Why floorless tents are actually better for the fastidious

[Jennifer Mitol]

A very good friend of mine has the shangri la 2 with a perimeter net sewn in. It is a great shelter, and it convinced me that I really wanted a floorless shelter, maybe even go the tarp route.

But I digress.

Her husband is a rather grumpy guy, but hilarious. I'm not sure hiking is his thing, as he frequently offers to pay for pizza on the trail if someone can get it delivered to a nearby fire road.

We had camped in a lovely spot in Red River Gorge back in November…but there were a lot of us and many of us had a slight slope to our sites. Apparently at some point in the middle of the night this lovely gentleman actually rolled right out of the tent and partway down the hill….

Needless to say, they are now the proud owners of a Copper Spur.

[Steven Paris]

Jennifer,

I believe you, but I just can't believe it!

[BlackHatGuy]

"I'm not sure hiking is his thing, as he frequently offers to pay for pizza on the trail if someone can get it delivered to a nearby fire road. "

Okay, my turn. True story. I was on a short backpacking trip with 2 female friends. They were fairly slow hikers, so I'd hike ahead a couple of miles, then turn around and hike back to where they were, then turn around and hike back ahead, etc. (I once had the hiking nickname of Double Back).

We were hiking the Laurel Highlands Trail in PA, where you use wooden lean-tos (Adirondack-style shelters) to crash in for the night. I made a few jokes about having pizza delivered to our lean-to as we headed out for the day. Unbeknownst to my hiking companions, I had actually ordered a pizza the night before, put it in the fridge and then put the pizza in a couple of ziploc bags, and folded up the pizza box and put that in my pack. I had also put three organic dark beers in a cuben stuff sack with ice and put that in my pack.

I got to the shelter well before they did, took the pizza out of the ziplocs and put the slices back into the original box. I then opened the stuff sack with the beer, which still had ice in it (it had been a nice, cool day) and folded down the sides so that the beers were nestled into their cuben ice bucket.

When the women arrived I asked them if they had seen the delivery guy since he had just left. Their pshaw-ing and laughter turned to astonishment when they saw the pizza and beer! And boy was that beer good. Pizza was pretty darned good too after we warmed it over a fire.

Fun trip. And yes, I carried the empties out.

And no, this has nothing to do with floorless tents, sorry. But I do own two, and I like them, but only for winter.

[Gary Dunckel]

Yay, Doug…you're my hero! Take one for the team…

[Stephen M]

Doug,

You are some player mate :-)

[Christopher Chupka]

What's the skeeter plan with a floor less 8 bu 8 mod? I'm about to head into the Sawtooths for a week and really paranoid with the bugs. I don't know if I should try and get anOware pyramid or stick with my2 man 5 pound MSR Hubba 2 man tent.

[Jerry Adams]

My mid has a 2 inch gap around the perimeter.

I was camping for several days. Mosquitos bit me during the day walking around but didn't bother me in the tent. Some of them collected at the peak, flitting around, trying to get out. For some reason, I didn't need full enclosure.

Consider this an experiment, may or may not work. Maybe works under some conditions. Probably good to have a backup like some netting to put over you or something, DEET,…

Maybe your fully enclosed tent is better

[Raymond Estrella]

"cause you can bury number twos…"

Here is one of the more popular trails here in the Redwoods of Northern California.

This is always fun to try and find a place to setup a shelter and not get muddy.

[Stephen M]

My 3 double wall shelters can be pitched outer first so I have the best of both worlds. I something use the inner and sometime do not.

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