If you’re anything like my buddy, you might look at an emergency sleeping bag and scoff at how small they seem to be. Bundled up so tight, these can fit in the palm of your hand when packaged correctly. But would you possibly need one? And how useful can they really be?
Imagine this; you’re out hiking, and the weather turns bad much faster than you’ve experienced before. You take shelter under a forgiving large tree, or in a crevasse along a cliff face that blocks out the wind and the heavy rain. The storm keeps up with such a force that you have no choice but to wait out the next few hours. And then you realize that you’re probably not going to make it back to your vehicle or camp before it becomes too dark to safely hike along a trail you don’t really know.
This sequence of events may seem dramatic, but they can happen. Or, you could simply lose track of time, and subsequently the light of day. What do you do then?
This is where an emergency sleeping bag comes in handy. Not that you want to find yourself in an emergency, but what do you do if you happen to? Keeping warm as the cold night air creeps in could be more about survival than creature comforts. Enter the handy little sleeping bag that’s just right to get you out of a jam.
When I’m hiking and I have the intention of setting up camp I have a light weight down sleeping bag that I use. This is great for the colder temperatures. But when I’m setting up camp and I want to head out for a day of hiking, I don’t always want to carry my main sleeping bag with me.
As a backup, just in case things turn bad, I’m prepared with a few lightweight survival tools, first aid kit, and a convenient emergency option for hunkering down, should I really need to, in the Life Bivy.
See, in my experience, emergencies in the bush aren’t just about first aid related responses. These may be necessary, but we’ve long had first aid kits for these. I’ve always had a thermal blanket in my first aid kit, but that’s now been dramatically complemented with the addition of the emergency sleeping bag to my suite of response tools.
I firmly believe that these should be in every hiking and camping response kit. They take up next t no room, and what they can bring you when you really need them is invaluable. For what is really a very low entry price point, I think you’d be crazy to no take a look.
Some key things to consider when making your choice are the Sleeping Bag’s:
- Weight
- Re-usability
- Durability
- Material type
- Thermal rating
- Cost, and
- Size
There’s a concise summary of some of the better emergency sleeping bag options here. No doubt, you’ll find something that fits your needs and budget easily. After all, with what these tiny units can offer at the very affordable price, they are worth their weight in gold when you need them.