Why do women prefer a tent?

[Tad Englund]

I have been reading a number of threads lately that somewhere in the thread the poster mentions that they bring a tent because their wife, GF, partner, other prefers or won’t go without a tent. This concept has been around for a long time.
I personally would rather sleep without a tent or tarp if I can and only use a tarp if conditions merit its use. I try and not camp by anyone else so privacy isn’t a real issue.
I need to understand this (am I missing something?)

[Nate Meinzer]

Bugs bugs bugs….

[Tad Englund]

A bug bivy solves that problem?

Bugs didn't seem to be an issue on the last thread- I think it is a bigger issue then that.

[Ali e]

Just my 2 cents which is all its worth. Lizzie prefers to cowboy camp and will take a tarp over a tent. When It gets buggy we move our site. Ali

[Jim MacDiarmid]

I don't think it's so much that 'women prefer a tent.' I bet it's more accurate to say that 'people who don't backpack much' prefer tents because camping=tents in most people's minds until they find BPL and are shown the light. It woudn't surprise me if most of the members of these forums started out tent camping and were semi-resistant to the idea of a tarp until the read up and saw the benefits.

[W I S N E R !]

Women?

Half the manly-men of this country won't step into the great outdoors unless they're in a locked down motorhome (complete with queen-sized bed, air conditioning, and of course, a generator + television).

Also throw in a good deal of weaponry and plenty of bright lights to fend off the dark.

[Jared Cook]

I'd been a tent camper for years and was only a tent camper for a little over a year when I picked up backpacking. I had slept in a bivy and a floorless tent a couple times in bootcamp years ago, but after I started reading on the lightweight gear I wanted to try a tarp and bivy combo for backpacking. I started out with the tent with Heather, and this year I moved her to my myog tarptent which I was sleeping in last year, by the end of the year I'll sew her a bivy and she'll more than likely be under a tarp with me. For me it was about breaking her into the idea slowly and still is. She would have told me no way in hell when we started dating years ago if the first backpacking trip was under a tarp. My goal is to slowly make her comfortable with less, and eventually we might be able to be side by side in bivies without the tarp on a nice stary night. I think it was mainly the openness and exposure that initially kept her back, and honestly it had me nervous the first time I was solo by myself sleeping under a more open shelter.

[cary bertoncini]

one night, arriving late at night and exhausted near the trailhead in King's Canyon, I threw down tarp, pad, and bag, climbed in and quickly fell asleep.

i was having a strange alien abduction/experimentation dream as i gradually woke up, the alien ear probe gradually resolving into a more waking state reality of something itchy in my ear. reaching to my ear, my hand was confronted with a large exoskeletonal creature completely filing the void where my ear canal should be. calmly, due entirely to my temporal proximity to near comatose sleep rather than a paricularly steely nervous system, i tapped the butt end of the ear borne stowaway – to may wakening surprise, the creature complied and crept out onto my cupped hand.

i tossed the trespasser to my right and prepared to return to my restful slumbering, then, slightly more alert and awake, i thought "wait a minute," grabbed my light and had to have a look at my intimate intruder. it was a big ass black beetle.

then i went back to sleep.

[Nick Gatel]

Tad,

I don't know that it is a fair statement that women prefer a tent. Especially if that person is fairly new to BPing.

Also, is seems that a majority of men on BPL prefer a tent too.

[Kathleen B]

I think James and Craig have got it. All during my growing up years, camping meant a tent. I've used a Contrail for several years, and this last weekend I tried my Gatewood that I've had a few months. I absolutely loved it! Not exactly a tarp, but I'm getting closer. Here's a picture of what I call the 2 grandmas.

[cary bertoncini]

i'm happy to pitch a tent for her …

[Rog Tallbloke]

Hey Kathleen, I use a Gatewood Cape too. What are you going to use for bugproofing?

[Kathleen B]

I won't be using my bug tent. I just sold it! My plan is to use the Gatewood in the winter, because it's floorless, and I can dig down a foot for insulation. Plus, with snow there's no bugs to deal with. I'll use my Contrail during snowless, bug season because it's already all-in-one protection and so easy to set up.

[Joe Clement]

My vote would be bugs. And I'm not fond of them myself.

[Lynn Tramper]

For me, it'a all about the bugs, possums, rats, weka, kea and other cheeky creatures.

[Roleigh Martin]

At the low end of tents, it's 1 pound (either Refuge-X or
"The One" or Tyvek Sublite (17 oz)). What's the big deal
discussing one's preference at this weight? Thare are
plenty of tarps whose weight approaches this amount.

I prefer a tent to keep not only bugs but marmots, squirrels, etc., away from my gear. I'm with Lynn on this issue.

[Dave T]

.

[Lynn Tramper]

Face it: Tents are fun. We start playing in them from a very young age, and the enjoyment of playing in a tent hasn't worn off for me. I like BIG tents when car-camping, and I would prefer BIG tents when backpacking if I didn't have to carry the weight. I think it is more evolved to seek good shelter than less eveolved. Finding the right balance is the most evloved of all ;)

[Ashley Brown]

Gee, this is an easy one.

My GF likes to stay clean, warm, dry, cosy and out of the wind. She doesn't want wet grass next to her sleeping bag, or wind coming in through the end of the tarp. It's very much a psychological thing. Yes, she could stay warm and dry under a tarp with a bivy but she *likes* having a larger refuge that is away from the wet and the wind and the bugs.

In short, a tent is much more like a warm cosy bedroom than a tarp is.

[Rog Tallbloke]

> I won't be using my bug tent. I just sold it!

I know. I just bought it! ;-)

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I have been a backpacker for years, I get in a lot of bag nights per year. I am no newbie or casual hiker.

And I have NO issue saying I prefer tents. I will sleep in tarp tents, but it HAS to be sealed.

I like having cozy snug walls to get inside. I like having a clean spot that is all mine at the end of the day.

I want a floor, a door that shuts and walls. I like being able to sleep away from bugs, I like room to move. I don't like bugs. I don't want to cuddle with chipmunks.

You all may like cowboy camping, but yeah, no thanks. You can have a dirt floor all you want. I'll suffer carrying the extra couple ounces of nylon that make the bottom of my tent :-P As a bonus I am not packing a dirty piece of old Tyvek with me……or a dirt encrusted sleeping bag. And I am not sleeping with a bug net wrapped around my head either.

[Rog Tallbloke]

> And I am not sleeping with a bug net wrapped around my head either.

Heh, neither will I be, I'm buying Kathleen's old one for my lady. :-)

[Ray Dunham]

It's a nesting thing / a home thing / and protection from bugs. She said she'll sleep outside, she'll sleep on the ground but it ain't walkin' her. :-)

[Kathleen B]

"I'm buying Kathleen's old one for my lady."

Hah! Roger – I had originally bought that bug net to go with the Gatewood and possibly even a "real" tarp down the road. But I realized when using the Gatewood this last weekend in the snow that I was pretty sure I didn't want that much openness when critters are in season, even with a bug net around me. I'm glad it's going to a good home.

So I guess it does come down to bugs. But man is that Gatewood great when I'm the only mobile carbon-based life form. As an aside, I also used my neoair and golite ultra quilt for the first time. All got a thumbs up.

[Jim Colten]

I'd say it is one of two factors (or both):

1. Not comfortable being a dirtbag.
2. Wanting the sense of enclosure and separation.

From my observation it isn't reliably a gender thing … but the distribution definitely leans towards the female half.

Me, just call me a slow moving dirtbag.

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