This past weekend, my son's Boy Scout troop went to the Kentucky Coal Association's Camporee in Knott County, Ky. The weather forecast called for a chilly Friday night, with a low of about 20 to 25 degrees F. Preparations for the cold included mummy bags rated 0 to 20 degrees F, with a fleece liner to go inside, and two of these stuffed in our bags ahead of time to warm up the sleeping bag. We slept on cots, with pads on top of the cot, added a blanket on top of the pad for extra insulation underneath, then the sleeping bag on top. Clothing consisted of a base layer of wicking polyester garments, layers of fleece, wool socks, gloves, hats etc. I brought my insulated coverall as well. Also took along some extra (warm) clothing including spare wool socks, gloves, hats and fleece layers.

The weather report I looked at was slightly off, and it ended up being about 10 degrees colder than anticipated Friday night. Saturday morning was a frosty (for us anyway) 15 degrees F, a cold night for us, and our coldest night of camping yet. Despite the cold weather preparations, my son and I ended up with EXTREMELY cold feet at about 3 in the morning. We did our best to warm up but we ended up looking for the warming station at around 5:30 AM, we ended up not being able to find it so instead we threw more logs on the fire and waited for the morning sun to warm us up. my son and i both slept in a change of dry clothing, including underwear, long john top and bottom (mine was a wool mix, my son's was polyester), fleece top and pants, wool socks, synthetic hats and gloves.

In hindsight, a few things we might have done to improve our cold feet situation:

- A second pair/layer of wool socks with a set of these in between (one of the other ASMs did this as well).

- A garbage bag pulled up around the outside of the foot area of the sleeping bag (a trick one of the older ASMs from another troop taught us last year on a cold campout, but i honestly didn't think we'd need it given the sleeping bags and multiple layers we were using).

- In line with the garbage bag outside the sleeping bag, I am wondering if one INSIDE the bag would also work, either in addition to or instead of the one on the outside of the sleeping bag

- Better cot pads with better insulation value, and add extra winter coats over the top of the cot pad for better insulation underneath. Maybe also add a reflective emergency blanket to that mix.

- Hot water in our water bottles to take into the sleeping bag with us.

- Instead of the fleece liner bag, stuffing another sleeping bag inside the main one. Several who came to the campout did this, one boy from another troop stuffed one 0 degree bag inside another 0 degree bag.

Is there anything else we might have done better? Or differently? We generally don't camp in the cold so any of your best suggestions would be most appreciated. As always, thanks in advance for your help, and hope this thread will help others who have a cold night of camping approaching.