[pct-l] How important is it to have a freestanding tent?

[Ken Powers]

I have to differ with Steve's opinion here. We have use a free standing tent 
on all of our long hikes since 2002. We find that free standing tents allows 
us to set up in places where you cannot drive a stake. We have used 
driveways, bridges, concrete pads, and large flat rocks to camp on.

The problem Steve notes isn't a problem for us because when we stop we erect 
the tent and climb into it. We're there for the night. If you are going to 
leave your tent, stake it down. By the way I saw lots of "staked down" tents 
rolling through a windy meadow at Philmont Scout Camp. ;)

Ken
www GottaWalk com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve McAllister" <brooklynkayak at gmail.com>
To: "Pacific Crest Trail List" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 7:58 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] How important is it to have a freestanding tent?


I consider free standing a mostly useless feature. How often do you
think your going to use it? Maybe indoors or in a shelter.

One experience I had was when most of our group didn't stake out their
freestanding tents, but instead assumed that the gear inside would be
enough to hold it down if a wind should come up.

Well the wind came up when everyone was away and they came back to
find their tents with gear blown hundreds of yards away, most in the
nearby river.

Only two shelters left standing were the ones that were staked down.

On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Christopher Swope <sswwooppee at gmail.com> 
wrote:
> Hi everyone!
>
> I'm looking at buying a new lightweight tent for my big hike next year. 
> I've
> managed to narrow it down to 2 tents for various reasons. The TarpTent
> Moment, and the SMD Lunar Solo Enhanced.
>
> They both look like good designs that would serve me well. The Moment can 
> be
> set up as a freestanding shelter, which seems like a nice feature, but how
> important is that on the PCT? How often have you more experienced PCT 
> types
> come across the situation where it was really hard to stake out a tent, 
> for
> whatever reason?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Swope
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
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>



-- 
... when your feeling blue, and you've lost all your dreams, there's
nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
   -- Tom Waits

http://kayakbrooklyn.blogspot.com
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