Sleeping in the heat

[WanderLost Radical]

Since we're in top-heat season, I wondered if anyone of you had any tricks to help us cool down for the night. Im surely not the only one who can barely sleep in such heats.

So... any advices? Especially for areas where getting wet is not an option because of the bugs!!

 

[Mankini]

Where are you? Much depends on humidity levels, airflow, topography, etc.

If you get an entrenching tool you can burrow. This almost always helps no matter where you are.
Do whatever animals do. If they burrow, you burrow. If they are mostly active at night, follow suit. Etc.

 

[Desperado Deluxe]

Learn your north south east and west. Then figure out where the shade is going to be in the morning. (Sun rises in the east) You'll also be able to tell because the heat from the day will be permeating from the area. That's a fairly simple rule to follow without getting too much into the dynamics of airflow.

 

[Deleted member 2626]

Living on my land the past week, in an open corn field has been semi rough. I hung a hammock in the shade in trees and will nap there occasionally and I follow shade if i'm not busy and just hanging and not being physical. Also, one of those, shammy kind of cloths you soak and wring out, but not completely, is nice and cool. i lay it on my dog a lot.

 

[EchoTheDrifter]

Ugh. I took a spur of the moment trip out west a couple weeks ago. First night, I pitch a tent at a rest stop near Sioux Falls and nearly freeze. Second night I stay in the truck and sweating like a pig because there wasn't enough of a breeze for good air flow. When i start my big trip, I'm probably going to install a fan in the van I just bought. Hoping a solar powered generator will serve me well. Then, just plenty of blankets for the nights that aren't so warm...

 

[Toasty Tramp]

The only relief I've had is from mindful meditation. Once you're down for the night, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Just the breathing. Feel the air enter and exit your lungs, and focus. It takes practice, but focus on eliminating thought and judgement from the equation. Breathe. Once you've reigned yourself in and got the thinking under control, accept the shittiness of the situation and move on. Focus on breathing, and only breathing. With practice, its a simple matter or mind over matter. With enough time and effort, you won't even notice the heat. I didn't truly learn the lesson til trying to sleep in the Slabs this summer before regearing up for the desert. Showed up in thick pants and a fucking long sleeve, temperatures 120+

 

[Mankini]

I got a machete. Theres something wildly comforting about sleeping next to a 2 foot long carbon steel serrated blade at night. I recommend everyone carry one: theyre the Tramp's weapon of choice.

Now, to the point: take your machete and whack down some limbs and shrubs: the kind of shit that grows down by riverbanks is best. Now, take your whacked limbs and construct an arbor. Indians, and others, have been doin this in the desert since the Dawn of Time.

As the sun evaporates the moisture in the vegetation, the result is a serious cooling effect to you and your bivouac.
There are scientific principles behind this but ive forgotten them. Also, heed FoxSpirit above. You'd do well to understand the thermodynamics of air currents and humidity: known as 'katabatic processes'.

 

[creature]

The only relief I've had is from mindful meditation. Once you're down for the night, close your eyes and focus..... accept the shittiness.....of the situation and move on....... Showed up in thick pants and a fucking long sleeve, temperatures 120+

Monster fucking reply..

a LOT of good info, here.. animal habits, sun directions, trench tooling, arbo9r building...
super good thread, @Carl Wander ... same is true for all this stuff, but @Robert Park also holds good through *pain*..

you are a master, mofo..

but answering the original post, since i have no environmental control in my cheesy ass fucking environmentally protective ass fucking van?

spritzer bottle or damp cloth..

there is deep sleep & there is rough sleep..

rough sleep can come first, then you die into deep, or at least sleep deep enough..

as Mr. park says, well.. don't focus, unless focusing makes you tired enough, but.. just pay attention to how fucking tired you are...

once you get sick of that shit, you fall asleep..

don't pay attention to being cold or hot or rocks.. just pay attention to being tired..

there are situations that can *never* be brought to sustainable comfort..

but every animal does their best to get as close to it as they can, before they fucking give up & collapse..

that is on e advantage that they have,,, they know when they are close enough & don't bitch about perfection..

hence the relevancy of every single thought on this thread..

if you can sleep without dying, great.

if you die while sleeping, great.

don't die if you can, but if it happens & you don't die in a shitload of pain?


well.. life may have been worth it..

hopefully you get a nice sunrise, next time around,

& a nice one, after a solid, solid, deep & truthfull sleep..

peace.

c


& oh, yeah.. Bedouins..

long *black* fucking robes.. look that stuff up!!!

 

[Will Wood]

Ditto on the hammock. I had to camp at a work site last summer and my hammock was so cool I had to bundle up. Hammocks allow airflow to cool you down. However, you would need a tarp to block the sunshine.