Too many tarptents

Over the last several years I've tried more tents than I care to admit. By far the brand I have used the most is Tarptent. For those who are unfamiliar Tarptent is a small company that made a name for itself by making lightweight, single wall shelters. Over the last 10 years they have expanded their product line and feature both single and double wall tents of varying capacities. Having tried 8 of their tents in the last 3 years (don't worry I don't have all 8 still), I thought I would make a little post about my thoughts on the various models I have tried. I also have the condition to deal with that I'm 6'6" making it harder to fit in most things including tents.

Tarptent itself was founded accidentally by Henry Shires after a Pacific Crest Trail through hike. All Tarptents are made from silnylon and are very lightweight. From a design standpoint they are really well thought out creations. Shires is former programer so you can tell an analytic mind came up with these. All the Tarptents I have tried are probably the best tents in terms of maximizing internal space, while still remaining lightweight and easy to pitch. About half of his models are single wall meaning there is no separate fly and inner tent. Instead the floor is simply attached to the fly via bug netting and the whole thing simply pitches in one piece. Of course the one disadvantage of this system is that there is no inner tent between you and the fly. When condensation inevitably happens on the fly there is nothing between you and it. In addition being silnylon the seams can not be taped so you need to seam seal the tent yourself.

Single Rainbow
The one person version of the Rainbow was the first Tarptent I tried, as well as my first foray into the cottage gear market and single wall tents. The Rainbow is a one person, single wall, single hoop tent. The unique thing is that the hoop runs the length of the tent, rather than across it. This makes for good headroom and near vertical ends. The initial selling point of the Rainbow was that Tarptent recommended it as good for tall individuals. When I first got it I was blown away by how light it was. I was used to carry a 4 pounds double wall tent so the Rainbow, at almost half the weight was a revelation. I found that I fit inside quite well despite my height and could lie down in a sleeping bag with minimal or no contact with the ends. The floor was 40 inches wide so there was a reasonable amount of room for gear inside, although trying to fit a pack in was challenging. Pitching the tent was super easy. It requires 6 stakes and since it pitches in one piece it is very fast to put up. The first night I used the Rainbow I learned one thing very quickly. Silnylon is slippery and on a small incline I was sliding down the end. It was so bad I had to move my tent before doing to bed. I ended up painting the floor, both inside and out. with silicone sealant as outlined here: http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/Silnylon1/. I've done with with all subsequent Tarptents I've had feel that it is neccessary if you ever plan on sleeping on ground that is not perfectly flat. Although I've used many other Tarptents, the Rainbow is the Tarptent I have spent the most nights thus far. I used it exclusively through the fall, winter, and spring after getting it. I also learned quite a bit about condensation. Living on the east coast humidity is a fact of life and on several damp nights when the temperature dropped quite a bit I experienced large amounts of condensation inside, especially when the temperature got near freezing.  I personally found that even with the shelter being spacious it was hard to prevent this from getting on you and your sleeping bag. When moving around the in the middle of the night it was hard not to touch the side or ends walls at some point and getting out invariably resulted in getting wet. While one could easily wipe the ceiling down, when it was 35 degrees out that is the last thing you want to do in the morning. The side opposite the door in particular is one large panel of fabric and was hard to avoid. In warmer months condensation was much less of an issue. In the end, as I tried some of the couple wall offerings from Tarptent I ended up deciding to sell the Rainbow as they seemed more functional in the environments I camp in.

Tarptent Rainbow on the Quehanna Trail

Double Rainbow
While still giving the Rainbow a chance I decided to try the Double Rainbow. This is basically the same as the single Rainbow with a wider floor and 2nd door. I wanted a little more room to spread out and I thought having mesh on both sides would make it easier to avoid touch the tent walls when condensation was an issue. I used the Double Rainbow on several trips. It had the same super easy set as the single Rainbow and had enough floor space that I could bring my pack in. Being large it was easier to avoid touching the walls if condensation did occur. In the end I decided to sell this too as other Tarptent models seemed better for how and where I camp. Sometimes I wish I had kept it. It was a good tent overall and the Rainbow design is strong, easy to set up, and weather worthy.

Tarptent Double Rainbow on the Massanutten Trail

Scarp 2
The Scarp series was Tarptent's first double wall design It is a single hoop style with foldable ends struts.  There is one in each corner and provide a lot of rooms at the end of the tent. My initial reason for getting the tent was that I wanted a double wall tent with a fabric interior for winter. I also got the mesh interior for summer use. I have mixed feelings about the Scarp 2. On the positive side it has the roomiest interior of any Tarptent I have tried. It had a huge 45 inches of headroom and the end struts meant that the end wall were completely vertical creating a very spacious design. Indeed the first time I used it solo I was almost in awe of how spacious it was after using the Single Rainbow so much. It was roomy for two and makes a good tent for couples. However, there were several reasons I ended up selling the Scarp 2. First it is a rather finicky to get a nice taut pitch. It is not freestanding and requires three stakes at either end with there being a delicate balance needed to pitch it well. As I wanted this for snow camping I thought the difficulty in pitching would just be a pain when pitching on snow. Now the Scarp in theory can be free-standing and snow load capable with a pair of optional crossing poles these were very hard to use and didn't really work well in practice. It was certainly something I didn't want to fiddle with when trying to set a tent up in winter. In addition with all the struts packing the Scarp 2 in the small stuff sack Tarptent provides was a pain in the ass. After I got the next tent I will talk about I sold the Scarp 2.

