Gear Guide: Patagonia Sleeping Bag and Cinch Pack

Long ago, when Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard was little more and nothing less than a semiferal dirtbag hooked on the great outdoors, he built his own sleeping bag, a front-zip and streamlined mummy with overstuffed channels. Now, 45 years later, with Patagonia on the forefront of traceable goose-down apparel, the Ventura-based outdoor giant has debuted its first sleeping bag, based on Chouinard’s original design. It comes in a range of sizes and temperature ratings, with the attention to detail you’d expect from a sleeping bag in the $300-$500 range. Plus, in line with company creed, the birds that supply feathers for these bags are never live-plucked or force-fed.

Lightweight and stuff-able, the sleeping bag pairs well with Patagonia’s line of Black Hole bags, including the 20-liter Cinch Pack, a multipurpose top-loader with drawstring closure. “This is one of the most versatile overnight packs I’ve used,” said Carpinteria’s Pat White (pictured above), a longtime backpacker and forest volunteer now in the middle of rebuilding a sailboat for a maiden voyage to Tahiti with his better half. “The stuff-sack style is crucial for packing all your food and stuff and then your sleeping bag on top [so it’ll] dry throughout the day.” White also liked the daisy-chain exterior loops for fastening his sleeping pad and extra layers with paracord and carabiners, he said. “And the sleek zipper doesn’t snag when going off-trail.”