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Shelters "And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre, and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;" Gen 18:1 There are three major types of shelters. Tents, tarps and bivies. I have now experience with bivies as I can't afford one. LOL! I have used a great many types of tents and two different types of tarps. My preference is the tarp but when it gets buggy I do use a lightweight solo tent. Tents I have owned a few tents over the years but now have just three. Each one has a specific use and I am very happy with them all. My favorite tent is my:
I found this tent in the dividend catalog that REI sends out to it's members. It was only offered the one time and has no name. I call it the Helix? because it is the same design as the moss Helix only a bit heavier. It weighs 4 lb. even and has a lot of head room in it. I called REI a few years later to find out what the name was and if they were ever going to offer it again and they had no idea what the heck I was talking about. It's a 1 1/2 man tent but it would never fit two people in it. I think I paid about $87 for the tent which is great compared to the $230 for the Moss version. The only downfall this tent has is when it rains and you open the door it rains straight down into the door of the tent. It has great protection which means that it gets a bit steamy in wet, warm weather. I also have a:
I've had this tent for years now. It's been a good tent but there are a lot better three man tents out there that are a lot lighter. This tent weighs about 6 lb. which is heavy but split between two people it's not bad. I would only use this tent if I was hiking with my wife or someone else. I used to carry this tent when I started backpacking by myself. Unbelievable now. It is nice and roomy and has the best ventilation of any tent I've used. The walls cut into the headroom a bit but with this much room it doesn't matter. Except in Darrel's case. There isn't a tent big enough for his big old head! Ha! Other than the weight and the headroom this tent can't be beat. Then there is my wife's car camping tent:
No it's not a backpacking tent but if I was group hiking with the whole family and the tent was split up between three or four people it would break down to about three or four pounds a piece which is still acceptable. It is a whopping 12 lb. tent but is 9' X 9' and 6' tall. My wife and I use this one when we go car camping at the races or on vacation. It is a great tent and is surprisingly weather proof. It has great ventilation and great big mesh windows. It's big. It's heavy but God is it great to get dressed standing up! I have also owned a:
This was my first and only foray into the world of bivie tents. It weighed 3 lb. (1/2 a pound more than advertised) and was very small. The one time I used it I found that it did have enough room for me and my gear but it was just too darn small. It seamed that I couldn't get it taunt enough for my liking and that was before it rained and the fly really began sagging. It took a total of 10 stakes to stake this thing out. I did get a good deal on it at $100 but if something doesn't work for me it's no deal. I figured for a single extra pound I'd keep carrying my beloved REI Helix? and be able to sit up in it.
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