Tents

[Mike F]

Blaze,

I love it!!

We're going backpacking this weekend - I think I'm going to leave the tent behind and see what kind of reaction I get from the guys. (Skeeters aren't bad, yet. Fire ants could be a different challenge...)

-mike f

[Laurie]

The troop my son is lists a tent as personal gear needed when joining. I believe my son is the only boy of the six who bridged last year to have his own tent (one my husband purchased to share with him). For Christmas our son received a brand new tent--same kind. We anticipate adding a third of the same tent this winter when our next son bridges. It's an Eddie Bauer 3-person tent with rain fly--they love it. It is usually the only tent that stays completely dry. My nephew received one prior to his winter survival, and he had the only dry tent. It's a good tent.

[Blaze66]

If you have never tried it before let me give you a couple of pointers from experience. One make sure you have a good ground cloth. Just as in a tent, that vapor barrier between you and the ground is real important. Second, keep it simple. Either pitch your tarp using the old ridgeline between two trees with a stake on each corner or do the old army pup tent style with two staves. Once you have done it a few times then you can experiment with exotic tarp setups. These two will keep you fairly dry if you have a shower and will stand up in the wind with no problems. If you want some other ideas for pitching tarps go to this website. http://www.cloudwalkersatpage.com/page027.html Cloudwalker uses the Campmor trekkers tarp for these setups but I use a Kelty Noah's tarp. Oh yeah, people get into long discussions about what kind of tarp to use and how to pitch it. Those of us in the Tarp community are just as defensive about our tarps and setup as people with Tents! LOL

 

Hope you have fun on your first try, who knows you might even be a convert after this trip! Let me know how it goes.

[kenk]

Around here we'd get eaten alive by mosquitos if we slept under a tarp with no netting.

 

I'll never forget an overnight I went during leadership training when I was a kid. We slept under tarps and were deluged by mosquitos. I tried to hide inside my sleeping bag, but it was just too hot to do so.

 

Do you not have mosquitos in your area, or do you just slather yourself with DEET?

[Blaze66]

Yes we have mosquitoes too but what we use is Permethrin. Get some and treat all your camping gear including your clothing as directed. It works great for Mosquitos, Chiggers, Mites and Ticks. One treatment lasts two weeks in continuous use. If you use it, you won't need much deet.