How do you cowboy camp?

[S Long]

I find I usually prefer to cowboy camp if at all possible. The lazy side of me enjoys not setting up a shelter, and where/when I backpack, precipitation is usually minimal. My usual method is to spread out my polycryo ground sheet, put my sleeping pad on top of that, and spread out my quilt on the sleeping pad (supplement with bug headnet if mosquitoes are out). Having pushed the limits of my 20 degree quilt a few times this past year I decided to add a bivy. I figured the bivy would block drafts, do away with the need for the polycryo, and hold in a bit of warmth. I ordered a Borah bivy with Argon 67 top since it was the most breathable option. Having read the recent thread on the efficacy of bivies I am starting to second guess myself, so I wanted some feedback from the community. If you frequently cowboy camp, what gear do you use and what is the reasoning behind your choices? Has it worked out well for you? Would you change anything? I am beginning to think the 6-7 ounces that a bivy weighs might have been better spent on more insulation to combat chilly nights. A bug headnet isn’t an ideal solution for dealing with bugs, though. I thought the bivy might be nice for that, but I am second guessing everything. So tell me what you use. Bivy or no? Quilt or sleeping bag? How do you deal with bugs? I look forward to hearing from all you cowboy campers out there!

[bradmacmt]

I usually hobble my horse, take off my boots, spurs, and six shooter, make a fire, cook bacon and beans, roll out my bedroll and wait for the dark spell to pass.

 

:)

[Matthew / BPL]

That sounds quite pleasant.

[Doug Coe]

I’ve never used a bivy—hear you often get condensation inside the top. I just do it the way you’ve been doing it. And generally avoid backpacking during mosquito season in the Sierra (which, admittedly, limits my outings!).

[Michael Sirofchuck]

I cowboy camp when I’m backpacking in Arizona, Nov – March.  I use either a CF or silnylon groundsheet and an Xtherm pad. I sometimes put a polycro sheet down below my groundsheet, but that’s probably not necessary.  My sleeping bag is a Zpacks rated to twenty degrees and I use a Borah Cuben bivy and a Klymit Pillow X Ultralight with my Buff over it for a pillow case.  I suspend the top of the face mesh with a line strung between my two trekking poles if there are bugs.  There usually aren’t so I fold the mesh inside the top fabric and leave it folded open.  I only have condensation issues when I camp in low areas with water.  I prefer to fill up at water sources and carry my water up to a high, dry camp, usually a saddle.  When I camp high, I am literally high and dry. If there was any condensation, my bag dries out while I’m brewing coffee.

Btw, I wear glasses and I use my Helinox Chair Zero as a night table for my glasses, headlamp, and a hat, in case I need it.

I also keep my 1873 Winchester nearby in case of Indians or outlaws.

As to bivy condensation, it is helpful to vent the bivy if possible.

[Michael Sirofchuck]

I like this guy’s idea, but the cost of having Borah make me a custom bivy has kept me from doing it myself.   Basically, a mesh section right down the middle of the top fabric.

http://cesarandthewoods.blogspot.com/2016/02/borah-gear-bivies-double-reviews-long.html

[dirtbag]

If rain not a concern why not use Borah gear bug bivy? Get dual zippers across chest and down the side.

[W I S N E R !]

I sleep out whenever possible and typically do exactly as you say; groundsheet^pad^bag.  I’ve used a bivy for the same reasons you suggest, theoretically to seal drafts out of my quilt, as well as keeping my setup more compact in the wind.

I’ve had plenty of times cowboy camping in which my bag had a layer of dew or frost on it, but never enough to reduce loft or soak it through.  As I said in the other thread though, I’ve had a few bivy condensation issues over the years, this recent one the worst I’ve seen.  In my experiences, when the bivy does have condensation issues, it’s typically worse than a bags, as the condensation is trapped between layers and can really soak in.  In my experience, when a bag has condensation issues, the shell handles it and, being exposed to air, it doesn’t soak through as bad.

All of which leaves me wondering what the point of a bivy is, given they introduce the potential for condensation.  Funny I should ask this after so many years using them/cowboy camping.  So do bivies only “work” when you essentially could have done without a bivy?  Because they certainly seem to exacerbate things anytime the slightest amount of dampness is involved and probably provide far less overall warmth and wind resistance than their equivalent weight in down/insualtion.

My apologies for turning this into a second bivy thread of sorts, but I’m questioning the same things you are and will likely be leaving the bivy at home from now on in favor of just sleeping out in a bag in clear weather.

