[pct-l] bags

[Jonathan Ley <over_there@geocities.com>]

Rob,

Congrats on planning your hike, I wish you the best of luck.
I just got back from my 1999 hike, I used a FFriends swallow
(or was it a swift...?, well, the smaller of the two).  The one I used
had a dryloft shell on it.  I found it worked fine.  I had a few nights
where the temp easily got down to the low teens, the bag was
rated at 20F and I was fine.  It does help to wear a lot of clothing
at night (plus, I think this helps keep it cleaner).  The bag lost some
loft, but not enough to matter - it's still a great bag.
I washed it when I got to Lake Tahoe - big mistake!  The dry loft
shell helped keep it dry, but when I washed it, the dry loft helped
keep all that moisture in there.  It took FOREVER to dry, and some
sections of the bag clumped-up (never returned to their original
fluffiness).  My advice would be to keep a pair of "bag socks" in
your pack - wear them only at night. These will help prevent all your
foot grunge from getting in your bag (plus it'll feel darn good at
night!).
The FF+socks will still weigh less than most other bags.
If you're using a tarp, or plan to "sleep-out" a lot (I did), get the
dry-loft shell (worth the $), plan for a lot of dewey mornings.
Also, it helps to air-out the bag during the day sometime (I
was usually too lazy to do this though.)

-Jonathan



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