Bivy configuration for PCT

I’ve gone back and forth so many times over the years with the whole bivy thing.  I really want them to work but in reality, condensation is always an issue.  Now I’m talking about solid top bivies, mesh hood, half moon, etc, I’ve tried them all.  I believe weather protection should be the job of your tarp, not bivy, so I would go with the larger size tarp.  A bivy should not be relied upon for warmth, bring adequate sleep insulation, which it sounds like you are already planning on.  If you need bug protection, the S2S net will probably pitch kind of sloppy under something like a grace duo, but it’ll get the job done.  The MLD bug bivy is nice, that’s what I’ve been using for a while now during the warmer months.  Sometimes I sleep on top of it, just using it as a ground sheet and other times I sleep inside it.  I bet there will be a lot of nights you don’t even bother pitching your tarp, so maybe the bug bivy would be more ideal than the S2S.

Yeah you’re right, scratch option C, the bug bivy is almost as light as the S2S + polycro and just more practical all round…

Leads to a different question; Do I *need* the duo tarp to get enough coverage or is the solo enough for one if pitched low? I’ll also be bringing a rain skirt than can serve as a back door… but then I’m 6’3″ so maybe I can’t go as low as others :)

I hiked the PCT in 2009 with a CF Grace Solo (smaller than the current size) and the Superlight with halfmoon and silnylon floor.  However, most of the time, I still carry a polycro ground sheet (less than 2 oz) due to pine sap.  I prefer camping under trees due to warmth, less issues with dew, and a thick canopy can give you extra time to decide if you need to set the tarp up when cowboy camping if it starts raining.  In fact, has allowed me to ignore setting the tarp up in light rain.  And the duff tends to be thicker and thus softer for my foam torso pad.

Full head vs half moon.  I now own a second bivy with a CF floor and a full head net.  I tend to take it over the other one due to being lighter (more than makes up for the polycro groundsheet), and more breathable.  I only take the halfmoon net bivy for cold weather.  You have to decide what temperatures you will more likely be hiking in.  Not just for the PCT, but afterwards.  I found that putting my rain jacket over the top of the net will give more than enough splash protection, if needed and just stuffed at the end will cut any wind from that direction.  Though the mesh will cut a surprising amount of the wind.  The full head net does offer better breathability and is cooler in warm weather.  If the bugs aren’t a problem, or after dark when they have left (which they often do on the PCT), I often have the bivy unzipped and folded open in warmer weather.  And yes, you can just sleep on top of it if you don’t need bug protection and don’t have a ground cloth.

My CF Grace Solo Tarp is from 2008 using an older version of CF and I still use it.  It did finally develop a hole this past summer, but some CF tape from Zpacks took care of it.  I likely will replace it when it’s time to hike the CDT, hopefully next year.

I own the MLD Bug bivy.  But found I rarely carry it.  Normally just go with the normal bivy.  Only place I’d really prefer it would be the mid-atlantic states on the AT or other hiking back east where the summer temperatures never cool off at night.  It would work fine for NCal, but it wouldn’t be as good of a match for the Pacific NW then the superbivy.

I think bivies make sense if you like to do a lot of cowboy camping without setting up a tent/tarp, but at the very least a small tarp should be brought as backup as well.  Also for places that aren’t very tarp/tent or hammock friendly.

What’s interesting to me are the number of reports of all eVent bivies actually having less issues with condensation against or in the quilt/bag then much more air and vapor permeable single layer fabrics.

I’ve very interested in trying to replicate this with much less expensive materials.(…self edited, too thread derailing probably)  .

My solution to the problem was a long/wide sized Borah Gear bug bivy at 6.5 oz and one of their 5.5 x 9 tarps at 7.5 oz…
I may go to a larger Cuben tarp in the end ,but the bug bivy seems like a keeper.

