Put a blanket under the mattress for warmth at night and I am not sure about raised, but doesn't heat rise? I know having a shade structure works wonders for cooling during the day. I bought one this year after my friend had hers out last year. It was like air conditioning!

A plywood platform supported by milk crates would work to raise the air mattress. You'll need about 9 crates to have one in each corner, a crate at the center of each edge, and one or two beneath the center to keep things flat. Some flattened carton boxes atop the plywood should protect the mattress from rough spots.

Several planks would serve the same as a large plywood sheet, and be easier to transport.

If transporting equipment is not an issue, then warehouse pallets made of hardwood are often available free and can serve without the crates. Nail in small planks beforehand to fill top surface spaces.

If you were to lay a mattress right on the ground, that spot underneath would remain cool as the sun never would go there. In fact, a shaded place on the ground continuously covered over would act as a heat sink and actually draw warmth from the mattress. About maintaining warmth, some additional insulation between mattress and ground would keep temps even.

Your best and easiest way to keep cool, and warm, and reduce the amount of optional equipment, and make things way easier for the same/better result, would be to put a groundcloth first, and then a roll of 1/2 inch foam insulation over ir, and then place the inflated mattress over that.

Thermodynamically speaking, I don't see that you'll have ANY noticable heating or cooling benefit from raising your mattress.

The playa surface beneath your tent (and mattress) isn't going to appreciably change temperature between day and night because the sun and the night air will not be working upon it directly.

It IS however nicer to climb down out of bed than it is to climb up out of bed.

Sas

Thanks everyone for the tips! I am feeling much more confident about choosing my bed set up. I am going to be on the playa for 10 nights, so a nice bed set up will be a huge plus. In addition to not freezing at night, I am hoping to create a bit of home away from home, so the raised bed will help with this. I am also bring an old rug for the floor of my springbar tent, so hopefully I will feel right at home. What are some of your experiences with the double height air mattresses? I have read some posts that say that they sag overnight. Have any of you run into this?

a pretty gal like you could probably just take your pick of the dusty playa boys or girls,
and stack'em up like firewoood, and plop your air mattress on them!
this method will save you transportation of milk crates & plywood.
(it also sound like too much work!)

If all you are trying to do is insulate your mattress from the floor, place a mylar space blanket under your air mattress, and that should do the trick.

So I tested my double height self inflating air mattress on the playa during the 4th of July and it worked really well. It did not deflate over night or sag like I was worried about and I did not freeze either. It was great the first night and I was very comfortable. However, I didn't sleep on it for the two following nights and I retreated to the RV trailer that was in our camp. It wasn't the mattresses fault as I couldn't handle the early morning sun that made my "springbar canvas" tent glow like the sun itself at 6:30 am. What did I learn? The mattress set up will work just fine, but I need to do something about the early morning sun. What have I done? I have ordered 70% aluminet to put 8 inches over the top of the tent and I am going to affix black out energy saver curtains (Target has them on sale) to the inside on the ceiling of the tent. All of this should at least allow me to sleep until 8:30 before my tent turns into a sauna. If this still does not work, I will get to see 10 beautiful sunrises over the playa, which is not such a bad thing after all :)