Field test: Marmot’s Rockaway 0 sleeping bag

Field test: Marmot’s Rockaway 0 sleeping bag

A short field test of the Marmot Rockaway 0 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Marmot Rockaway 0
The Marmot Rockaway 0; low cost, versatile performance and a bright color, just in case.

Multi-purpose inexpensive gear selections squeeze more enjoyment and more readiness from outdoor dollars. The Marmot Rockaway 0 is a good value for conditions where a few more ounces and cubic inches won’t weigh you down. My Rockaway 0 Long weighed-in at six pounds, six ounces, including the orange compression bag, after hanging indoors to dry for 24 hours following my return from the UP, not bad for a roomy, low cost sleeping bag suitable for most Midwest winter conditions.

The Rockaway 0 Long is stuffed with seventy-six ounces of Marmot’s proprietary Spirafil™ 120 synthetic fill combo, a coarse springy loft component combined with a fine fill component. This fill combo anchored my backcountry double-bag sleeping system for a couple good sleeps under an open-front tarp shelter on deep February powder. I will be testing the Rockaway 0 for single-bag backpacking in more typical Midwestern winter conditions, alternating cold and wet. This bag is my great orange hope for a clump-resistant, easier to dry sleeping system for cold, wet conditions. I’ll report further testing in future posts.

The Rockaway’s orange color stands out brightly on white snow and among evergreens or deciduous forest, it makes you look. I keep all bright colors under cover of my forest green tarp to spare any passer’s by who might stumble on my camp, but you never know when you may need to get the attention of emergency responders by hoisting, waving, or laying out a bright orange signal–this bag stands out.

Michigan’s Upper Peninsula delivered winter challenge amid beautiful boreal evergreens near the North Country Trail. I enjoyed views of the uncommon black-backed woodpecker and cheery flocks of pine siskins and black-capped chickadees as I hauled my pulk a short distance. I used snowshoes on firm trail, then broke new trail through deep powder south of Brevort Lake to my remote camp in the sand dune region of the southern peninsula. I slept under starry sky smote by arctic chill, then again under gray sky in tarp fluttering breeze, blowing snow accumulating about six inches overnight. Low temperatures hovered around zero degrees Fahrenheit. My sleeping system, anchored by my new Marmot Rockaway, ensured generous warmth.

A good night’s sleep is fundamental, the difference between harmony and hardship. Sound sleep supports recovery. Rest and recovery is essential for enjoyable safe and rewarding outings. Choose equipment that enables more than survival and endurance, seek comfort and recovery.

I use a double bag, double pad system when sleeping in extreme cold weather. My ground sheet is an inexpensive fabric-reinforced poly tarp with reflective coating on the underside. I lay it out folded in half, reflective side inward, then open it toward the windward side. The elements of my system are laid out between the folds. The open side stays to windward with essential equipment on it, unless I need emergency cover. If my tarp failed in high wind, I could pull the ground sheet over my sleeping system and roll in it to hold it closed until the wind abated.

Two insulating pads separate my sleeping bags from the ground sheet. First, a full length ultalight closed cell foam pad, then a full length two-inch self-inflating mattress on top. All of this is positioned on a bed of deep snow prepared by leveling and trampling with snow shovel and snowshoes or skis, then allowed to sinter.

The Rockaway may have been enough by itself for all night comfort, but I used my second bag as a shawl and pillow allowing me to leave the Rockaway unzipped below my shoulders for lots of wiggle room in an already roomy bag. My second bag is a high mileage +20 degree down bag, REI’s Fat Cat, another roomy choice. The semi-rectangular Fat Cat unzips fully, both ends, allowing use as a quilt or a tube-like open-ended outer bag.

My double-bag system costs much less than a single high end Arctic or mountaineering bag offering the same cold protection. The versatility of the two bag approach allows flexible use of the bags together or separately, as conditions demand. Both bags are stand-alone bags for different uses. I expect the Rockaway will be great for almost all of my Midwest winter needs.

This is not a light weight system and the pads and bags do not reduce to convenient size–this is a sled camping system. I stuff the two sleeping bags together inside a durable 60 liter dry bag for sled packing. That’s eleven pounds of protected loft for come what may extreme cold. I roll the two pads together, another three pounds. The pads are packed in a duffel. These bulky packs are easily secured to my pulk.

My equipment purchases are selected to compliment equipment I already own. My choices are cost-conscious and adapted to my unique interests and the conditions I encounter.  I do not suggest to others that their selections should duplicate my own preferences.

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