is your sleep better/worse/same?
are your dreams more vivid/in color/about stuff you haven't thought of forever/include people?

i tend to think i don't sleep much while on trips, i can hear the wind and other noises outside the tent, but the next day i feel okay.
my dreams on trips have nothing to do with canoeing which i find odd. i did have a dream that took place outside in the dusk time of day (normally my dreams always take place in the dark) and someone gave me the name of a person who we would run into later (i'm assuming in my dream).
sure wish i could just lay my head on the pillow and fall to sleep immediately.

I always sleep better when outdoors in a camping, hiking, fishing, hunting or canoe trip, no matter where.

My preference is in my hammock, but even on the rare occasions I'm in a tent on a sleeping pad or cot.

I suspect it's the fresh night air and soothing outdoor sounds.

I sleep like a baby in a tent...up every hour...crying half the night...cranky in the morning. My hammock is another story. I have a hard time finishing my journal before I am out. The only downside of the hammock for me is that I have a much harder time getting up at dawn.

Usually takes me a night to acclimate, and then I sleep really well. This is in a tent. I want to try the hanging thing, but I cannot fall asleep in one ever, even when I am totally exhausted. I cannot sleep on my back...

It all depends on what I do during the day, and what my general anxiety level is. If it's a long physical day of paddling or hiking then I'm asleep as soon as I get in the hammock- and am a rock for the night. If it's a layover day and I've been lazing around camp and napping then sleep doesn't come so easy. My solution is usually to stay up late and enjoy the stars a bit with hot tea or bourbon.

The other factor is how relaxed/ anxious I am. If the brain is really stuck on something- not feeling well, or impending storm, or the heebie jeebies; then I tend to toss and turn and wake to the slightest sound. It's a wonder just how much that plays a role in good sleep or not.

I never dream much in general- that doesn't change in the woods.

I like "to go" so I'm typically up early and at it hard all day and usually fish until just after dark........L-O-N-G day. I brush my teeth, eat an Alleve, put on some silk undies and down booties including fingerless fleece gloves and fleece watchman cap and I hit the tent (cannot imagine sleeping like a banana). Then I turn my Nook on. The glow from the device cheers me and I manage to read for maybe 20 minutes tops before I'm out. Rinse and repeat!

quote Frenchy19: "Usually takes me a night to acclimate, and then I sleep really well. This is in a tent. I want to try the hanging thing, but I cannot fall asleep in one ever, even when I am totally exhausted. I cannot sleep on my back..."

I could have written this myself; ditto

I usually sleep better in the wilderness. No technology or career anxiety to distract me from a restful night. One thing that always amazes me while I sleep in the BWCAW, is that the nightly calls of the loons, owls, or wolves seem to penetrate my dreams. I often won't wake up during the serenade, but I will somehow remember it the next morning. These are such spiritual moments for me.

I have no problem sleeping while canoe camping. At home I can't sleep without sound of some sort and sleeping outside usually gives you some sort of sound throughout the night.

I don't sleep any better or worse than I do at home, which is not very well anymore. Nor do I dream more or less, which isn't much, at least as far as I can remember. I do tend to sleep (or whatever the hell it is I'm doing) maybe an hour longer.

Now that I give it some thought--I don't recall any specific dream when I'm in the BWCA. I do sleep soundly but I must surely dream. I always dream. I don't hear every little noise around the camp but those of loons calling. I am lulled to sleep listening to loons. Sweet.

Takes me a little while, but once I relax and take a minute to remember where I am I am out like a light. Same with camping almost anywhere. but more when I am there. I think it is the lack of cars driving by and other man made sounds that make it more pleasant. And the loons....I have been in love with their call since I was a kid visiting my grandparents at their place in Northern Wisconsin.

Get some of the foam earplugs put them in roll over and good night. I just got back from a 5 day trip with 50+ mph straight line winds one night followed by crazy thunderstorms the next. Earplugs and I slept well in general other than a little concern in the peak of the storms of trees snapping falling on the tent and killing me (a friend of mine was killed this way).

On a related note, I also think irrational paranoia grips some people as soon as they are off the grid and out of immediate contact. This issue must simply be internalized as an unhealthy illogical fear. Repeat after me "The sun will come up tomorrow and you will be fine." However, you won't be worth a darn if you don't get some sleep.

My first ever BW trip my son and I paddled from AP to Amoeber and into Topaz. We had planned to move the next day but the wind was awful. That second night, we played cards in the tent while it rained it's ass off, then we slept til 10 AM, had breakfast and napped for another 2 hours. I hadn't slept like that since I was 17.

It takes me a day or so to get in the rhythm of canoe travel. I use ear plugs and rarely think about things outside the tent unless the wind cranks up. The quality of my sleep depends if I can shut down my mind and go to sleep. Usually I think about the next day's travels. Then I have this need to get up at least twice a night to commune with nature........ and hope it is not raining or I see eyes looking back at me in the night.

