Re: Jynx on Camping....

Several years ago, I took my wife on a 
camping trip.

Down the Grand Canyon.

I had hiked the canyon a couple of 
years earlier with friends and 
afterwards, my wife decided that she 
would like to take the trip. 

Her decision was a little surprising 
(she's not normally a hiking/outdoorsy 
type), but she walked all through the 
spring to prepare for it and had no 
trouble with the hike to the bottom 
and back. In fact, she was pretty 
impressive. She fell flat on her face 
about a mile into the hike down with a 
full pack. It was windy, cold, and 
raining a little, and I said that we 
didn't have to keep going, but she got 
up, brushed off her bloody knees, and 
trekked on. Not half bad. 

Anyways, in his latest phlog, Jynx 
alluded to sleeping on a thin mat 
while camping in Ashley National 
Forest in Utah (a lovely state with 
the worst 3% supermarket beer, but I 
digress...). 

When we hiked the Grand Canyon, we 
brought no mats. That was my decision. 
I was loaded with about 30 pounds more 
than my wife, who insisted on packing 
*much* more water, a bit more food, 
and a few more items of clothing than 
we needed (I might still be bitter) 
and so I insisted that we minimize the 
pack weight anywhere else possible. 
The end result was that we took my 
very small supposedly-two-person tent 
and no sleeping mats. I also suggested 
that we didn't need walking poles (I 
don't). 

I have heard about those decisions 
ever since. It doesn't matter that I 
was still packing 55-60 pounds....

Anyways, when we camp with the car, we 
take air mattresses. There is nothing 
better. They are so comfortable. That 
being said, up here in Canada, you 
need to have as many blankets below 
yourself as above (or you freeze all 
night). In my opinion, it's best to 
have separate air mattresses, even if 
you share blankets, because it 
insulates you a bit from the movements 
of others...

So I guess that was an overly-long 
roundabout way of saying that I think 
an air mattress will beat a hammock 
any day of the week. You'll be a 
banana in a hammock. On an air 
mattress you can stretch out. You'll 
be floating on a cloud. 

Ask my wife.