[pct-l] Tent vs Bivy Sack

[Scott Williams]

Hi Tim,

I hike and camp in the Bay Area year round, for 50 years, Henry Coe, Mt.
Diablo (even colder), Skyline to the Sea and Mt. Tam, and have never needed
a 4 season tent.  I use the same tarps or tarp tents I use in the High
Sierra and Cascades during the hiking season.  A 4 season tent is mainly
built for heavy snow potential, something you'll never see in the Bay
Area.  Steel-Eye is dead on in suggesting that you not look for a tent to
keep you warm.  The tent keeps you dry, and the only time I ever set up my
old Wanderlust on the PCT (an old tarp tent now made by Lightheart) was
when it was going to rain or snow or when the bugs were eating me alive.
Other than that, the combination of my clothes and sleeping bag was all I
needed to cowboy camp even on snow in the Sierra.  Tents are always covered
with frost in really cold conditions and it usually just shakes off.  If
you put a fraction of the extra weight of a 4 season tent into a warmer
sleeping bag, or down pants say, you will be much warmer overall.

As for the wonderful year round backpacking potential of living in CA, all
you need for that is a good, light rain tarp and a warm sleeping bag.
Exactly the same gear you will use on the PCT during spring, summer and
fall hiking.  And Henry Coe is wonderful all year, except wading for a mile
or more up the narrows is cold as hell right now.  The Orestimba Wilderness
is gorgeous however, and the herds of elk incredible.  For folks out of the
area, this is less than 20 miles from San Jose and Silicone Valley, and you
feel like you're in the African Veld.  Incredible.

Keep hiking Tim, and good question.

Shroomer