[Lester Moore]

Polycro groundsheet on the bottom, 1/8″ ccf pad on that, then an x-lite pad on the top. I suspend a STS nano mosquito net (3 oz) from a tree, bush or trekking pole and tuck the edges under the x-lite pad. This setup keeps out all the bugs of concern in Western WA, although it’s not ant proof, so I avoid active ant areas. I try to cowboy camp away from lakes and valley bottoms on forest duff if possible, and under some amount of tree cover, even a few overhanging branches seems to help with condensation. If the camp site is prone to condensation, I usually put up the tarp for added protection, unless it’s a warm dry night.

You’re right about the 6-7 ounces – taking a warmer quilt or bag (10F) will give you the most added warmth per ounce, but it does limit your versatility. The lightest way to add warmth to the 20F quilt that you already have is a 3 oz home made VBL made by heat welding large trash bags together into a long tube. I can only tolerate a VBL though if it’s below freezing and I have night clothes to sleep in. A VBL will also greatly reduce or eliminate the risk of condensation on the interior of regular bivy too, thus protecting your bag’s loft.

[dirtbag]

This picture from a few years ago.. Borah Gear bug bivy

[dirtbag]

And here is my Katabatic Gear Bristlecone bivy. 

[dirtbag]

<p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>And.. Borah Gear Snowyside event bivy. </p>

[Miner]

I sometimes use a bivy and sometimes not. Depends. If it is going to be dry and warm, I’ll often do what the OP does. Even use a headnet against the bugs if they aren’t too bad when being in a bivy would be too warm.

But on the other side, I’ve used my bivy as my lightweight sleeping bag when my down quilt was too warm and I didn’t want to just sleep out in my clothes (which I have done). Bivy also blocks out some wind when it gets strong; when its windy, condensation usually isn’t a problem as the wind takes the moisture. And when the bugs are really bad (spring in the Sierras right after the melt off), I prefer a bit more protection and distance from the whining bastards than a headnet provides. As a small tarp user, the bivy provides extra insurance against rain blow wind; especially when I’m too lazy to get up and repitch my tarp to better protect against it. In which case I may just chose to suffer through it by using my rain cover put on my pack as a block just behind my head and have even thrown my rain jacket over the head of my bivy when I just gave up. And as someone who cowboy camps to the point of pushing my luck with the weather, the few times I’ve been bit, it provides some extra time for me to decide if I need to throw my tarp over me or can wait it out as it may just be a brief passing shower. Once moved my bivy under a large tree as the rain wasn’t hard and went back to sleep and inbetween the foliage and the bivy, my quilt remains dry for the most part.

Often when I use it, if bugs aren’t a big issue or they have gone to bed a short bit after dark, I’ll unzip the bivy and possibly throw the top open. Why have it then. Because I may have chosen poorly or have been forced to by circumstance and the risk of dew forming during the night and covering everything is real, and the bivy gives a bit more protection than my down quilt would otherwise have. I may want wind blockage just from one side. Maybe I’m concerned the bugs will come back after they left when the temperature dropped. Or maybe I’m concerned I might be pushing my luck a bit with the weather and want the extra insurance there and ready. In that case, my tarp sack is usually next to me so I can do my blanket pitch in an emergency.

A few photos of bivy and tarps.

[dirtbag]

Nice shots!

[HkNewman]

Used water-resistant bivies with lots of netting but now using nesting inner nets that pair with tarps to keep netting off skin potentially.  Taking longer hikes last year, a few nights in a bivy with clouds of skeeters waiting right outside … all night … was all I could take.  With a long month-long hike you need to plan for more variation in conditions, of course, including whatever subspecies of mosquito that doesn’t sleep.  I’d say a set up like Lester Moore’s a few posts up at the very least if clouds of bloodsucking mosquitoes can be in the forecast.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I don’t cowboy camp very often. Generally it’s just some kind of ground sheet, my pad, my quilt and me. I don’t really like cowboy camping all that much because I don’t like just being out there. I am messy with my stuff, too, and I hate worrying about where all my stuff is. Seems like about 1/3 of the times I’ve slept out I’ve been rained on, too. Yes, in drought-ridden Southern California. I have bad luck.

Here’s me cowboy camping. I have one of these A-16 popup bug net things. It’s pretty cool, but I have had some mosquitoes get inside it.

[Dean F.]

I have a size large DCF-floored MLD SuperLight bivy.  It’s very similar in function to the Katabatic Bristlecone, above.  I’m an acrobatic side-sleeper, so the size large lets me roll around comfortably.  Being a bivy it keeps the snakes, bugs, Australians, etc. at a distance.

