Tents and Tarps

First off I have no major preferences for tents or tarps.

Now that being said anything you bought at Canadian tire

or Wal-mart is not good for hiking, camping yes, hiking no.

The main reason for that is the fact these types of tents

are made of heavy fabrics, are very solid built and therefore

very heavy.  For hiking the lighter the better, though I like

to have mosquito netting and a bath tub floor.  Tarps are the

lightest and probably the easiest to setup, there are a few

places to get them, and Ray Jardine actually tells you how

to make one that is really very good.  Doing the Appalachian trail

in 2005, I used a Hennessy Hammock, hope I spelled that

right.  Now truth be told I only used the hammock 1/3 of

the time, most of the time on the Appalachian Trail I used a

shelter which were spaced about every 8 to 10 miles apart

and fit about ten people inside.  The Hammock with extras

I added totally just over one and a half pounds, most tarps

are a pound or less.  Big Agnes makes a series of tents called

Seedhouse superlight and come in one, two, and three

person sizes.  The two man Seedhouse superlight is just over

3 pounds and is a free standing tent with a nice vestibule

for your packs.  Now for Henry Shires and Tarptents.com , most

of these are tents are single walled and not freestanding and

are less than 2 pounds, come with mosquito netting and

bathtub floors.  Now the tent I purchased from Henry Shires

is the Double Rainbow , is a two person tent and is suppose to be

able to be freestanding.    I purchased the Double Rainbow for

three reasons first is its a lightweight 2 person tent

(just over two and a half pounds), second its has two entrances

and vestibules and the third reason is its suppose to be free

standing.  Now the reason I keep saying suppose to be is that

I have tried to do the free standing part with my trekking poles

and its dam hard to do and worst if the winds up and even Henry

says its more stable staked down.  If you want a really good free

standing tent buy the Big Agnes Seedhouse 2 person superlite

and trust me you will not be disappointed.  The Hennessy

hammock was okay but the reason I am not going to use it is the

simple fact I am a person who sleeps on his stomach not on my

back, when I am really tired I can sleep on my back otherwise no.

Thats it for tents, the only other thing I would suggest is watch

were you pitch the tent.  Just before I did my 2005 hike

someone was killed by a tree falling on their tent.  I, myself

had a tree fall between my hammock and Brother buzz’s tent

which were only 5 feet apart.  Now Hora pitched his tent a

few times in very nice spots up until it rained and the spot

became a lake with his tent in the middle, pitch on a bit of a

slope to avoid this.