Gossamer Vs Tarptent (You Pick?)

Pedro might be right. I don't know of your backpacking experience, but what works for one person might not work for you. Until you are comfortable backpacking and know your backcountry preferences, it's all a gamble. I would recommend camping as often as possible with your girlfriend with the gear you currently have. Let the evolution/tweaking commence.

Edit–oddly enough, I carry far less when I backpack by myself than with my wife. She isn't as minimalist as I am, so together our base weights are about 9ish lbs, solo I'm around 6. It's very important to find out what you both like–I carry more to make her happy, and that makes a happier hike.

I would recommend camping as often as possible with your girlfriend with the gear you currently have.

I'd have to agree with this. As you've noticed Tim, there are a bunch of different opinions on what the best shelter is… because there isn't one!

Any of the shelters mentioned already, including the one you already own, would work fine for thru-hiking. Which one is best for you? Impossible to tell without trying them out for yourself.

My suggestion would be to pick one, and set it up. You'll be able to see whether you dislike it immediately and you can send it back if you want to. If it looks good, take it out on some trips. If you still like it, keep it. If something is bugging you, sell it and buy one of the alternatives which does not have the issue which you are now aware of.

Where to start? There are 2 person shelters in the lightweight category weighing anywhere from around a pound up to 4 pounds or so. I'd say start somewhere in the middle, with a popular tent which will be easy to resell if you don't like it (popular tents are also usually popular for a reason).

With this in mind, I'd suggest you try the double rainbow from tarptent. It's about 40 ounces, has double doors, and you can add wind support with extra guylines and trekking poles to make it more stable than many other tarptents. It also can be bought seam-sealed. Then try it out on some trips with your partner. If you don't like it you'll at least have a much better idea of what is important to you in a shelter and what is not. Plus it should resell easily on this website because it's a very popular tent. If you do like it… problem solved.

Zack the plan is to do either the AT first or the PC first and the other second followed lastly with the CD.

Pedro, you are correct about my personality. This backpacking business seems like a computer business; things get lighter and better as each day goes buy or I learn about some other item thats been around for a while and question if whether its better than my original choice. I just want to be at peace with something. What I really should be doing is reading and learning abut as many tents as possible, but low and behold I get offered a MSR Carbon Reflex 2 for $300 when it retails for $500 and its so hard for me to pass it up. Luckily I have a month or two to sit on my purchase and dwell over whether or not I like it enough to keep it. That is where I am at right now with my Carbon Reflex 2.

Ashley you make a good point, I should try out as many tents as possible and if I cant return them, just sell them on here at discounted prices. Although, I could go poor doing this if I end up going through to many tents. Therefore, I need to read up more on my stuff and ask as many questions as possible. I sure hope there arent anymore great deals that that look me in the eye like the Carbon Reflex 2 one other wise Ill shot myself.

Tim:
Hey! I have to jump in here… I'm a newbie at this lightweight business – just went on one of the BPL lightweight wilderness training courses. I started thinking about tents as the best choice, but I've become a tarp convert… you really should take the option of getting a lightweight tarp very seriously. Gossamer gear's SpinnTwinn or MLD's Grace Duo are HUGE tarps with tons of room for two. Find a lightweight double bivy & double quilt for your partner and yourself, couple of neoairs or simple foam pads – you'll be toasty, comfy and dry. And all for about 7-8oz (tarp), 12-14oz (bivy), 14-16oz (quilt), 10oz each (pads/neos).

Even better, on a nice night, you can cowboy camp (put up your tarp shelter and sleep next to it – then if it starts to rain, move under the tarp). There's nothing like sleeping under the stars under the big sky! Just my 2cs. Good luck!

Cheers, James.

I did the PCT last year, am considering AT or CDT next year (?). I used a tarptent.com Contrail for almost 2000 miles of the PCT; no tent at all for the first 700 miles, just a very light bivy and poncho/tarp, both of which I hardly used.

