[pct-l] Free standing tent

[Bob Bankhead]

Never underestimate the importance of a good night's sleep.

It is directly proportional to the length of your hike in both distance and time, and at some point, which is different for each person, will become a critical factor in whether or not you can or will stay on the trail. 

>From Mojave to Canada, and even in the Sierra, I never had a campsite where I could not adequately erect my non-free-standing Gatewood Cape or Lunar Solo. Where stakes wouldn't hold or even penetrate (slab granite at Guitar Lake), rocks did the job. Even there, by moving my site another three hundred yards or so, I could reach grassy areas where stakes (or a combination of stakes and rocks) could be used. If all else fails, cowboy camp it.

I will guarentee you that at places like Guitar Lake, even staked shelters in the grassy areas had rocks piled on top of the stakes. Sierra winds can get fierce and stay that way. Any unanchored shelter will , as mentioned in another reply, quickly achieve low earth orbit, taking your gear with it. At Guitar Lake, your unanchored shelter could easily summit Mt Whitney before you do.






----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bradley Issler 
  To: sswwooppee at gmail.com ; PCT-1 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 9:20 AM
  Subject: [pct-l] Free standing tent


  I agree with everyone else about free standing being a nice, but unnecessary
  feature.  I used the TT Rainbow for my 2200 miles of PCT and did not use the
  free standing feature but once or twice.

  And, if I may, I would like to recommend the Rainbow over the Moment.  For a
  few extra ounces you can have a palace instead of an apartment.  The Rainbow
  is sooooo roomie.  Again, there are two things I splurged on, as far as
  weight is concerned.  That is my Neo Air and my Tarprent.  I loved not
  having to worry about rain, mosquitoes and rodents getting in my shit either
  while I was sleeping or while I was hangin out at camp in the evening.  For
  me, and obviously this is personal preference, but it was worth the weight
  to sleep on a comfortable pad, in a fully enclosed shelter for 5.5 months
  that I was out.

  Jukebox.