Comfortable Camping with Air Mattresses
Camping Gear July 3rd, 2009If you’re a fan of camping (of course you are) then you know that it’s an unpredictable pastime. Warm sun, gentle breezes, bird song and sleeping under the stars breathing fresh air is the intent but not always the result. Equipment failure, cold ground, bugs and tempestuous weather are what we sometimes get. The only sure way to avoid the bad that sometimes comes in lieu of the good would be to stay home. But then, who would keep the tics, spiders, snakes and poison ivy company?
Fortunately for the lonely creepy-crawlies, there are some people who revel in the adversity of a wilderness experience. They’re happiest when things are at their worst. That’s what puts them in the moment and, absent being eaten by a bear, gives them the best stories to bring home. The greatest stories result from the scars they have from having barely escaped a wild animal mauling. Fun stuff. To them, the food should be terrible, the weather should be crazy, the bears should be predatory and the experience should be epic. Give these guys a dull knife and a wet match and they’re content with any camping experience.
The flip side of those guys who revel in giardia, trench foot, blood-sucking bugs, golf-ball-sized hail, marauding beasts and avalanche-prone camp sites are the haul-it-all crowd. If it fits in the recreational vehicle, it’s camping equipment, if it doesn’t, attach a trailer to the RV or tie it to the roof and it’s still camping equipment. A bad camping trip for one of these types is poor satellite reception at the campsite. Or maybe the hot water isn’t hot enough. The philosophy here is that if they really want to be immersed in the wilderness experience they can just watch Survivor Man on their in-camper flat-screen TV.
Now I’ve tried both approaches and found positives in each. Ultimately, neither monkish minimalism nor pampered excess fit my requirements perfectly. Like most campers, I suspect, I fall comfortably in the middle; not wanting to depend on rubbing two sticks together to keep from freezing to death nor depending on an RV’s surround sound system to lull me to sleep with the sounds of a nature-scape CD. A good, dry tent, warm sleeping bag and semi palatable food are generally the requirements.
The simple rule for middle-ground campers who don’t want to do one-on-one combat with the wild life or worry about where our travel-along masseuse will sleep is that, if we can carry it on our hike to our campsite, it’s fair game. Factors such as the distance we have to travel, our own stamina and the type of terrain we’ll be navigating tend set the limits of what we’ll bring along. But, even so, most of us have a couple “essential” items. I define these as luxuries we could do without but prefer not to. In my case, great food and great sleep are those items.
I skirt the complications of carrying supplies to meet my first requirement by cheating. That is, I go camping with an old friend who happens to also be a great cook who things MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) or other freed-dried options are a sin to the tongue. Conveniently, when he comes along, I’m assured of fantastic meals cooked in the great outdoors. This buddy could probably turn some acorns, pine cones, wild grass and road kill into a gourmet meal. Thank goodness he doesn’t. My last camping trip featured risotto, orange chicken and Thai-spiced, fresh caught fish. He doesn’t help with the second requirement, though, which is great sleep. That, I have to hike in myself in the form of a camping air mattress bed.
Now don’t think I’m a total sell out. I’m not talking about a top of the line Select Comfort adjustable air mattress bed or anything. Hell, I own one and if I could have it flown into my destination, I’d be sorely tempted. But that’s a bit over my usual camping budget. What I mean is a self-inflating camping air mattress and I think they’re the neatest piece of camping equipment since the portable Coleman stove.
In the old days (yes, I’m old enough to say that) the alternative to sleeping on bare ground was a foam sleeping pad. Neither comfortable nor ideal, foam pads were good primarily at keeping the cold at bay and minimizing (or at least spreading out) discomfort caused by that one twig, rock or root you failed to clear away before bedding down. My camping buddies and I nicknamed the pads better-than-nothing beds because that’s precisely what they amounted to. When air mattresses for camping came along, they were little better than pads for comfort but were also bulkier, heavier and prone to puncturing and leaking. They also took forever to inflate.
As it tends to do, technology moves forward and, today, we have modern air mattresses for camping that are light years ahead of those first efforts. Today’s air beds are made of astoundingly durable materials. Even better, they are almost entirely self-inflating, though I still add one or two lungs full of air to them for that extra plush feel. Despite the comfort they afford, these beds also compact down to as small a size as their foam counterparts. Perhaps most important, they are substantially more comfortable than foam models which can compress to virtual uselessness through the night which entirely defeats their purpose.
Variety and luxury are the name of the game with modern air mattresses, making them a wonderful option for even the most discerning of campers (you RVers know who you are). Whether you’re camping out of the back of a pickup truck, an SUV or need a guest bed for your maid, there’s a cozy air mattress bed out there for you. Custom styles are made to fit a variety of trucks and SUVs, allow you to stay off the cold ground on 4, 6 or even 8 inches of comfortable air.
But there are always going to be those folks who frown on air mattresses. The hard men and women of the camping world would prefer to sleep, as nature intended, on the cold hard ground. They are welcome to it. In fact, they are welcome to go camping with me. Should some rabid critter attack in the middle of the night it will have two potential meals from which to choose; a spry and well-rested air mattress bed sleeper and a groggy, sore and slow-to respond tough guy/gal. Guess who wins in that equation. But, hey, they’ll have great scars to show off if they make it home to tell the story, right?
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