If I do another long trail I'll use the same Contrail — it's held up fine for over 2000 miles of backpacking and for a one-person shelter it's very roomy. Very infrequently that's a downside as it takes a bigger space to setup than some smaller shelters but you can't optimize everything (!).

I suggest that you don't worry quite so much about high winds and severe conditions. In the Sierras in June last year the tendancy (not just for me but in general for thru-hikers) was to "walk high but camp low", i.e., you go over a lot of high passes, but most people, most of the time, camp at lower elevations. I had no problems (YMMV of course).

The CDT might offer a bit more challenging conditions but by the time you might start that you'll have a lot more experience on which to make a tent decision.

Unlike some suggestions I think I read here (?), I don't see getting a 2-person tent for one person — again, if you want a fairly roomy solo tent and are happy with a single-wall tent, go for a Contrail.
The only things I like better about the (solo) Rainbow design over the Contrail is that with the Contrail you have to sort of scoot your butt backwards if you want to sit up, and the Rainbow can be made freestanding. I'm still happy with the Contrail. I've not seen any of the newer models.

Another option you could consider if you want to really keep weight down (and you're not really tall) is the Six Moon Designs Gatewood Cape plus the associated bug shelter. 18 oz for the combo, and it's also your raingear. If I were starting over I'd seriously consider that instead. Less roomy, but a lighter overall combination.

I was reading up on Henry's tarptents and he stated the following or something to the extend of on most of his tents:

"Abundant netting for views, airflow, and insect
resistance; bug proof when zipped up."

I dont get it, are the tents bug proof or not? Is he talking about when the tent doors are zipped up, I really would doubt it, because would that fact be obvious? So my question is are the holes of the screening wide or something, to the point where bugs could squirm their way through them? Just curious. Thanks!

lol. He means you need to zip the doors up. The mesh is noseeum and no bugs will get through it.

I really was worried there for a sec =)

Can anyone vouch on the fact that the Double Rainbow is 50 inches in width from front to back. Therefore, provided that were arent being feed false information from this place that is selling 25inch pads, do you think that two would fit in the DR. I know this might be pushing it, but would I be going over the edge if I were to try this out?

I believe the double rainbow is actually 48 inches wide when the bathtub walls are up, and 52 inches wide when the floor is laid flat.

I have a Double Rainbow which I purchased for hikes with my wife. It replaced our original Tarptent Rainshadow, which we used when our daughter came along. (She's in college now, and when she comes on a hike, she steals, er, borrows, my hammock.)

The D.R. is my third tarptent, and it's a good one. Very well constructed, and quite wind resistant especially if you use the optional hiking pole supports down the middle of the two doors. I've had it in 30-40 knot winds and it held up just fine. I particularly like have two doors on the long side walls, much better than the tunnel entrance of the Squall and the Rainshadow, in my opinion. Better ventilation and much easier access.

However, in the D.R. design, the long side walls angle in toward the top, greatly reducing interior room. We kept bumping into each other. After a year of trying to make the D.R. work, we purchased a Six Moons Designs Lunar Duo. (My sincere apologies to Mr. Shires.) That tent has significantly more interior room, at the probable cost of some wind stability. We haven't had it out in the wild yet, but we're looking forward to it. Like the D.R., the Lunar Duo has two doors, two large vestibules, a "bathtub" floor, etc.

As for the Double Rainbow, I had it on an eight day solo hike in March, and loved it as a solo tent. Having both doors wide open gives incredible views and ventilation, and it's easy and quick to set up and take down. So I'm keeping it for solo hikes when I want to take a 3+ season tent.

Finally, I just wanted to say something about durability and storms and all that: the above responses are right. Unlike in mountaineering, on a thru-hike one rarely needs to worry about camping in an exposed area. None of these very light tarp-tent designs will handle serious exposed mountain weather without help, but that's not their intent.

If you like the Tarptent shelters, but you are still concerned about stability, take a look at the Scarp 2. You might like it.

http://www.tarptent.com/scarp2.html