Tent habits

[Cross Country]

I'm in basic agreement to the majority opinions above. I took a tent many times and most of those times slept in it. Most of the time, however I took a tube tent and used it as a ground cloth and maybe 10 - 20% of the time slept in it because of the weather. I preferred sleeping outside and my wife strongly preferred outside. During Mosq season I nearly always took a tent. Also, as mentioned above when awakened in the night It was comforting being able to see nearby. Each night I would wake up many times. The older I was the more often I'd wake up. By the way, for the purpose of hiking one never wants to take sleeping pills.
In general the higher the elevation the worse people sleep. I remember the first time I ran across this info was in Skier magazine. The name of the article was "Play high, sleep low". After reading this, it then all made sense for backpacking and skiing alike. I wasn't about to avoid sleeping high while backpacking because I loved the x - country adventure of the Southern Sierra. I did, however change my sleeping habits while skiing Mammoth. I began sleeping in Bishop. It was quite the improvement. Sorry if I bothered anyone with the digressions, but some things are just important.
The picture at the bottom was my favorite tent. The name says why. The stargazer. It was, to the best of my knowledge the first mostly mesh tent.
PS: Mike's roasting marshmallows.

[mokelumnekid]

I live in the Pacific Northwest and do camping/mountaineering in many parts of the world. I carry and use a tent, since I pretty much don't mind the weight and view basic shelter as a part of my responsibility in the back country (however there are few places in the Sierra- if pressed- where you couldn't walk out in a long day, or at least get to an elevation where one could build a fire or get help). Since I often visit the Sierra in late August, it seems like there is always a monsoon at some point that dumps significant rain. Plus it is nice to have some bug barrier, or a place to keep things out of the wind, when trying to sleep.

Sometimes we do an "under the stars" thing, but unless I sleep with my glasses on I don't see a lot of stars anyway.

[DoyleWDonehoo]

(This is sorta test if I can post a picture.) I have been rained, snowed, hailed, winded, and insected on, so I always carry a shelter. It used to be a Wonderlust shelter until it got too many holes to repair, so now I use a shelter my backpack-pard gave me (who has collected enough gear to open his own store). In both cases my shelter is only one pound, and my pack about 35 pounds including my chair. We used to use Moss tarp-wing, but I think he got tired of my snoring (I am sure he is imagining things) or something, so we have our own shelters each. I like having everything enclosed and bug proof (skeeters not the only things that like to visit). After bug season, if it is a warm moonless night at high altitude, and there is a nice granite parking lot nearby, it can be nice to sleep out. Ok, if this picture shows up, it is of my no impact off-trail camp from last weeks trip to the Granite Dome area outta Kennedy meadows. It was very hot and the skeeters got worse every day. The shelter came in very handy.

[Bill Markwood]

Doyle: I'm curious as to what type shelter you're using that only weighs 1lb. It sounds like that it would be a good choice for a solo trip or one with the boys when I'm not sharing a tent with my wife.

Thanks, Bill

[TehipiteTom]

Always carry, seldom use. I feel claustrophobic in a tent, and set it up only if rain is threatening.

[DoyleWDonehoo]

Doyle: I'm curious as to what type shelter you're using that only weighs 1lb.

Try here:
http://www.sixmoondesigns.com/shop/Shopexd.asp?id=36" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Mouse over the tent. 1 lb and 7.00 oz, actually. Slightly more with a Tyvek groundsheet. Still...

[AlmostThere]

You can also look at Zpacks Hexamid - even lighter than a pound, it's 8.2 ounces.

[quentinc]

Speaking of which, can anyone recommend a "real" tent, that weighs more than 1 pound but is still relatively light?

[AlmostThere]

If by "real" you mean freestanding and double wall, about the lightest you can get will be the Big Agnes Fly Creek. I believe it's around 2 lbs. But it won't be cheap.

Not than any of them are.

[adam]

Speaking of which, can anyone recommend a "real" tent, that weighs more than 1 pound but is still relatively light?

I've been happy with the North Face tadpole 23, which is not the lightest on the market, but isn't too heavy either, is fairly sturdy, freestanding, and, well, not exactly cheap, but not so expensive-- I think you can find it for ~$175 online. Definately not the best in any of those categories, but a pretty good compromise of all, in my opinion. It's not very big (I wouldn't get it if you're above average size), but I find that in cold weather that means it warms up fast (making lemonade out of lemons?), and in warm weather you can take off the fly and enjoy lots of mesh. It can also be set up as a floorless shelter (without having to buy a footprint) with just poles and fly. All that being said, I'm now thinking of buying a betamid to take advantage of the fact that I always carry trekking poles anyway, so why bother with a tent that requires it's own? Which reminds me-- are there any tent/shelters out there that use trekking poles for support but do NOT require a center pole?