So heres a real question. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> Do you prefer earplugs - effective and light but yucky <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> , or an extra pillow to bury your head in? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've noticed that down jackets make poor noise barriers <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> - that is I've heard cowbells from half a mile away through a downjacket pillow <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> . An arm works, but it slips off when you fall asleep. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I'm thinking back to the idea of duct taping a pillow around my head, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> and maybe leaving it there as a ultipurpose helmet or sorts... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Neither. If car camping, I'll have a 'baby' pillow like the hospitals give with newborns. If hiking, I like hearing the night sounds and use clothing as a pillow. You might consider a third option....white noise. A cheap AM-FM receiver tuned off frequency and turned down low to a quiet hiss, will absorb most ambient noise.
Much like a surf noise sleep thingy.

Earplugs, but not the kind you're thinking of. I like to doze off, on my back, with my Ipod in-ear headphones. Volume is very low. But they're no good for lying on my side, very uncomfortable.


Or......I like to camp next to the soft sound of running water. That drowns out all the little noises that go bump in the night.

I just almost always pitch near water and I'm fine. I don't bother with either earplugs or pillow.

Phat,
I've camped in Northern Canada in the Summer, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> the drone of mosquitoes was broken only by screaming loons <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> ... Who needs white noise with a billion mosquitoes?
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Both. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Until I've been out a few days and then I am asleep before my head hits the pillow and I don't need earplugs. One of my hiking partners snores so loud I'm afraid a moose will think it's a mating call, so I need to plug that sound out. And I need a pillow. Not one of those stuff-it things.

I can't hear anything over my snoring.

Are you an only child? Here is why I ask.

I have four kids, and they can sleep through anything. I see people with only one child, and the kid wakes up with the slightest noise. My fourth child, who is 18 months old, falls asleep in the noisiest places. He has too. At home, if he can't sleep through his siblings making lots of noise, he won't ever sleep. I have two brothers and two sisters. I have never had a problem sleeping with noise. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yeah, that's true. the whine of the bloodthirsty legions hovering just above my bugnet usually contributes to the white noise as well... Heh, I just don't even notice - it's the sound of summer <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Earplugs, use 'em all the time, especially when my wife snores (oohh, did I just say that? boy am I going to be in trouble <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />)

I swear by Macks "Pillow soft"silicone earplugs. Mainly designed for swimmers, but I use them on planes, camping, shooting, Chainsawing you name it. They are lightweight, low profile and reusable. I still need a pillow though in order to get a good nights sleep or I wind up with a stiff neck.

Finally
I am almost an only child - my sister is 12 years older and mom never let me have a dog. The slightest sound wakes me up. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

OK - one night (camping) I was awakened by a VERY LOUD <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />growl very close by. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />I screamed really loud <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> to scare whatever it was. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />Then I heard it again, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />coming from somewhere behind my belly button. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> Wow that was a loud stomach growl... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />