Tents

Your home away from home needs to meet many criteria. Shelter from the elements can come in many forms. Highland Hiking's focus is on those smaller, portable tents, normally used by backpackers.

Since you carry it in, it should be light. It should be easy to set up and take down and repack into one of those little sacks. It needs provide shelter from all types of weather like a home does. Lastly it needs to breathe. These keep the moisture out from the external environment and vent out as much moisture from the interior of the tent.

Tent floors are mostly made from a coated nylon with little sill going up the sides for more waterproofing. This coated nylon is not breathable while the rest of the tent is made from breathable materials allowing your condensation out of the interior. With a rain fly as the outer wall not touching the inner walls and extending to the ground, the air barrier between the inner knee outer wall helps insulate your warm body temperature.

Location is the key variable where to pitcher tent. First, we should Leave No Trace. A tent and a tarp on grass for more than the day will crush the grass and yellow it. Try to choose campsites that are robust enough to handle your stay without additional damage to the area. Most approved campsites on area maps are usually quite robust for additional camping. Many of these sites have approved fire-pits and a picnic table in some cases.

Second, it is your comfort that is at stake here. Select a site that is dry and away from low lying areas that will get wet in an evening rain. Your tent opening should face away from the wind. The ground becomes your bed spring, and your pad and sleeping bag becomes your mattress and blanket. Rock is the hardest and offers little comfort. Pine needles may be best but bugs abound.

Purchasing a tent can be an experience because needs and conditions change including the number of people and weather in particular. Backpacking tents have seen major improvements over time in weight and materials to lighten the load provide better protection from the elements. These are major points to consider in selecting your tent:

• Size is the first question ranging from a solitary hiker to a couple to a small family fitting four into a backpacking tent. Even larger tents are available but the weight becomes an issue. The shoulder position of the tent needs be 36 to 40 inches wide per adult so your bag and body does not touch the side of the tent. For tall people there are different lengths of tents so your feet and head do not touch. The height of the tent is low but sitting up is usually the tallest activity after getting in and out.
• Ease of setting up the tent and repacking the tent into tiny sacks is important. Too many tears and tears are associated with both putting up a tent and stuffing your tent into a little sack. Light weight fiberglass poles have eased the weight and assembly of the tent. Many shapes of tents are available but the most popular is a form of the dome tent using 1, 2 or 3 fiberglass poles for support.
• Price is always consideration to everyone's budget. Highland Hiking is dedicated to providing affordable; high-quality tents three backpacking needs. Inexpensive dome tents can be bought at many outlets but they are usually heavier and of poorer quality it comes to material and workmanship. The support poles break easily and the materials are not waterproof and breathable as you need in your temporary home. Find a tent with a coated nylon floor with a sill up the sides for water from the ground. The tents should be breathable with a coated fly to protect from the wind and elements outside.
• Essentials to increase the comfort and use of the tent. Always have a pocket inside the tent up along one of the walls to store your flashlight or anything you need to find in the middle of the night. Strong stakes are needed to secure your tent. These light skinny metal stakes will bend in rock. Use light weight aluminum or titanium stakes. In very Sandy soils the wide plastic stakes will do. And use a ground sheet for the tent to help isolate the tent from the cold or wet ground and prevent tears to your tent from sharp rocks.
• And ultralight shelter can be a tarp made from a coated nylon the similar material weighing as little as one half pound.

[ Back to top ]