Day four of my adventure I spend with peaceful, beautiful paddling in the Prince William Sound. Waterfalls, flowers, bald eagles, otters (but no bear sightings except footprints).
On day five I almost die. Seriously. You worry a little bit about a grizzly bear eating you, but not this.
I needed to camp near fresh water and unfortunately the only place I found to stop was near a steep creek. The only two places to actually sleep was either on an obvious bear trail, which seemed like a bad idea, or on a high, flat rock. I was worried about maybe rolling off at night onto rocks or into a high tide but that isn’t what happened. It rained.
So I zipped up the bivy sack (small one person bag/tent) I had purchased at REI for the trip. I woke up later with a panicked feeling and very rapid shallow breaths. Seriously suffocating. Even groggy and mostly out of it, I knew I needed air and managed to get the zipper open. That gave me immediate relief, but then I got sopping wet from the heavy rain for the rest of the night.
So I zipped up the bivy sack (small one person bag/tent) I had purchased at REI for the trip. I woke up later with a panicked feeling and very rapid shallow breaths. Seriously suffocating. Even groggy and mostly out of it, I knew I needed air and managed to get the zipper open. That gave me immediate relief, but then I got sopping wet from the heavy rain for the rest of the night.
Really, they sell a bag with a full zipper that if you use it you die? And if you don’t you can’t keep the rain out? I acknowledge I didn’t fully read the tag (it didn’t come with directions), but I’m still stunned that there is a product like that. In the photo you can see the head of the bivy sack, with the hoop that runs over your head to keep the fabric off your head. I guess I was not paying attention to realize that there is no venting at all in the bag.
West Coast Flying Adventures 