Last week I went on buying spree at Cabela’s. One of the items I came home with…two actually, were air mattresses for the trail. When I was a kid I used to sleep on the ground, and quite well, I might add. In high school, these new-fangled foam sleeping pads came out. They were 1/2″ of luxurious medium-density foam rubber that rolled up onto a 20″ X 4″ roll that weighed hardly anything and you could tie it to your pack right above your sleeping bag. Then, as an adult, I found the self-inflating 3″ foam pads that truly improved my sleep rest during camping and pack trips. However, these pads roll up into a bulky roll about 22″X8″…that is if you get it real tight. It weighed a bit more as well, at about 3 pounds or so. I stuck with those a long time. Recently, however, I’m finding I don’t sleep so well on those self-inflating pads anymore.

Now, Dad has always preferred air mattresses. Of course he was 24 years ahead of me in experience. Seems like my air mattresses always ended up flat about the time I was gliding off to sleep, and it was back to my childhood days of sleeping on the hard ground…or not. Anyway, Dad seems always to have done pretty well with his air mattresses, so for this trip I let him talk me into buying a couple of backpacking air mattresses for our trip. Mostly the decision was made to save space on the pack horses, but truthfully, I was willing to try an air mattress again to see whether I could get a good night’s sleep on one while out on the trail.

After talking on the phone to Dad while I was looking at the mattresses, we settled upon two of Cabela’s XPG Ultralight Extreme Performance Gear air mattresses. They came rolled into a 3″ X 9″ roll, stuffed into a nice little nylon bag. I have to tell you, I was pretty skeptical that this little thing could provide a nice resting place for my tired bones after a long day on the trail. I found Cabela’s display, where they had samples of each of their mattress offerings already aired up, so I pulled each one down in turn and laid on it, right there in the store, for a first-impression test. Surprisingly, I found this little XPG mattress to be the most comfortable of the bunch.

The XPG Ultralight mattress measures a nice 72″ L X 23.5″ W X 2.5″ H, inflated, which was among the widest mattresses offered. I found the goofy-looking way the mattress is designed to be very comfortable. It has round air pockets in the center for comfort and larger air pockets on the sides to keep you on the mattress during the night. This mattress didn’t make me feel high in the middle while lying on my back, which tends to give me a backache, nor did my hips touch the ground when I rolled onto my side. I was quite surprised and impressed. This is a well-designed mattress, and very comfortable to lay on.

I took a good look at the seams and materials, trying to imagine it lasting the whole trip. The mattress is made of a reinforced rubberized nylon material (no trade name for the material is given on the packaging), which appears to be fairly durable, however I wouldn’t try laying it directly on the ground. We’ll have canvas ground cloths under us on the trip, so wear from the ground should be minimal. Just in case, though, the mattress comes with a patch kit slipped inside a pocket inside the stuff sack, consisting of about 30 square inches of material (two 3 X 5 pieces) and a small tube of cement.

The seams appear to be sealed with cement, or possibly heat-sealed. They appear to be solidly joined. With the new “space-age” cements available, I feel confident that if I can keep Dad from jumping on the bed, they’ll last the trip.

A couple nights ago, I blew up one of the mattresses to see how much effort goes into it, wondering whether I would pass out before getting it filled at elevations exceeding 9,000 feet in some places. Again, I was surprised that I was able to fill the mattress to capacity in 17 breaths. While that will make your head swim if you do it too fast, it’s not anything that would make the average person uncomfortable if they take their time.

The air valve is a little larger and somewhat differently designed than other mattresses I’ve used before. It has a push-pull system, to keep the air in while you take a breath as you blow it up, then a twist-lock to keep it from being inadvertently opened. It took me a minute to figure it out, even with the instructions plainly spelled out on the top of the valve. Sometimes I have a hard time pouring water out of a boot with the instructions on the heel. Twist the valve to unlock, then pull. Blow into it, then push to hold while you take a breath, pull again to blow air in. When done, push in and twist to lock. Simple! Much easier than the old ones you had to hold and squeeze with your teeth while you blew.

I laid the mattress in front of the television and lay down on it to see if I could lay on it comfortably for an extended period. I was quite pleased with the results. I nearly fell asleep.

After the limited testing I have done on this mattress, I am quite pleased and convinced this XPG Ultralight mattress, marketed by Cabela’s, will do the trick for us. With a price tag of $99, I feel it is a good buy for us.

Now, a good night’s sleep is all I need.

Stay tuned for more gear reports.