Tips for sleeping warm with no external heat sources......

Back in 2001, we'd just bought the farm-- took possession the Friday after 9/11. At that time we were thinking "family bunker" instead of "family hunting cabin" . The house had not been occupied since 1982. It was rough. We were camping. Two weekends after we took occupancy, it turned wickedly cold, down in the 20's, and we were not all that ready for it. The kids were still young. What I did was this:

1) Pulled up the carpeting in one room, took it out on the lawn and beat it upside down to get as much dirt and dust out of it.
2) Nailed it up over the window and exterior wall of the smallest bedroom.
3) Had everyone in the small bedroom with cardboard on the floor for insulation, then a foam mat, then their bag
4) brought the dogs in with us and then closed the door.

Toasty warm. Outside Temp went into the low 20's. Inside it stayed in the 50's.


Some other random thoughts:

When scrounging, keep an eye out for plastic bags. Fill them with leaves, crumpled newspaper, any cellulose that can be kept fluffed up. I've slept on newspaper filled grocery bags-- it beats nothing. Corrugated cardboard is great too. Just make sure you put down a plastic vapor barrier first.

I've also made a makeshift shelter out of a tarp and carpet. Lay down the tarp, lay down the carpet. Lie down on the carpet. Pull the carpet and tarp over like a taco.

The trick here is experimenting. Develop an eye for what insulates and to what degree.

 

Wrap Mama around you. Works very well.

 

We did a similar trick Shaman. When in college a bunch of us went fishing over the weekend on my grandmother's creek. Turned terribly cold Sat night. We took off to an old abandoned house, shut off everything in one room, and slept almost warm.
Now I use a full length closed cell pad, 3/4 length egg shell foam pad, and a "0" bag. If really cold I slide my buttoned up coat over the bottom of the semi mummy and lay a shirt on the top end. Like another I tuck the thermals and socks into the bag for morning. If raining or terribly cold I just keep a plastic jar/lid beside the bag for "nature calls"-lol.
ETA: Old Dawg reminded me that when family camping I take a lantern into the larger dome tent before bedding down. It gets it toasty pretty quickly especially if you drape a tarp over the windward side/top of the tent----do not seal off the vents. I use a Propane one and in the morning I use it again to warm the area---getting soft in my old age. LOL, that way I do not have to snuggle with mama in the morning.

 

I was thinking about the idea of using leaves. Are leaves a good idea?
Y'all got to experiment on this for yourself. Me? If I tried it, I'd probably get sick and die in short order.
I'm not allergic to leaves, but I am fairly sensitive to the mold that grows on them. November used to be a bad month for me. As I've aged it has gotten better, but then I haven't tried sleeping on them.
If I were going to use leaves, I'd try and use garbage bags or grocery bags and fill them up and then use that for bedding. The problem with any of this stuff is that it compacts when you lie on it, and it spreads out. I t needs to be contained.

I've tried cedar bows and pine bows. They work, but it is not a comfortable sleep-- it's not an air mattress.

 

I sleep in my base layer and if it is really cold then I wear a wool cap. Sleeping pad is a must , I am partial to thermarests self inflating pads. I too have not figured out how to get dressed warm in the morning. I have camped in temps well below zero and sleep well but getting out of the bag in the morning is always rough. I made a down blanket that is my goto when it is really cold, it folds down to nothing and weights almost nothing

 

I like a thermarest pad too, but if I can't/afford one I would grab the first silver folding car windshield sun screen I could find. I have slept on frozen ground, and blazing hot asphalt on one of these and never been uncomfortable.

With just about any top sheet a Mylar space blanket will get all your body heat reflected in no time. Need something absorbent like newspaper between you and the Mylar or you'll wake up soaking wet. If the darn things weren't so noisy they'd be just about the perfect blanket. I was surprised to find that I can see through mine too!

HD

 

I have used them as window shades in California. My ac bill dropped alot, and I could still see out through them.

 

Theres nights I get home and I know that I wont get the place warmed up if I build a fire in the stove. Can take two or three stove full to get the cabin warm, so I just burrow into the quilts for the night. Have a poncho liner that I wrap around me and that speeds up the warming a great deal..

Saves the fire wood as well...

 

I must be soft. I just get the damn electric blanket

 

Fox holes usually don't have electric power outlets.



Via: Two Soviet infantrymen frozen to death in their foxhole, Finland, 1940

 

I think that might have been before "don't ask - don't tell"

 

If you are sleeping on the ground it is critical to have a lot of insulation between you and the ground. As mentioned, a big bed of dried leaves works really well, and if really thick is comfortable.

Cardboard pieces can be lashed together to make bricks several inches thick and these can be attached together to insulate a building or shelter. We used this method to insulate an outbuilding and kept it livable using only a 2 burner Coleman propane stove during below zero weather. We only had about an inch thick of cardboard on the floor, if we would have had more on the floor that would have helped keep it warmer. Bear in mind the cardboard will compress over time from being walked on.

 

If you have the luxury of a sleeping bag, I take the stuff sack and turn it inside out, then put my boots inside. This goes in the bottom of my bag near my feet. In the morning your boots are nice and warm. A little trick from my mountaineering days.

 

Camped a couple Winters ago here in the Rockies (on purpose). Put down pine boughs under my tent, slept in my clothes with my snowboard pants on, with a yoga mat under my sleeping bag. Had the tents with their backs to a cliff, and the fire in front. Never got cold until 0200 had to throw my beanie on. Coming out of the bag in the morning sucked. But Winter at 9,000 ft. Is a challenge regardless.

 

For some reason when i sleep, no matter how cold it is, even if its in the mid 20s. I still need a fan, and i sleep in shorts and a t-shirt, and just one comforter, and I'm still a bit hot. Just a warm blooded creature i suppose

 

When I lived in the mountains as a kid we lived in bat and board cabin that had no insulation but what we did have was bubble plastic we put between the sheets. Top and bottom was too much and you'd sweat like crazy, so I eventually only used one below the bottom sheet . Having learned that , I added bubble plastic to the inside of my sleeping bag and slept in my long johns .
Having slept in snow, I don't like it . not for the cold , I was well insulated , but the snow it's self became lumpy and uncomfortable .
In those days I slept on my back most of the time, but trying to do it in the snow was not happening. Now days I sleep opposite, and much better actually all the way around.
Adding a few carbs to your diet during cold weather helps too. something to burn.
Drink nothing after dark and pee before going to bed whether I feel the need or not . It's a discipline that pays off .
Another thing you can do ,if you are near a stream bed with nice round boulders arrange them around your camp fire, and turn them once in a while so they will dry out and heat up really good , not too fast , some will explode from the steam. Now you've got a warm buddy that wont move during the night . One or two by your feet if you need it and one at your belly for your core temperature .
A second set of long johns for changing into and the others drying in the mean time . you body is putting off moisture all the time and having something dry is nice to get into after sleeping even though what your wearing seems to be warm at the moment ,it's still wet.
Except silks . Silks are nice but not actually warm ,just an added outer skin that draws moisture from your body initially .
Remember too the bag needs dried out ,after all it's been collecting your moisture all night.

 

Two high loft semi mummy bags that zip togather.

 

For indoors I just use a mattes heater.
For about 1 or 2 cent worth of power per day you can turn your bed into a sauna with the rest of house around 55 degrees F.