[pct-l] one person tent

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

Aside from the lack of headroom and the strange way the netting  
poofed out the sides, it was indeed a good tent. I called it my  
airplane hanger. There was about a mile down below my feet that was  
never used except as a place to sweep the mosquito carcasses and it  
was so wide I could have my pack on one side of me and all the  
contents on the other side.

It wasn't wind-driven rain that was the problem. It was gravity- 
driven rain. A tent where the top is smaller than a bottom and  
provides little rain catchers around the side is not a very good  
design, in my opinion. Also, the front beak was really hard to open  
and close without getting drenched as it used a strong piece of  
velcro and you had to stick your arm outside in the rain with your  
arm against the wet tent to velcro it back together.

I don't know if my problems were because the tent was an older model  
or because I didn't have the rear semi-circular pole and had to just  
jam a collapsed trekking pole in the back end or if I was just inept.  
That's possible since I couldn't really figure out how to set it up  
the way it was sent to me with the ties already set. I had to untie  
it and try to figure it out lacking instructions or all the pieces.

I carried that tent from Bend Oregon all the way to Canada, about 1/2  
my entire 2009 distance, so it's not like it prevented me from  
finishing the trail or even that it didn't keep me dry enough. I only  
spent maybe one or two nights in any real rain in The One so it never  
got as much of a test as the Contrail did.

Next time I'll do Washington with a tarp. I swear people with tarps  
actually looked a little bit drier than I felt.

On Mar 16, 2011, at 3:31 PM, Jim Bravo wrote:

> I have a couple of favorite one-person tents, one being the Contrail.
> I addressed the potential for a wind-driven rain getting into the
> bathtub floor at the sides, as Diane talked about.