Warmth for sleeping in cold weather- old-school hack

High desert camping in early spring is beautiful and often sparsely populated.
It can also be down-right frigid at night.

I know there are a lot of fancy heaters and such, with electric, diesel, propane/lng options abounding.

But I have minimalist tendencies and love a simple solution from resources already present in the environment.
That plus a little chill-driven innovation led to the development of the old school hack: the hot water bottle-camping edition.

I set (2) 1.5L stainless steel canteens filled with water, caps slightly loosened, on my campfire embers, and pile up coals around the bottom and wait.
You know they are 'done' when the coals are hissing as the water bubbles out on them.
Pick them out, tighten the caps and wrap em up in a blanket.
You will have a nice warm lump that will pump out a significant amount of heat, at least until you fall asleep!

No fumes. No fuel (other than the campfire). Silent. Free. Adjustable (modular design).
And you have nice thawed, if not still warm, water in the morning...
Winner winner, chicken dinner!

 

For those of us not shopping at the army surplus, you can just pour hot water into a Nalgene 1L bottle and then put it into a sock and keep it in your sleeping bag.

 

I will have to check out the army surplus!
I was talking about these:
https://www.kleankanteen.com/collec...ottles/products/water-bottle-wide-mouth-40-oz

The Nalgene bottle is a good idea too. I have a Coleman camp stove and propane and a metal pot and lid that I use to heat water in the morning.
But I would not recommend heating a nalgene directly on campfire coals in the morning or at night.

 

That’s a great idea.

 

I will have to try this

 

Did something similar a couple years back, but with bricks.

Heated them up on fire, wrapped them up in a towel and a shirt- tent was roasty toasty and bricks were still warm in the morning.

Solid car camping method, not as practical for backpacking obviously.