My Brand New Sleeping Pad - AKA The Big Green Cucumber

“Pop” is not a sound you want to hear when inflating your new sleeping pad, especially in the California backcountry with three days left in the trek. A baffle separating two air chambers had just broken, creating one large air chamber in the middle of the pad from head to toe. As I laid down on the pad, another “pop” and now three of the seven chambers were united against me! To keep the mood light the group and I named the busted green pad the “Big Green Cucumber.” For the next three nights I slept at an angle on one side of the Green Cucumber and wedged myself between the edge of my tent wall to prevent sliding off. :-) Lesson learned, select a air pad baffle design that has many smaller baffles to reduce risk. I replaced my failed pad with an Exped SynCellMat 5 Sleeping Pad from REI.