Was a serious back packer, in my high school and college days.... we did a lot of distance hiking in Boy Scouts in those days...
I've hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back during the 60s and early 70s....the Long Trail the length of the State of Vermont,
and the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border, down to about Bend Oregon area when I was in the Army and Stationed at Madigan AMC on Ft Lewis, in the late 70s..
I've always been a side sleeper, and curl up like a baby when its real cold outside...
I always use a thin mattress pad, that was easy to carry... for padding, I used what was locally found on the ground...
like pine needles or leaves.... push them up into a mattress pile with my foot, lay a tarp over them... put down the mattress pad, then sleeping bag..
if the weather was bad, used a tube tent set up... real light to carry also...easy to set up and easy to tear down...tube tent cost me $3.00 in those days..
I've bought some of them for my scouts in our troop, within the last 10 to 15 years of so... the price has tripled since the late 60s and early 70s... they are up to $10 now...
two of those lasted me 10 to 12 years.... so $6.00 on tents.... and then surplus army poncho, to put over the tent entrance.. to keep back pack dry etc...
no one taught me this stuff... just learned it on my own... travel light, use your local resources....considering hiking 15 miles or so in a day.. sometimes more..
