Burton

Yeah - I think there are some misconceptions about 'the great white north'. Reality is, because of the tilt of the earth's axis, the more daylight we get during the summer months. Here in Montreal the sun can come up at 5AM and there can still be light at 9PM. The further north you go the longer the summer days get till you get to the 'land of the midnight sun' where during the 'summer', the sun never actually sets.

The result can be sweltering nights as the ground thats been heated up by long exposure to the sun releases its heat after the sun goes down. Yeah - there are some areas in the Rockies that get a more temperate climate due to the mountains - but its not the general rule. Another side effect is PEI and Nova Scotia having some of the warmest salt water beaches north of Florida. For a short time. Maybe you should consider a trip north for a change! All those birds that head north for the summer do it for a reason!

Machka 

I bring a sleeping bag (and now it is a down sleeping bag), and a sarong.

On this tour, we've camped in some fairly chilly temps and in some scorchingly hot temps.

If it is hot, I open the bag up, except for a little bit at the bottom where I can tuck my feet (and my down sleeping bag has a wonderful feature, there's a hole at the bottom where I can stick my feet out if I warm up in the night. ) ... I flip what will be the cover part of the sleeping bag off to one side, and I sleep on my mat and one half of my down sleeping bag, with my sarong over me.

Later in the night, if it cools down, I flip the other half of the sleeping bag over me.

It is only on rare occasions of quite chilly nights that I would zip it up. 90% of the time it is just sort of half flipped over me, and my sarong is my main cover, acting like a sheet.

This is why I would consider a down duvet/doona-style sleeping quilt in the future. It is so rare that I actually use the zipper, I might as well not carry that extra little bit of weight. Also the zipper can become uncomfortable if I end up sleeping on it.

Doug64

My wife and I have experienced temperatures ranging from 20 F (-7 C) to 110 F (43 C) on bike tours. We use 2 different bags for bike touring depending on the time of year and location. I have a synthetic bag that is rated to 25 F (-4 C) that weighs 13 ounces more than Pete's 17 ounce down bag. We also have light weight Primaloft bags that are rated 45 F (7C) that are about the same as a down bag and compress to the size of a large grapefruit. The heavier bags are used for our extended tours and during the early spring and fall. We had them in the 110 F weather, and just slept on top of them. It was not a big deal. On that same trip we also encountered temperatures close to freezing at the beginning and later in the trip. The light weight 25 F bags are a good all around bag and what we carry for most of our tours in the western U.S.

OT
For you "no sleeping bag" buffs-- Its easy, just put on your insulated pants, insulated jacket (Primaloft synthetic ), your parka, windpants, gloves, hat, slide in your foam pad and climb into your bivy sack. It was 4 F (-16 C) when this picture was taken. My wife did not actually spend the night in this. But she could have if necessary. We were doing a demonstration of bivy techniques and shelters for a clinic.

Burton

LOL She looks pretty cozy in there Doug!

Closest I've come to anything like that was pretty much an act of desperation!
An unexpected and particularly heavy rainstorm caught me still quite a ways from my destination and the only thing I had with me that was waterproof was - the Arkel touring bike cover.......

It actually worked out remarkably well! For ME .... the bike got completely soaked!

Machka 

And in Manitoba ... flat as a pancake, with two huge lakes ... summer temperatures can be as hot or hotter than here in Australia in the summer, and very humid. Overnight temperatures have been known to rise rather than drop.

Next continent crossing you do .... do it from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island (or the other way around).

staehpj1

Maybe, but I would still need to plan for possible cold some of the way, right? I mean you still cross the Rockies.

I actually wouldn't find the warm weather a plus. I generally would prefer it if never got to 80 F. I tolerate hot weather where required to in order to see interesting places. Still it would be interesting to see more of Canada.

andrewclaus

My hiking buddy had his sleeping bag stolen in Lima, MT while we were hiking the CDT. He decided to hike three nights bagless to the next town where he could pick up a bag shipped from home. This was during record high temps in August, wildland fires were raging in the area, and nighttime temps were moderate, in the 50s, and we were able to camp in the low country around the Divide in Southern MT and ID. He had the three worse nights he'd ever had, despite using all the combined clothing we had in our packs, even including the packs themselves.

I used that MH Phantom 45 bag during the summer on my AT hike, and it's a fine bag for the price and weight. It weighs and packs about the same as a typical fleece sweater and given a choice of which to sleep in, there's no contest.

Machka 

Well, you could start on Vancouver Island in early May ... you'd have a decent chance of warm weather (and rain).

You'd likely hit the Rockies in late May, and it is suggested that you tackle the Rockies after the May long weekend (May 24th-ish), so that works. Yes, it could be cold and snowy for a few days ... or not, depending on the year. Sometimes it can be quite warm in the Rockies.

Then you'd be on the prairies and it could very well be warm all the rest of the way across. Depending on the year, of course, you might hit one of the rainy years ... they happen every once in a while. I think we had rainy years in Manitoba 2 or 3 times in the 13 years I was there.


A couple tips:

-- you don't want to be in the Rockies after about late September. So if you're going to start in the east and go west, start early enough to get across before then.

-- June is often not the best month to be in Manitoba ... it tends to be a bit monsoonal in June, and the mosquitoes are plentiful and fierce. But it gets much better in July.

imi

I always prefer sleeping under the stars if it's not raining - I find the view before falling asleep somewhat better than in a tent.
As has been mentioned dew can make the outside of a bag very wet. For this reason I always use synthetic bags.

An inner liner is useful not only for extra warmth and keeping the bag cleaner, but on hot nights lets you open the bag and still keep them mozzies off... I use repellant on my face and neck if the enemy are out in force! I actually use double liners, one cotton, one thin nylon to get the balance just right... It seems like mosquitoes have evolved since I started travelling in the '70s to have longer hyperdermics, and that they are thirstier now than ever before. Any scientific backing to this? Cyccocomute??
For me, weight is a non-issue. I love sleeping well.

juggleaddict

This thread would be great as a poll.

I just picked up a kelty cosmic down 41 for the TransAM this summer. . . I'm getting really distracted with everything else in my life.

it's a wonderful deal (20 or 40 degree) if anybody is going down here. Certainly deadly comfortable, I slept a few hours later than I had intended trying it out as a blanket last night.

KirkBeiser

I've never had a problem with down absorbing moisture but there are two reasons for that. I usually take an after lunch nap and air out the sleeping bag. I also haven't had a week plus of overcast/rainy weather while hiking. If I was heading to a perpetually wet area I would probably get a nice synthetic bag if I thought I might have problems.

My favorite bag is a JacksRBetter Quilt with a light bivy sack. The quilt has a head hole allowing it to be worn as a poncho and adds a lot of versatility to a lightweight gear list.

MichaelW

On my North Sea coastal trip, I made sure I had a decent synthetic bag. On the Norwegian segment I had to battle torrential rain for several days and some Force 10 storms with horizontal rain. One night the wind blew rain right though the vents of my Akto tent and soaked the foot of my bag.
My fav synthetic bag is Ajungilak Kompact 3 season. I have a cheaper, smaller bag for summer touring but for spring and fall you need something more.