[pct-l] Shelter Question

[Hiker97 at aol.com (Hiker97@aol.com)]

I know you people are REALLY going to be mad at me for posting another item  
so soon.  But I have been sitting here in my easy chair thinking for an  hour 
about this and cannot come up with an answer.
 
As you know I am getting the Gossamer Gear SpinnTwin tarp at 9  ounces.  See 
_gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/Spinn-Twinn.html?_ 
(http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/Spinn-Twinn.html?)   But  here is the shocker.  
I do not plan on using it.  I plan on just using  it as an another layer of 
ground cloth.  I will have a ground cloth and  then the tarp folded over so now 
I have 3 layers under me and then my foam  pad.  The ground is the big robber 
of warm, so this gives me some good  protection.
 
The only time I would put up the tarp is for rain or protection from the  
sun.  May be you would want it up for privacy in certain situations.   That is 
about it.  Really hardly ever needed.  I figure if I need a  shelter for only 
backup, it is going to be super super super light to carry  every mile down the 
trail.  I have the Gossamer Gear Bug Canopy that I will  modify into a bug 
tent for 97% of my camping and 360 views/star gazing.   Even mountainmen of old 
hated bugs.
 
The discussion on this list about different types of tents got me thinking  
of why do we need any shelter in the first place.  Back in the old days  John 
Muir, Norman Clyde, Henry Thoreau, King, Coby, Thompson, Carson, etc.,  etc., 
did not normally use tents.  If they set up a shelter system,  they used 
canvas/oil lean-to open shelters with a roaring fire on the  open side if it was 
cold. That was about it.  If they came back today  and saw the big deal and all 
the discussions about tents and tarps they  would laugh. I can just imagine 
what they would call us big bad backpackers in  the modern age - may be not to 
our face, but certainly behind our backs.   It would not be nice or a 
complement.  We would be highly  embarrassed.
 
It is the same with my previous discussions on getting the Nunatak sleeping  
bag and down sweater.  I could not look the mountainmen of old in the face  
and explain what it was all about.  I would be too ashamed.  Too  embarrassed.  
What a joke.  I must be out in left field on this  one.  Everyone is so 
wrapped up in modern gear, including me, that it is a  little ridiculous.
 
I will shut up now.  Thank you for your attention.
 
Your hiking buddy, Switchback
Gear Hacker & Mountainman Want-A-Be