All sleeping bags come with a factory rating of the coldest temperature in which a wayworn hiker can sleep comfortably.

Normally, lowering the rating of corresponding sleeping bags result in a proportionally higher weight and price. Also, a sleeping bag rated for 0º F would be great for most icy winter conditions, but the same bag would be heavy to carry and the hiker would swelter in this bag during outings in warmer months. Conversely, a sleeping bag rated for 45º F would be great during the summer nights, not weigh much and easy to carry. Except that this same bag would leave the hiker shivering on any colder night; conditions that happen frequently on the mountain.

A simple solution is to have two or more sleeping bags and then exchange the bags in the appropriate seasons. As the colder winter weather changes into the warmer months, have the light weight bag mailed to a mail stop and when it arrives, use the container to ship the heavy winter bag back home. Later, in the fall, when the nights again become frosty, exchange the bags once again. This is a great way to eliminate a pound or two of excess weight during the summer months but the extra cost still may be problematic.

Nonetheless, to use only one medium weight bag and sleep comfortably in the two weather extremes, the sleeping bag would require supplementation. In sweltering sweat bullets weather, insect netting goes a long way in keeping the sleeper outside of and on top of the bag. However, what should a wayfarer do when the bag is zipped shut, the hood is drawn tight and all woolen clothing is donned but he still continues to shiver?

Should he throw the marshmallow sticks into the fire and check into a motel? No, that is not the intention for going onto the mountain. So, what does Tommy use to supplement his bag during the freezing nights encountered on the Appalachian Trail?

This extremely cold night of constant shivering did happen when Tommy was but a young boy and a new Scout on his first camping trip. This was during the first weekend in February 1963 at Double Lakes NF Campground in East Texas, located near the upper San Jacinto River. The Scouts were in the primitive camp area near the Big Thicket National Forest Preserve and there was snow on the ground when they arrive late on Friday.

The Scouts did a good job setting up the camp: pitching the tents, digging a fire pit and latrine, gathering kindling and firewood from the forest to build a fire, fetching and heating water and then cooking supper. This new Scout mostly watches and learns as the older and more experienced boys get things accomplished. Still, he pitches in whenever he can. Typically in East Texas during February, the temperature warms up during midday and some of the necessary work is especially strenuous causing most of the youths to get dirty and sweaty.

By nightfall this new Scout is dirty and tired. So directly after taps he gets into his bedroll totally exhausted and ready for the nights sleep. However, this night the temperature drops to below freezing and he only shakes and shivers the whole night long not knowing the first thing about how to get warm while outdoors in winter. This happens the following night as well, but he has already fallen in love with Scouting outdoor life. Indeed, no two sleepless nights could ever stop him from returning to the joy of the outdoors and continuing in his new found wonderment.

Tommy Michel begins in earnest to read his Scout hand book and take in everything it has to offer; particularly the ideals of Scouting embodied within its pages. He reads and memorizes the Scout Law and the next time he is camping in the cold of winter,he recalls how the eleventh article encourages cleanliness. This causes him to wonder if he might sleep better if he was clean, so he takes a shower and despite the water being unheated, he still gets under the frigid liquid to clean himself. Amazingly, his idea works better than he hoped! He washes off all the dirt, sweat and body oils, puts on clean clothes and then sleeps as comfortable as if he had been in his bed at home in a heated bedroom, and this despite the long night of below freezing temperature.

This discovery proves to be a life lesson for this very young outdoorsman, one he would remember each and every time he returns to the great outdoors and particularly during the cold winter month. As he grows older, he would show the newer and younger Scouts how he had learned to live in the arduous and occasionally frigid outdoors. Later, he carried his learned arsenal of skills with him on his peregrinations to the mountain.

At that time, especially on all the coldest of days, the first thing Tommy Michel does after setting up his camp is to go to the water, wet his bandana and begin to clean. Thus, he sleeps warmly at night because he has supplemented his sleeping bag with his boyhood learned skill and knowledge of living outdoors.