The North Face Blue Kazoo Sleeping Bag Review
I use the Blue Kazoo as a top quilt in the hammock, laid over me instead of zipped around me, and the bag earns five stars in that role.
Morning in the hammock on the Tahoe Rim Trail, July 2026, with the bag over me as a top quilt.
On my first Sierra trip, into Desolation Wilderness in 2012, I carried a borrowed sleeping bag that would not pack down small, so the bag rode strapped to the top of the pack.
The Blue Kazoo weighs 34 ounces on my lists, which makes the bag the third heaviest item I carry after the hammock and the pack. The Blue Kazoo is on every one of my trip kits, from the Lost Coast in February 2022 to the Tahoe Rim Trail in July 2026. In the hammock I use the Blue Kazoo as a top quilt rather than climbing inside the bag.
The reasoning is simple. Body weight crushes any insulation underneath a sleeper, so the down on the bottom of a zipped bag does very little in a hammock. The Firebelly underquilt handles the underside from outside the hammock, and the Blue Kazoo covers the top, where the loft can do the work. On a tent trip, such as the Chilnualna loop in May 2024, the Blue Kazoo goes back to being an ordinary sleeping bag.
What works
- Works as a top quilt in the hammock.
- Still a regular sleeping bag for a night on the ground.
What does not
- At 34 ounces the bag is one of the heaviest items in my kit.
Open the Blue Kazoo in Backpackers Friend
The link adds the Blue Kazoo to Backpackers Friend as a small gear bundle with the weight filled in, ready to apply to the gear list of your next trip.
The trip kits in Backpackers Friend
The Blue Kazoo appears in eight of my trip kits. Each kit is a real trip and opens in Backpackers Friend as a gear bundle with every item, weight, and quantity.
- Tahoe Rim Trail, Leg 1, July 2026The first leg of my loop around Lake Tahoe, with the hammock as my shelter. 70 items on a 19.7-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Solo near Mammoth Lakes, September 2024A solo trip out of Mammoth Lakes. 80 items on a 21.5-pound base weight, including the only iPad I have ever carried.
- Ediza and Thousand Island Lakes, September 2024Two nights in the Ansel Adams Wilderness with my backpacking partner. 79 items on a 20.5-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Ostrander Lake and Buena Vista, July 2024A Yosemite loop with a guidebook shortcut through an old burn. 75 items on a 21.2-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Young Lakes, June 2024One night at Young Lakes out of Tuolumne Meadows in peak mosquito season. 77 items on a 21.9-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Chilnualna Falls, May 2024A solo loop toward Buena Vista that ended one crossing short, carried with a tent instead of the hammock. 72 items on a 17.7-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Point Reyes in the rain, February 2024An overnight at Coast Camp with a close friend in steady February rain. 78 items on a 21.7-pound base weight. Read the trip report.
- Lost Coast Trail, February 2022Three nights on the King Range coast, with a tent and a bear canister. 73 items on a 30.8-pound total pack weight. Read the trip report.
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Keep your own gear list with the trip
The gear checklist in Backpackers Friend weighs every item by category, charts the pack as you build the list, marks each item packed, and saves a list as a reusable bundle for the next trip. The checklist lives on the phone next to the route, the camps, and the offline map. The gear checklist is part of Premium, and planning a trip, drawing the route, and tracking the walk are free with no account.
