Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but just wanted to let everyone know how this year's Kentucky Coal Association Camporee in Knott County, Ky went this past weekend.

I guess everyone was tired of the cold, especially after last year, so they had the camp out a month earlier than in previous years. Just our luck, though, we had the first cold snap of the year. Although it wasn't as bad as last year, we had lows friday night and saturday night in the 30's. There was light frost on everything saturday morning, and a heavier frost on everything sunday morning, so I suspect saturday night may have dropped below 30 (the forecast i looked at predicted low friday of 38 and low saturday of 30). We used a lot of the recommendations in this thread to make changes so we would stay warm this year.

We added more insulation under us, including a closed cell foam pad and a space blanket. Since last year I have worked on increasing my water intake to be better hydrated. I added fleece pants to sleep in. I used the same sleeping bag system, but added a garbage bag over the feet. I also made better use of the mummy feature and cinched it closed better than last year. I wore a neck gaiter and hat to cut down the heat loss at my neck and head area. I also added an extra warmer in the feet area. My son had a fleece liner, tucked in his 40 degree mummy bag, tucked inside his cold weather mummy bag. We had a nice hot snack of high calorie, high fat ramen noodles (380 calories, 140 from fat).

It's hard to compare to last year's campout, as we did not have the (relative) extreme cold like we did last year, but it sure seemed like we slept warmer. In fact I know I slept warmer than at a similar campout we did around december of last year at similar temps to what we experienced this past weekend. My feet stayed nice and warm both nights and my son slept warm as well with no cold feet.

The only problem I noticed this year, was condensation INSIDE the garbage bag which ended up on the outside of the sleeping bag at the foot area. I didn't notice any dampness inside the sleeping bag, and it was not a problem for this short term camp, however it is something I need to give further consideration in the future.

Just wanted to thank everyone for all the great tips which we incorporated into this year's camp out.