How cold is too cold to sleep no bag or tent or fire.

[daveycrockett]

Just asking. If it's 40 ok I guess. I'm in shorts tho long socks thinking of heading north to get West but it's def below freezing that way and not much on that road. Debating staying til Monday for public bus for skirts or north and west just to get out of town.

 

[ali]

You can probably survive outside overnight if it stays above freezing, but if there is any humidity and particularly if it rains and/or you get wet some other way, that sort of temperature is gonna feel a lot worse and potentially put you at risk for hypothermia. Just find some shelter, ask round for someone to kick you down a sleeping bag, 'tis the season.

 

[MetalBryan]

Just asking. If it's 40 ok I guess. I'm in shorts tho long socks thinking of heading north to get West but it's def below freezing that way and not much on that road. Debating staying til Monday for public bus for skirts or north and west just to get out of town.

I fear that your goal of "sleeping" outside is more along the lines of "surviving" overnight outside. Think about the quality of sleep you will get if your body is just trying to keep warm by shivering. Probably low to none. If you can't get a bag or a shelter, you could try to find a tarp then wrap yourself up like a burrito using free newspapers as insulation. If you can find a good spot, you can try to sleep a bit during the warmest part of the day too.

 

[daveycrockett]

You can probably survive outside overnight if it stays above freezing, but if there is any humidity and particularly if it rains and/or you get wet some other way, that sort of temperature is gonna feel a lot worse and potentially put you at risk for hypothermia.

I fear that your goal of "sleeping" outside is more along the lines of "surviving" overnight outside. Think about the quality of sleep you will get if your body is just trying to keep warm by shivering. Probably low to none. If you can't get a bag or a shelter, you could try to find a tarp then wrap yourself up like a burrito using free newspapers as insulation. If you can find a good spot, you can try to sleep a bit during the warmest part of the day too.

I get it. Just asking when others are traveling does the 40 to 30 difference mean anything to you. I don't think I'll freeze or melt just shooting the shit.

 

[ali]

If your question is more about does 0c suck more than 5c, the answer is yes because now you need to worry about keeping your water from freezing too. But fundamentally any lower temperature is going to suck more because it's more energy your body needs to expend to keep warm, which is more calories burned, which means you now need more food too. Personally if i am able to choose where i'm headed, i would say anything under 15c is worth changing direction to avoid, and that's even with basic gear. Life is too short to spend your nights shivering in the fetal position like a cave man. But even cave men had fire and, like, a cave.

 

[daveycrockett]

If your question is more about does 0c suck more than 5c, the answer is yes because now you need to worry about keeping your water from freezing too. But fundamentally any lower temperature is going to suck more because it's more energy your body needs to expend to keep warm, which is more calories burned, which means you now need more food too. Personally if i am able to choose where i'm headed, i would say anything under 15c is worth changing direction to avoid, and that's even with basic gear. Life is too short to spend your nights shivering in the fetal position like a cave man. But even cave men had fire and, like, a cave

Yeah you're sweet thank you where are you you use Celsius?

 

[daveycrockett]

Yeah you're sweet thank you where are you you use Celsius?

You ain't in no fuckin Taiwan pics now

 

[ali]

Been in Taiwan for several years now, I wrote a thread here a while back about how to travel across the country on share bike. I am housed up working regular job at the moment trying to earn permanent residence.

Pretty much everywhere in the world except US uses Celsius, and since I was born and grew up outside the US, that's what comes natural to me. I still think it's funny that freezing is like... 35 or 37 or something in America. Some American once tried to convince me that Fahrenheit was better because 0 to 100 is human livable temperature whereas 0 to 100 in Celsius is water livable temperature, but even human is alive at 0F it's gonna be a miserable life and your water bottle's gonna be useless. But, eh, number's just a number, it's how you feel that matters and I hate being cold outside, which why trying to get residence in a warm country seems like a decent plan.

 

[Groundscore]

You will need a sleeping bag, or as others said, you won't sleep, you will be in for a night of misery. You should also have an emergency "space" blanket, but don't count on it solely, as they will sweat you to death before you know it, and they are rather fragile. I advocate them JIC someone snags your bag, and they’re cheap and take up almost no space. A good sleeping bag is worth its weight in gold. Keeping insulated from the ground is also a key to getting quality sleep. If you can't afford a pad, the old standby of cardboard works very well.