In the past it would take me several nights to settle into the camp routine and sleep soundly. Over the past decade I have been taking one Advil PM tablet each night at bedtime. It provides enough relief from minor aches and pains and is slightly sedating so that I can sleep soundly.

I have had some of my wildest dreams ever on solo trips. Usually after long hard day and some restless sleep. I think going to bed dehydrated is a contributor.

Switched to a hammock a couple years ago. Since then, if the temp is right, not too hot, not too cold, I've had some of the best/deepest sleep ever.

quote gsfisher13: "Switched to a hammock a couple years ago. Since then, if the temp is right, not too hot, not too cold, I've had some of the best/deepest sleep ever."

Same here. Best sleep yet.

Like Maxxbhp said, I sleep like did when I was a kid in the BW. I may wake up a few times, but go right back to sleep and sleep hard. With all the paddling, portaging, and camp-choring, I'm wiped out by the end of the day. Funny, I noticed on my trip last week that I was having all kinds of cool dreams.

quote muddyfeet: "It all depends on what I do during the day, and what my general anxiety level is. If it's a long physical day of paddling or hiking then I'm asleep as soon as I get in the hammock- and am a rock for the night. If it's a layover day and I've been lazing around camp and napping then sleep doesn't come so easy. My solution is usually to stay up late and enjoy the stars a bit with hot tea or bourbon.


The other factor is how relaxed/ anxious I am. If the brain is really stuck on something- not feeling well, or impending storm, or the heebie jeebies; then I tend to toss and turn and wake to the slightest sound. It's a wonder just how much that plays a role in good sleep or not.


I never dream much in general- that doesn't change in the woods. "

+1. I sleep best on the first night because of all the paddling and portaging. If it is a basecamp trip the layover nights are harder if we laze around camp. However, even a full day of fishing from morning until just after sunset will put me down pretty fast.

I sleep great on canoeing trips - usually better than the sleep I get at home. I think the hard work that goes into these trips is why I sleep so good. I am pretty much always slip bobber fishing for walleyes when I am in canoe country. When I am lying in my sleeping bag about to fall asleep, all I can picture in my head is the view of my bobber sitting in the water and going down like a fish bit it. It might be because I spend 8+ hours a day bobber watching but its hard to get that image out of my head when I am falling asleep.

Sorry - double post.

quote Mocha: "is your sleep better/worse/same?
are your dreams more vivid/in color/about stuff you haven't thought of forever/include people?

I rarely ever remember my dreams. They say that men don't dream in colors. I do have many pleasant memories of BWCA trips, sometimes, revisit them in a day dream.

I don't sleep as well because the animals are awakening as I'm trying to fall asleep. I dream vividly in the woods, just as I do at home.

For years I slept poorly while camping, imagining every rustle was a bear. Then I spent years sleeping 1000 times better while camping then at home. Now I'm back to sleeping poorly because I get sore hips and knees. The very very best is sleeping in a rain storm though.

I generally heavily medicate myself, otherwise I get no sleep and the night lasts forever. I am a very light sleeper and the slightest noise ruins any progress I make towards deep sleep.

quote Wables: "I sleep like a baby in a tent...up every hour...crying half the night...cranky in the morning. My hammock is another story. I have a hard time finishing my journal before I am out. The only downside of the hammock for me is that I have a much harder time getting up at dawn. "

+1

My dreams are just as varied in the woods as they are at home. If I nap though, I tend to have dreams related to being in the woods.

My dreams are much deeper and go way further back after the 1st night in the BWCA. I also sleep much better. This is, I'm sure, due to the amount of exhaustion mentally coming in, physically due to paddling more than usual and the portages, huge amounts of sun and the relaxing and rejuvenation of my soul. Same type of sleep I get in the mountains and in the backcountry. I suspect sleeping in a swaying hammock plays in somewhere as well. I've never woken from a deeper sleep and had such a MASS amount of confusion about what's going on and where I am. haha. Just wish I could've seen myself.

quote Frenchy19: "Usually takes me a night to acclimate, and then I sleep really well."

Funny, I have the exact same experience. Although I sleep much better camping since I switched to a hammock.

Funny, I'm reading this thread because I can't sleep. I've had some pain issues for some time which between 2 and 3 I'm usually awake. But camping I usually sleep all night. Dream very seldom, but when I do sometimes the weirdest people are in them.

I usually sleep about the same as home while in a tent. I will sleep deep but wake up every hour and roll over. Need to get up at least once a night to visit mother nature. In the BWCAW this takes a while as I find myself star gazing at the night sky. This year might be a little different. I will be retired as of June 7th and on my way to the BWCAW on June 8th. Can't think of a better way to begin the next chapter of my life.

In tent. Takes a bit longer to situate on the ground; fix pillow; flop around and root in but once stretched out I sleep better. Day two adjusts to critter sounds and no artificial sounds, lights, or electronics and so on.
Toss, roll, sleep, and repeat... get up and pee once at least or wish you did. But when up there, even with the loons; I sleep sounder. No dreams stick out as recollected. I feel more rested.