Best shelter for summer Sierra?

Hey Bob. Although I’ve been transitioning away from hammocks I’ve often thought to myself “a hammock would work here” or even “a hammock would be easier here” many times in the Sierra. I’ve pondered using a very short UQ with a XLite shorty pad under my legs. Then, above treeline you’d sleep on the pad with the UQ on top of your pack under your legs.

For option 3 are we talking about two people? If so, the Duomid XL inner is really just a couple ounces more than two Borah Bivies and you get more room inside. Still, it’s ~40 ounces for the whole rig so not the lightest option out there but pretty reasonable at 20 ounces each for the amount of space you get.

Not a direct answer, but a comment related to point #4.

With my wife I’ve used a hubba hubba or copper spur in the past in the sierras.  I’ve never considered condensation as a reason to pitch a tent on granite slabs, but I routinely did try to pitch in the middle of granite slabs to minimize the mosquitoes (it works to a degree).  For that the double wall/freestanding design has an obvious benefit at a significant price in weight.  To be clear, there are always rocks with which you could pitch any shelter, but a freestanding tent is a billion times easier/quicker.  Having said that, I’m not necessarily advocating freestanding tents for solo travelers in the Sierras — choice of shelter is a highly personal convolution of many things as you point out.

@ Bob

I agree with Matthew above for summer in the sierras a duomid is probably too much weight for solo use given usual weather conditions. I do use my duomid for shoulder season and winter camping below tree level.  There was one time though above Clark Fork on the Pacific Crest where the winds were too high for my tarp pitch where I wish I had brought my mid.

Another parameter is the length of the trip. For short one or two or three night trips I can trust the weather forecast (and my eyes). I often carry my tarp just sleep in my bivy sack in a place where I know I can pitch my tarp quickly if it starts raining.

Condensation is a nuisance but IMO it is manageable. When going solo, I do not really want the extra weight of a dual walled tent and as a long time tarp camper, I now prefer seeing my surroundings and do not like the enclosed space of a tent. Of course when snow camping if a snow fall is forecast, I will sometimes take my 4 season tent instead of my duomid tarp,

If it makes you feel better, I’ve used double-walled tents on several (past) Sierra trips, and even when I did everything right (camped well above the lake, under some trees, not on grass, doors partly open when possible) I often got wicked condensation.

I think we were lucky, or the experienced scouters were good at picking campsites because the bugs weren’t too bad, but then I was in my enclosed Solplex or hiking during most of the afternoon rains.  I’ve heard stories of much worse, with crews retreating early into their shelters.  I definitely worry  more about bugs than condensation or good stake holds.  I guess my priorities would be bug protection, then weight, comfort, with the condensation and need for strong stake holds last.

I think my netted hammock would do OK as a makeshift bug bivy if trees were not available, but then if above treeline the bugs probably aren’t as bad.  The trick as Matthew mentioned with planning to hammock and finding no suitable trees, is the pad.  I used my xlite in the hammock on Catalina and it’s a huge compromise in comfort.  Conversely, a thinlite pad, even the 1/4 inch does not sound fun on the ground.

I guess if it’s my son and I we can be committed to finding trees or sheltering on the ground only temporarily out of necessity.

If going with the scouts we’re more likely to end up at flat open campsites where the bivy and pad might make more sense.  Even so, every campsite we picked on this trip had trees around the edge.  Like Matthew said, I wished I had the hammock.

Sierra in the summer for me is mostly about protection from mosquitoes. At the end of the day I want a bug free space where I can feel a breeze and move. If I was spending money these days, I would pick up an 1-2lb free standing double walled tent. It would typically be pitch as a bug shelter, throwing on the fly only if rain/hail  was going to coming down.  Freestanding because while the rocks on top of stakes works, free standing is a lot less hassle at the end of a long day. I am often in locations where there isn’t much soil for stakes.

Condensation is sort of a fact of life anything the temp drops below dew point.  No ventilation makes it worse. It used to bother me, but eventually I realized it never impacted my trips except on longer winter trips where the condensation happened inside the insulation of my bag… that’s not a big problem in the sierras during the summer. The only time condensation has been a problem for me is when I used asingle wall shelter that had basically no ventilation. Side note: I found cuben is less prone to condensation, but it gets condensation with a big enough temp drop.

My system for the last 8 years has been a MLD superlite bivy + quilt + original hexamid tarp with integrated bug netting on sides and floor (weird, but it works). No bug pressure / no rain I cowboy camp in the bivy and feel completely connected to my environment and don’t need to worry about my quilt ending up in the dirt. Bugs or rain, the hexamid goes up.  Hammocks aren’t for me… I don’t sleep well in them, plus I am often near, and sometimes above tree line so there is no place to hang,

–Mark

Thanks all for the feedback, it helps immensely as I imagine my next trip to the mountains – now if I only had such an opportunity planned.  To summarize my tradeoffs:

1. Hammock + tarp – medium weight with lots of comfort.  Good protection against bugs and not much condensation issues.  Location is key – we need trees, and probably longer huggers than I normally carry.  Hammock would be my choice if it was my son and I, or with a group/itinerary that would give us a confidence we would find a suitable site.

2. Bivy + tarp – lightest, but less comfortable than a hammock.  Bugs would be challenging.  Condensation is a question mark to me, although I just reread:  https://40yearsofwalking.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/the-bivy-condensation-conundrum/.  This might be my choice if we were planning more above tree-line with a decent weather forecast and wanted to go as light as possible.

3. Bivy + DuoMid – definitely a 2 person setup.  We might use the inner and/or bug bivy’s in this case.  The idea would still be to bivy outside, but the DuoMid would provide a better shelter.  Anyone try the bug bivys outside?  My son was chilled when he tried this in relatively warm, but breezy conditions and his costco throw, but if he had his 30F sleeping bag (or my 30F EE quilt), I would think it would be warm enough.  At the lakes we camped at, there was not much wind after the storms passed.  Sounds like many can’t justify the extra weight of the DuoMid over a tarp except when harsher weather is expected.

4. Double wall tent – I think I would stick with the Solplex unless I could find one near 1 lb tent.  Definitely makes sense for scouts who are encouraged to buddy up for multiple reasons, but this would be a step or two backwards for me..