Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

Been happy with my Kelty 2 person Salida Tent

 

I have a half dome and will always push REI tents to anyone. The reason I have the half dome is because the seam on the door of my 25 year old REI basic dome tent failed. I brought it back just to see if they could repair it and they happily handed me a half dome for free and said, "thank you for being a customer for so long!"

So I bought an REI Base Camp 4 for car camping purposes. That company just rocks.

 

I'll need to look into this tent. What was the cost?

 

I'll also look into the MSR tents.

 

My Hubba Hubba is getting placed on light duty usage now after over 11 years of semi-regular usage. Love it, just showing its age now.

Quick to setup, performs well, good buy IMO.

 

TNF 02 lists for 299, sometimes seen for 249

 

Another big fan of the REI offerings. The plus+ versions allow for taller persons such as myself. Competitive in weight, price, and quality. If you live near an REI returns and warranty issues are easy.

 

Consider the style of tent you want, not just the weight. Some of the lightest tents require the most guylines to keep them standing up or stable in storms/wind/snow. That's a reason I compromised a couple pounds and went with the MSR Hubba Hubba because it's freestanding and pitches faster. Trust me... on longer trips where you're setting up camp multiple nights, you'll want speed. Plus, the ground is never the same wherever you camp, so you may be dealing with rocky or barren ground where driving tent stakes isn't going to happen, or you won't have enough anchor points for a non-freestanding setup. Just some things to consider.

If you want the least amount of guylines at a light weight, I don't think you can beat the Double Moment from TarpTent. https://www.tarptent.com/double-moment.html

2 stakes in the ground and you're able to pitch this semi-freestanding 2P tent. It's 3.25# packed. For windy nights, use 2 more guylines on the sides for stability.

 

Also, I don't know what tents do or do not have this, but I really love how adjustable my Hubba Hubba is. Every corner of the thing is adjustable at the stake. I can set it hand tight, install the rain fly and then adjust the 4 corners and vestibules individually and make it nice and taut. It's wonderful. The rain gutter thing is awesome, too.

 

Must have been an improvement since I got mine. The fly on my HubbaHubba has the adjustments on 4 corners of the rainfly, but the rest are "as is".

But despite that, I was beyond impressed with it at Overland Expo. Super windy and shifting all weekend. While waking up Saturday morning to the wind howling thru the trees, I got to watch the tent just squat with every gust. No leaning, no flapping, no buffeting. Just squat down and brush it off. No guy lines, nothing extra but 6 stakes like normal.

 

Exactly. I was at the base of Mt. Whitney at 2 different campsites (one on each side of the mountain), fully exposed above treeline and right in the wind's path, and had no issues with the Hubba Hubba buckling at all. The wind just scoops right up and over due to its shape. We had rain on the first night of our trip, and not a single drop got in nor did we have any condensation because it's ventilated just right.

 

Going to go hike the Secret Canyon Trail in Sedona tomorrow. 11 miles round trip, should be a fun day hike!

 

I've been meaning to check that one off of the list. I wanted to make it an overnighter. Let me know how the water flow in the creek is back up in there.

 

My obsession for gear, sorting gear, preparing gear for the next trip, etc. has taken over key parts of my house. My dining room has been my backpacking gear sort area for over a year now, and our built-in wine rack in the kitchen has turned into my Smartwater bottle drying station. Does anyone else use their common areas for permanent adventure gear organization?

My dining room always has various stages of gear prep, mostly a mix of the most common items I use and also a list of cast-offs that didn't make the cut for the particular trip. This pile constantly evolves and gets swapped out with the rest of the gear stored in my garage:


I just can't seem to throw away Smartwater bottles. To me, it's like throwing away a perfectly good $10 Nalgene, but the ultralight version. I like the taller bottles because they're easy to holster and grab out of my pack's side pouches. The wife primarily only drinks white wines at home, so they are in the fridge getting chilled. Why waste the space?

 

I just set up my backpack for my havasupai falls hike for this weekend. Weighing in at over 36 lb's, the heaviest i've had it in a long time (including bear canister full of food and 2 long smart water bottles). Bringing A TON of unnecessary shit, but thats part of the fun. Bringing a my hubba hubba for my girl and I, a single hammock to lounge, and an inflatable donut for chilling in the waters.

 

Of course, one of the big reasons to have a house while single, gear/tools/parts/etc storage everywhere.

 

Why are you bringing a bear canister? They aren't required down there or necessary. Save the 2+ lbs and just bag your food. How many days are you going to be out there? Are you sharing weight with the gf?

 

honestly, I also like sitting on my bear canister LOL. I was told there rats/mice that have dug into tents of peoples food. I just thought it would be the most convenient way of bringing my food besides bag and string.

Im carrying all of that weight i just laid out. No big deal for me, I hiked some of the JMT and Rae lakes loop when I was more of a traditional hiker (40+ lb bag).

 

I totally agree about the bear canister being a great stool and protector from the varmints. Especially with things like Hunta virus, you sure don't want those little bastards getting into your food. Just curious why you chose it. I've grown a special attachment to my canisters as well. Which model do you carry?

Rae Lakes is amazing. I'm going back through there in my JMT finish-up next summer. Not doing the loop, just connecting to the JMT just south of Glen Pass and heading north to Yosemite so we'll be passing by Rae Lakes themselves.

I was happy with 35# this year for 6 days, which included water weight. Next year, the goal is to be under 30# for 185 miles. 7 days before first resupply will be my heaviest, then after that I'll have no more than 4-5 days between resupplies so I'll be a few pounds lighter for the last 2/3 of the trip.



Zpacks will be getting some of my hard-earned money this winter.

 

haha are you getting the Zpacks Arc blast? Or some of those crazy cuben tents?

We did Rae Lakes Loop in about 4 days, which I wish i took a zero day at. We kinda just blasted through. Went counter clockwise. The coolest thing was the black bears, we bumped into two of them. one lead our hike for like 2-3 miles. Dude didnt want to get off the trail!se.

What route is this 185 miles? Ive been wanting to do the full JMT too.. maybe in 2017. This years vacation time has been all allocated already lol.