I use the bivy as part of my sleep system with a 2P mid (in lieu of a ground sheet) so it’s always available for cowboy camping if the weather looks good.  I’ve never had the condensation problems that plague others, but I tend to hike in arid or semiarid areas.  I also got the enlarged mesh window option for better ventilation.

[Chris K]

“… (The cowboy) lives in the open from April 15th, when work begins, to December 1st, when it ends. . . . his bedding, known as a “Hot Roll,” a 16 to 20 oz. canvas “Tarp” about 18 feet long doubled and bedding in between, usually composed of several quilts known as “suggans” and blankets–rarely a mattress, the extra quilts serving for mattress. The top “Tarp” serves as extra covering and protects against rain.”

<p style=”text-align: right;”>– Frank S. Hastings, The Story of the S.M.S. Ranch</p>
 

[John S.]

Here is a link to a similar cowboy roll, page 91 (that website is acting odd about page numbers)

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth46819/m1/93/

[JVD]

I cowboy camp most of the time (and use a tarp in rain). My setup: polycro sheet, Borah argon bivy, Neoair + pillow, and either a lighter quilt or warmer WM bag. Been doing some version of this for decades, starting with a Todd Bibler bivy and moving through various improvements in materials.

I camp in the central Rockies, western Colorado, and southern Utah. Since getting the Borah bivy, no problems with condensation, and I appreciate it catches dew when needed.

I like the extra warmth of the bivy and the built-in bug screen. I’ve never needed to pull up the screen off my face, though it’s possible. Once in a while I should have done that as mosquitoes found a way to my face through it.

Polycryo sheet is probably redundant, but I feel better with an extra layer, minimal as it is, between ground and air mattress — with only a slight weight penalty.

All in all, I’m really happy with this setup.

[obx hiker]

I’ve always liked to cowboy camp as well. Following Newman’s idea I recently got a wider Borah bug bivy with the idea of using it as an inner and also for cowboy camping. Nice to see Dirtbag’s shots of that item. I also have one of those little STS bug nets that I got for buggy hammock camping and Lester’s use of that item is clever and resourceful.

I’d suggest Miner change his handle to Bivy King. Those pictures to me epitomize Backpacking Lightly.

[Bob Kerner]

Dirtbag must have one of every shelter. No matter what the topic, he’s got a picture!

What keeps the netting from falling against your face?

I’m a taller guy and feel confined by the proximity of the ceiling of my TT Moment to my face when on an inflated pad. So at times I think, “Why not ditch the shelter altogether and use a bivy” when the weather is fair; at least I’d be saving some weight. But I’m concerned I’d be replacing one too-close-to the-face option with another.

[Matthew / BPL]

I’ve spent many nights in my MLD Superlight bivy with all-net hood. I prefer to not wake up with creepy-crawlies (AZ) or mosquitos (CA). If I can camp under trees then I’ll just use the bivy but I’ve realized I should set up a tarp if I’m in a totally exposed spot to catch falling dew.

I recently acquired a Yama Bug Bivy which has more width and a deeper bathtub and better ventilation for summer conditions. I will probably continue to use that in warmer conditions.

[Bruce Tolley]

@ Bob “…when the weather is fair; at least I’d be saving some weight. But I’m concerned I’d be replacing one too-close-to the-face option with another.

I think you are missing the point of cowboy camping which at least for me is to sleep under the stars.  When the weather is fair I usually sleep with my face out of the bivy and esp in late summer , I sometimes find myself sleeping on top of the bivy.

When there a mosquitoes in the Sierra Nevada or the Santa Cruz Mtns, I will take the MLD bug bivy which I only need for a couple of hours after dark and right at dawn since that is when the female mosquito flies out looking for mammal blood.

The rest of the time I can also sleep on top of it. The big netting provides a bit of warmth so sometimes I am zipping it up around me about an hour or two before dawn.

[Bob Kerner]

@Bruce: It think we’re close to the same page regarding purpose. But I’ve got bugs! When I hammock camp, I have some sort of netting April thru Oct (?) because of flying insects. The no-see-ums are already out in just north of NYC. I’m not sure of their hourly work schedule, but I prefer to keep ’em off my face.

Here’s different question for the thread: do any of the bivy makers have a return policy that will allow you to try it (even in your living room so it doesn’t get dirty), and return it if it doesn’t meet your functional expectations?

[Author]

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