Pam LeBlanc snuggles with her HEST pillow during a ampervan trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park. Chris LeBlanc photo

I have discovered the perfect pillow for my camper van: The cushy yet supportive HEST pillow that packs into itself to protect the sleeping surface.

This isn’t a camp pillow – it’s a camper pillow. There’s a difference.

I have a tiny inflatable pillow I use for backpacking, when every ounce counts. I hate that pillow because my head tends to slide off while I’m sleeping. But it’s small and light, so I tolerate it.

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My new HEST pillow weighs in at a whopping 2 pounds. Unfurled, it measures 26 inches by 20 inches. Folded up, it’s 18 by 10. That’s way too big and heavy to haul in my backpack. But I’m using it when I sleep in Vincent VanGo, my kitted-out-for-glamping Ford Transit, so I don’t care.

HEST makes a smaller version of the pillow marketed for tent camping, but it’s still bulkier than what I’d use in the backcountry.

Packed into its cover, the HEST pillow measures 18 inches by 10 inches. Pam LeBlanc photo

I store my new pillow in protective mode – tucked inside itself, with its durable cover zipped around it like a clamshell. (Or a hedgehog, now that I think about it.)

I like the cover, because I always seem to drop my gear on the ground. I can keep it in “folded up” mode when using it outside (it still serves as a pillow), then unfurl it when it’s time to hit the hay.

Unfurled, the standard HEST pillow measures 26 inches by 20 inches. Pam LeBlanc photo

It’s filled with memory foam and polyester, and you can remove some of the loft if you like a thinner pillow. The cover is washable, too.

All that bliss doesn’t come cheap. You can get an inflatable camp pillow (with a groovy mushroom motif) by Therm-a-Rest for $36.95 at REI. By comparison, the much larger HEST pillow sells for $119. Two different products used for two different situations,

Sleep tight.