Western Mountaineering UltraLite Sleeping Bag —15 Year Review

I thought this bag was older than 15 years. Checking my financial program, Quicken, I found it was purchased 15 years ago for $360 at Adventure 16 (a.k.a. A16). A16, a stellar company with expert and knowledgable employees, was my favorite backpacking retailer for decades.

When I bought this sleeping bag, it was in person at one of their stores. Not only could the staff make excellent recommendations, they had a room set aside just for trying out sleeping bags. Of course, there were numerous sleeping pads on the floor for this purpose. 

Alas, A16 is gone, dying at the age of 58 years. A victim of the public’s preference for cheap internet goods, while ignoring the value of knowledgable sales people and hands-on inspection before making a purchase.

If you want a quality sleeping bag, and don’t live near a brick and mortar store that sells backpacking equipment — you can’t go wrong by buying a Western Mountaineering sleeping bag, quilt, or other apparel. They are that good! Plus, everything is made in the good ‘ol US of A.

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Down Fill Power Explained — Is it an Important Measurement?

Down jacket and sleeping bag

Recently an acquaintance asked me to help him find a suitable down jacket for backpacking when nighttime temperatures could dip down to 20° F (6.7° C). He wanted a 900 or higher fill power garment because, “The higher the fill power, the warmer the garment.”

But is this true? All things being equal, not really. The most important factor is the thickness of the insulation, not fill power.

In this post I will explain fill power, insulation thickness, and the difficulty of shopping for suitable equipment because the equipment manufacturers (clothing, sleeping bags, and quilts) try to confuse us with worthless marketing instead of useful facts.

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Senior Moments — I Can See Clearly Now!

On January 20th I had cataract surgery on my left eye. The other eye was done last December. Today my vision is nothing short of miraculous — a similar reaction I have heard from others who have had the surgery done.

It is time to get back outdoors for a lot of backpacking and camping.

Well, almost time. I’ll explain in a bit.

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PopUpBackpacker is 10 Years Old !!

 

It was time to update the copyright notice in the footer of the Website when I noticed that it has been a little over 10 years since PopUpBackpacker was created.

Over the past 10 years I have covered a lot of territory backpacking, hiking, camping and writing about the things that interest me. In this post I’ll cover some highlights, where I have been and what the future might hold for me and PopUpBackpacker.

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