BTW, Borah’s materials and craftsmanship are top notch:)

Another interesting option with the Borah bug bivy is to get M50 custom panels at both ends to protect the foot and head boxes from splash back around the edges of a tarp. The following thread has a video (see the last post) showing such a bivi under an MLD Trailstar. The last I checked it was only $10 to add this option and it weighs slightly less than the standard bug bivi due to using less netting.

http://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/89038/

I actually already own a borah gear bug bivy bought a couple of years ago – I kind of like the look of the MLD design better and will happily spend the money for a new one. I could get some water resistant strips added but then am I not still trying to solve a problem that would be better solved with a larger tarp?

Are you set on a cat cut tarp or have you considered a flat tarp?  MLD has the Super Tarp and you could ask about custom sizes.  Then you could get something in between a solo and duo size.  Considering how tall you are, maybe something like a 7×10.  I’ve found a 7×9 tarp to be more than sufficient coverage for me at 5’8″.

A different perspective: I would get a large-enough CF tarp, skip the bivy altogether, have some plan for bugs for the few weeks they may be a problem, and sleep under the stars most nights on some polycro or Tyvek. There is altogether too much panic about under-tarp splash-back; even then, so what if for a *few* nights the end of your bag *might* get a little wet, although you probably do own a rain jacket that can be placed over the end of your bag. And you might want to consider a shaped tarp like the Six Moons CF Deschutes- easy and fast to put up, better in wind/high altitudes, much less chance of splash, weighing in at 7 oz.

A good perspective Cameron. Before investing in a bivi, there’s something to be said for testing out whether a well-sized tarp (or a shaped tarp), some polycro and the S2S nano mosquito net works for you or not. If it works for you, then you save some weight and money by not getting a bivi.

You probably will have little in the way of prolonged moisture on the PCT anyway until you hit WA state in the Fall, which can get quite wet depending on the year. A little extra in the way of moisture protection may be most useful in WA, especially if you are running into October.

The main reason I use my bivy, isn’t because I am afraid of splash or spray, though I’ve experienced both.  I use it because I cowboy camp except when it’s raining, so it’s my primary shelter.  Keeps drafts out of my quilt, blocks wind  (I especially remember the 30-50mph winds in SoCal on the PCT), bug protection when needed.  Can be left unzipped and open at night if it isn’t cold or buggy.  And because I really hate setting a shelter up, I often push my luck with the weather.  And while I have gotten away with it most of the time, it has kept my stuff dry when I was caught by the weather and gave me the time I needed to set up the tarp.  There have been some nights where just the bivy and being under a tree with good coverage was enough to keep my down quilt mostly dry as I slept through some light rain that passed through the night.

I don’t use a bivy because I use a tarp.  I’m a tarp user because it goes with the bivy nicely with the least weight penalty.  I tried a Zpacks hexamid tarp (no netting) back in 2012.  I sold it off after that summer because I didn’t think its dimensions went well with the bivy since the bivy barely fit inside.  I was always paranoid that during the night, I might kick the edge of the bivy outside in the rain giving water access inside.  As I wasn’t going to give the bivy up, the hexamid had to go and I went back to my trusty Grace Solo Tarp.

I do most of my backpacking in the mountains out west in the summer.  Condensation with the momentum fabric that most lightweight bivies used, has not been an issue for me.  On the PCT in Washington, my down quilt actually stayed drier then the other hikers I was with did with their Tarptents.  I had better ventalation and less overall condensation.  Which was a particular issue the last few nights we hiked in off and on snow at the Canadian border when we finished on Oct.2.  Many of the others were having trouble staying warm due to damp bags that got damper each day.

@cenazwalker I read a bit on this as I like the versatility of a flat tarp, but there seemed to be a pretty good consensus that flat works well in sil because it has some stretch, but cuben is really better in a cat… definitely it will be less fiddle, which I think I’ll appreciate when I’m setting it up.

@cameronm That’s kind of what my my option C above was… part of my logic with the sil floor on the bivy is that I totally hate polycro and the way stuff sticks to it… but I have a piece lying around – guess I can start in Campo with that and a headnet and see how I go… I’m Australian and I think my bug tolerance is greater than most…