Nothing is worse that suffering through a night of cold weather shivering in your sleeping bag. I’ve gone through this myself when I haven’t brought the proper sleeping bag for the conditions or the weather was unexpectedly cold and let me tell you it sucks. You may think what do I know about cold nights, I live in Arizona for crying out loud. Well a good chunk of the state gets snow in the winter and temperatures can drop into the single digits at night. I do my best to avoid those nights but I have had many nights sleeping in below freezing temps so here are some of the things I’ve done to keep warm in those cases.

• Have good insulation underneath you. You will loose a lot of body heat into the ground if this is not the case so be prepared with the proper mat. I can’t say enough good things about the Insulated Air Core mats from Big Agnes. If you are feeling cold underneath, use some spare clothing underneath you the sleeping bag to create more insulation.
• Definitely sleep in a layer of long underwear including socks and a fleece or wool hat. There is a school of thought that you should sleep naked in your bag but I disagree and the sectionhiker blog has a great post on why they feel the same.
• Use a sleeping bag liner. They can add anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees farenheit to the warm rating of your bag and they are the equivalent to having a sheet on your bed. They feel more comfortable to me than the lining of the bag as well.
• Fill up air spaces in the bag. Since it is your body heat that is warming up the bag, you want to minimize the amount of airspace you need to warm. In a perfect world your sleeping bag would match your height exactly but since that isn’t the case, you can fill up the air space at your feet by placing your clothing for the next day down there. This allow makes your clothes toasty for when you put them on the next morning.
• Eat something fatty before going to bed. I know this sounds weird since we are all trying to watch our weight but fatty foods are slow burning fuels that will warm your body during the night.
• Do some light exercise. Something as simple as doing a few crunches or leg lifts will get the blood flowing and the body temperature up. Be cautious though because you don’t want to do so many that you sweat. The sweat will only make you feel colder later on.
• Make a hot water bottle. Heat up some water just prior to bed and place it in a Nalgene bottle to bring into the bag with you. Place it on your chest or in between your thighs to help warm your core.
• Keep an insulated jacket or coat nearby. You can place it over the bag to create an additional insulating layer above the bag if needed. Be careful about wearing too much clothing in your bag as it will compress the fill and the bag will loose it’s effectiveness.

I know there are many more tips and tricks out there and I would be interested in hearing what’s working for other people. Anyone can have a cold night and it doesn’t have to be winter for it to happen. I hope these tips help to send you into hours of blissful sleep on the trail.