Don’t like the idea of sleeping on the hard ground in a sleeping bag? Well, there are other sleeping arrangements that you can make for your camping trip. For starters, you can choose between a variety of sleeping pads and mattresses for great outdoor sleeping. Sleeping pads can be placed between you and the ground, so that you won’t have to lye on a cold, hard surface. Plus, sleeping pads offer more comfort for your great outdoor living experience.

One type of sleeping gear that you can purchase is an air mattress. These used to be very popular for great outdoor living endeavors, until more advanced sleeping gear came about. In most cases, you would have to use a hand or foot pump, or even your mouth to blow up the air mattress. Of course today you can use a battery operated pump. Once blown up, the air mattress offers great comfort for great outdoor sleeping. But be careful because they are very vulnerable. If a twig or something else sharp punctures it, your air mattress will deflate permanently. You can use a patch to cover the hole — most air mattresses come with a couple.

Another type of sleeping gear that you can buy from a great outdoor living store is a foam pad. These have succeeded air mattresses, making them a slightly better option. They are created with smaller cavities of trapped air that offer insulation. But on a comfort level, they don’t compare because they come in a bulkier size. The upside is that during your great outdoor living trip, you won’t have to blow up the pad and it is lightweight.

On the other end of the sleeping spectrum there are self-inflating pads. As you can imagine, this is a combo of foam pads and air mattresses. With these types of beds, you’ll be getting the best of both worlds. Not only will you not have to pump air into the bed, you’ll also be getting great comfort for your outdoor living experience. It comes rolled up and once you open up the valve, it self inflates. If you would like for the mattress to have more support, you can blow more air into the valve before closing it up. If the bed gets a puncture, you can easily fix it with special kits. If the kit isn’t available, you can still use the bed as a pad, like you would a foam pad. With all the great benefits for this outdoor living sleeping mattress, it is recommended highly by great outdoor living stores.

When choosing your sleeping gear, it is important that you keep in mind its weight, size and volume, to ensure that you can carry the bed easily in your backpack. Most sleeping pads can be rolled up and placed outside of the backpack, allowing for easier transport. If you want, you can even use your sleeping pad as a floating device on outdoor streams.

If you need to shop for clothes for your trip, you can find deals from Loft on Groupon.

image via Pixabay