Never Be Cold Again While Winter Car Camping

If you've ever slept in your car, then you know this already. They are deceptively cold. It's all metal. There's no insulation, tons of glass, and once the sun goes down, they turn into boxed-in refrigerators. So this is how I stay warm when I'm sleeping in my car in the winter, usually for a night here or there when I'm solo adventuring and mainly for single overnights when I just don't feel like pitching a tent. For me, this is usually single-digit or teen temperatures in the Fahrenheit, not that arctic stuff, and the whole system is about keeping me warm because contrary to what it may look like, I get cold really easily. So first things first, the biggest thing that determines whether I will be warm all night has nothing to do with the air temperature. Instead, it's actually about what I'm sleeping on. So cars actually have zero insulation, so the cold weather just shoots right straight up from the ground into the car. So having some form of insulation beneath you is a no-brainer. I use the HEST sleep system, which has an R-value of 11.8. For context, most winter sleeping pads are around a 7 or an 8 or maybe even a 9. 11.8 is insane. This is built to keep you warm in the most arctic of conditions, so I figure it's good for sleeping in a car. That is also why it works so well for me with my winter car camping. So once I get the insulation down, my sleeping pad down, everything else is going to build on top of it. So after the sleeping pad, the next thing I think of is what I'm going to sleep in or what's going on top of me, aka what sleeping bag am I bringing on this trip? And honestly, for winter car camping, I don't think about weight or bulk or packability or anything like that because there's just no point. You have to carry the stuff one time from your house to your car and back again, and that's really not that far to begin with. So instead, I think about pure warmth. So on this trip, I used the Alps Outdoors Redwood negative 25 sleeping bag. It is huge, it is heavy, and that's exactly why it works. It's got this sweet, rustic vibe, so don't expect any kind of nylon or fanciness here. It's pure canvas in bulk. It's also only around $180 on Amazon, which is a fraction of the cost of a lot of premium winter sleeping bags. For car camping, this is a screaming deal. Plus, all that weight feels really good when you're winter camping. It's kind of reassuring that you have something heavy on your body to keep you warm. Before I actually climb into the sleeping bag and onto the sleeping bag, I have a ritual and I focus on warming the space first because climbing into bed cold and climbing into a cold bed is seriously the worst thing. It's just setting you up for failure. I use a little buddy heater while I'm still awake, especially right before bed, just to warm the car up so I'm not going to sleep like a popsicle. I never leave it on overnight, and it's more just about not starting the night cold. I also always boil water and put it in my sleeping bag inside a Nalgene. Between the insulated pad, the sleeping bag, and that hot water, I stay warm all night, and I usually don't have to worry about anything else until temperatures dip below zero. I've lived here in the Colorado Rockies my entire life, and I have learned one thing from all my decades of playing outside in the winter. Your hands set the tone for everything. If you have cold fingers, you're miserable. If you can't feel your hands, you are just not going to have any fun, and that is why I only wear Hestera mittens. They are the warmest I've ever used, and they last forever. I've had this pair here for 10 years, and I still ski in them every single weekend. So yeah, whether I'm skiing, winter hiking, winter camping, or just dealing with really, really cold days, my Hestera mittens are the one item that I know is always going to be in my kit. Okay, so once I'm in my sleeping bag, what I'm wearing actually matters a whole lot. First of all, I never, ever, ever sleep in the same clothes that I wore all day, especially if I was actually out hiking or recreating. It sounds silly, but those clothes actually hold on to the chill, both from the air and from all that cold sweat that has dried in them. So I always take my daytime clothes off and put on a dry set of base layers, a beanie on my head like this one, and then if it's really cold, sometimes I'll even put on my puffer pants. If it's really, really cold and I don't think that's going to be enough, I'll add a puffy jacket with the puffer pants and the base layers combined with the sleeping pad, sleeping bag, and boiled water in the Nalgene. And this one is important, especially for women. Always take off your sports bra before bed, especially if you were at hiking or skiing during the day. Yes, this is more comfortable, but it's not about that. Your sports bra is going to hang on to all that sweat from the day and keep you chilly all night long because it sits right on your skin. Definitely not a good thing. So beyond sleeping, I've learned that a few tiny tweaks can make a huge difference when you're winter camping in your car. Because let's face it, sleeping in the cold and in a big box of metal can be uncomfortable if you let it. So I have learned these tiny little adjustments can make the whole experience a lot better. First, always crack a window before you go to bed. I know that sounds ridiculous, but condensation buildup in your car is very real and there is nothing that's going to make you more visible and more cold than waking up covered in moisture from all your hot air gathering in the car and dripping on you and your sleeping bag. So crack a window, encourage that ventilation, and you won't have that problem. I always put a lot of thought into what pillow I'm bringing too. I bring the Zempire Chill Pill foam pillow, which isn't admittedly like a $40 bougie memory foam car camping pillow. You can buy them at REI. But it is dense and thick, memory foam, which also means it's really insulating. So there's not gonna be a cold air sneaking up from the bottom of the car and hitting you in the face. I've tested this compared to like my regular pillows at home and this one is so much warmer. Lastly, I always bring an LED lantern and or some twinkle lights to stirring up in the car. Because truly one of the worst parts about winter camping in your car or a tent is that it is dark o'clock at like 4 p.m. and you don't see the sun until like 8 in the morning. That's a long time to sit in your car in the darkness. So if you bring a lantern hanging up inside on the little clothing hooks, then you've got lights just like you do at home and you don't have to attach it to your head or worry about carrying them around with your hands. The last thing that I plan for is the morning. Because usually when they wake up is when most people decide that they absolutely hate winter car camping. Because there is nothing worse than waking up in your cozy warm sleeping bag and realizing that you have to get out of your cocoon and turn into a human popsicle just to get your day started. So first I always make sure that I stash my morning clothes inside my sleeping bag before I go to bed. So that I push them way down into the bottom of the sleeping bag, down where my feet are, usually where the Nalgene is too. That way when I wake up in the morning I have nice cozy warm clothes to put on instead of really really cold or worst case scenario absolutely frozen clothes to put on. The second thing that I always do is before I leave my house I have this Stanley thermos that I have had for gosh literally a decade. And I know that it keeps water piping hot for at least 24 to 36 hours because I've tested it. So before I leave my house I boil water and put either cocoa or usually coffee into this thermos totally made piping hot. That way when I wake up the following morning I have this big thermos of steaming hot coffee ready to go and I can just reach for it right from inside my sleeping bag. I don't have to get out of my bag. I don't have to get out of the car. I don't have to get my hands cold to boil water. It's the easiest solution possible. Sleeping in your car in the winter doesn't have to be miserable. For me it's all about insulation, pre-warming, and bringing those nice little luxuries that keep the whole experience comfortable, cozy, and not at all scary. This setup has let me sleep well, stay warm, and actually enjoy my solo adventures in the winter without stressing about the cold. I hope it works for you too.