Hiking saunas

On short trips (10 km hike in), I've done both hot tubs and saunas. Saunas are easier and lighter. We had the advantage of camping on an ocean beach, so we made a loose log cabin with large drift wood and covered it with a tarp, weighted down with sand around the perimeter.

I worry about CO emissions, and to do it now, would accept the weight of a catalytic heater. People always say, "carry in hot rocks / water" without having tried it or calculating the large mass needed.

Some of these UL wood-burning, tent-heating stoves plus a pot of water offer a lot of potential at a lower weight and multi-purpose as warm dry place on a cold trip.

Found instruction from a blog. Lots of different ways– apparently 34 feet of insulation shrink is enough for 4 to 6 people and weigh only 2 lbs:

Hiking Sauna – Drive2.ru in Russian.

There are loads of different techniques on there from using soldered frames to build a rock furnace, to using floorless dome tents to just old fashioned bushcraft with canvas and branches.

Potential inspiration for the cottage industry here– to copy this:

Folding titanium version of this would be awesome. 6″ by 12″ for building a furnace out of stones. But it seems like one can do the same thing with tent stakes.

This one I like since it seems to mirror the documentaries more closely:

Sauna on a hike in Russian.

It advocates for even less film of about 20 feet by 20 feet. Said polyethylene will last longer, but polycryo retains more heat. Aluminum tent poles are easiest for erecting a frame, but not necessary. Most of the page is about the steam sauna, but instruction for a smoke sauna at the end, but the author warns only experienced woodsmen should attempt it.

There is another one in English, but not very detailed nor does it have photos:

How to build a backcountry sauna while camping in English.

I don’t really like the idea of carrying a bucket. But again, the author did say he/she learned of it while river-rafting.

Like you said, David Thomas, it wouldn’t be too hard to use a two-person tipi from Seek Outside or Titanium Goat for a one- or two-person sauna.

But I understand now why my girlfriend said before electric furnaces were invented, they went in the sauna once a week. 3 hours to heat the rocks enough for steam? That’s dedicated.

Couldn't you just wear rain gear and hike uphill???

The River Crow of Montana use a sweat lodge in their practice of the Sun Dance religion. I've enjoyed two sweats with Larson Medicine Horse and his family. I will definitely not recommend their method as lightweight or LNT. It takes a lot of rocks, and a lot of good firewood to heat them. And tobacco and sage. And twenty naked dudes crowded into a tiny dome-shaped hut made of willow branches and old blankets and carpet. It helps to know a few Crow phrases, and have a sense of humor.

So again, NOT recommended for hiking. But if you're ever invited to one, you MUST go. Bring firewood.

Having many years of experience with "traditional" sweat lodge ceremonies, I will offer that the use of plastics to contain the heat & moisture is not generally recommended under any circumstance, except as a way to keep rain from saturating the structure when not in use. Blankets & canvas are typically used, at least in my experience.

Now having said that, an uncle of mine shared once that he occasionally used his GI issued poncho to do ceremony throughout his couple tours in Vietnam.

So with rules, come exceptions to rules, and the rules which govern the exceptions.

Please be safe, friends. People have died under "plastic" lodges:
http://archive.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20131008arizona-sweat-lodge-deaths-flashback-prog.html

Sent that article about the sweat lodge deaths to my girlfriend from Finland for an explanation how those people died. She's not surprised they died. That happens sometimes in her country when people try to fast, don't drink enough water or have enough electrolytes. That's why drinking beer in the sauna is so common.

Even the Sami shamans or Nordic neopagans don't do something risky like trying to induce a hallucination for a vision quest.

Of course, the opposite also does happen: falling asleep, too much alcohol et cetera.

Just try sitting in a tent in the Iowa summers.

Anyway, I asked if anyone has done it in a tent or tarp here in North America because it’s regularly done in done with tents, yurt-like structures and tarps on the other side of the pond.

In fact, one can buy commercialized version of these:

Kaira
Mobiba
ModulTech
Pieni
Sovatta
Supersauna

And one can find videos of these products as well:

Sauna @ Mont Blanc

And yes, I am aware of the limitations of using polyester. Lots of people complain they are very clammy-feeling compare to a permanent wooden sauna. Cotton or canvas probably would be more pleasurable, but for some reason they don’t sell tents with canvas even though they have military grunts to tolerate the weights of cotton.

Nordics and Slavs still use tent sauna (telttasauna, bastutältet) because they are the best way to accommodate people outside on Midsummer (St. John’s Day), military groups, or after a successful hunt with the local club. But like I said, I only had experience with the tent sauna with portable stoves.

And indeed, one doesn’t even need to buy commercial tent saunas to set one up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=29&v=cM5kr3Xmfso

The existence of these made more curious about the techniques used in the Altai and other places in Europe and Asia since I have seen ones done with a tarp. Using Google Translate is rough at best.

Hence why I asked if anyone has done it with their tent or tarp, so I can get a better explanation of how it is done in English rather than relying on poorly translated Estonian, Swedish or Russian.

The last time I checked, this is BackpackingLight, not BackpackingComfort. Doing that means attempting certain limitations. To that extent, that means accepting where and when the application are most practical (eg. along mountain streams or lakes in the boreal where human activity is low); accepting the limitation of the material (eg. knowing that plastic leads to clamminess); or acknowledging they will never be used on a daily grind such as a thru-hike of any sort.

I am sure hikers on the other side of the pond would use canvas or wool if they were light enough or cheap enough, but the only synthetic I can think of which would allow for that experience is eVent and only a few select manufacturers are using it as tent or tarp materials.

I didn't get whether you speak Russian, but here's a decent video

https://youtu.be/IDYJrNkwq_M

In that link where people died it didn't say why…

BTW, drinking beer in sauna or during sauna session is a bad idea, it's OK after.

It's possible to make canvas tent or buy canvas tent if you have issues with synthetics.
Large piece of canvas draped on pole supports, tipi style, would be easy.