty serious in bear country. I had a friend at Philmont who had eaten cookies before he went to bed. He was dreaming about making out with his girlfriend and he woke up staring into the face of a bear that was licking the crumbs off his face.

He screamed, the bear got startled and PEED all over him and his gear.”

“For what it's worth. My bivy lies folded at the bottom of my pack. I put my sleeping bag in a compression sack and clothes round it. Then my cookset goes on top with my fuel bottle. I don't put food in a stuff sack - I stuff it down anywhere I can.

My winter Thermarest is too big to go into any pack that I can carry. I roll it tight and put it into its own sack and strap it to the bottom exterior of my pack.

Summer camping is more problematic now that bear canisters are required. I put awkward items into it along with my food - First Need purifier and insulated mug. It goes at the bottom of my pack with fuel bottle and tnet poles to each side. Then I put in my two man tent in a compression sack with clothes and food stuffed round then my sleeping bag also in a compression sack.

The cookset goes on top with food packages stuffed round. I carry my water bottles in OR caddies strapped onto the side compression straps.

Things get crazy when I strap on an ice axe, avy shovel and crampons.”

“I almost always just stuff my bag into the bottom compartment of my external frame pack. My tent and pad get lashed to the bottom, then clothes, food, and cooking gear go in the main compartment. Hat, emergency kit, car key, extra map go in the lid, and snacks in the side pockets with tp, bug dope, and leatherman.”