Tarptent Scarp 2 in the Cranberry Wildernes, West Virginia

Stratospire 2
This is one Tarptent model I still have and don't plan on ever getting rid of. The Stratospire series are double wall tents that use pair of trekking poles for support.

Stratospire1
I like the Stratospire 2 so much I decided to get the single person version as it was a little lighter in weight. I used it for a 4 night trip but sold it afterwards. I found the floor a little narrow. I just like having more floorspace I guess. In addition, unlike the two person version you can't really lay diagonal with the narrower floor and it is a bit short for tall folks. When lying down the mesh is pretty much in your face.

 Moment DW
The Moment DW (double wall) is another Tarptent model that I still own and plan on keeping. In fact the last year I have used this tent more than any other. The design is of the tent is just brilliant. It is a two door, single hoop tent and makes use of the same end struts found on the Scarp and Stratospire. There is one at each and and the whole tent only requires two stakes to set up. The interior tent is attach to the fly and pitches all in one piece. It literally takes one minute to set it up. With the combination of light weight (2 lbs), easy setup, weather worthy design, and reasonable interior space it is one of my favorite tents. Now being 6'6" the one thing this tent lacks is headroom. I can't sit up without hitting the ceiling, but as this is the inner tent and not the fly I don't mind. What I like is that with the combination of the way the inner tent ends well before the end of fly and fact that the end struts are about 18 inches high means there is no chance of my had or feet touch wet tent fly. The ends of the tent have storm flaps that can be tied back giving good ventilation. I have yet to experience any significant condensation in it. The floor is 42 inches wide in the middle and actually has a reasonable amount of room for gear, even with a large neoair mattress. There is not enough room inside for a pack too but with two vestibules I can put my pack in one and still be able to get out the other. The interior is roomy enough I can move around and stuff my sleeping bag and roll up my air mattress inside the tent. I you want I one person tent I don't think you will find one better. All this being said, the inside is not huge. It is great for trips where the weather is good or you spend most of your time hiking and you just need a place to sleep. If I know I would be spending a lot of time inside the tent during bad weather I might think about bringing either my Stratospire 2 or my Big Sky Evolution 2P simply because they do offer more interior space.

Tarptent Moment DW at Dolly Sods, West Virginia

Notch
I never owned the Notch but had a friend who did and I was able to check it out a couple times. My impression was that it was very lightweight and well put together like all Henry's tents. However, the floor area is quite small. Once you put a wide air mattress inside there was little room for any gear. I simply prefer more floor space in my shelters so I never went this route.

Hiking the North Country Trail in Pennsylvania - Part 2

See the previous post for part 1.

Day 4, 17 miles
Tuesday our good luck ran out as we woke up to rain and wind. We had 17 miles to go and our destination was a shelter on a small tract of state forest land just north of Cooks Forest State Park. Reluctantly we took down our tents in a light rain and started out. Within 10 minutes my shoes were soaked from the wet trail from the nights rain and I knew it would be a long day. From the starting point we had another 11 miles or so through the ANF as the NCT heads due south. I was exhausted from the previous day and the next 8 miles turned out to be the toughest we had hiked on the trip. Instead of a gentle plateau walk this section was lots of ups and downs with more climbing than we had done the previous three days. The forest composition changed as well with no hemlocks at all. The hiking reminded me more of trail further to the east where the Allegheny Plateau is more rugged. All morning it rained and we were hit by strong winds. The temperature never got above 50. We pushed on quickly to reach the Amsler Spring shelter, the third and final shelter in the ANF. We were planning to take a long break there, get out of the rain, and get some hot food in our stomachs. About noon we finally rolled in the shelter. Unlike the other two shelters we passed this one is right by a road so it is not in as great a condition as the other two in the ANF. There was quite a bit of bird poop and dirt on the floor. Nevertheless we were very cold so being able to get out of the rain was a nice treat. We cook a hot lunch and tried to warm up as best we could. The shelter front was facing into the wind so we never could get really warm in there. Forty five minutes later with hot food in us we faced the rain and moved on. We had 3 miles uneventful miles through the ANF. About 1 miles south of the shelter underneath some hemlocks we passed the only established campsite I recall seeing for the day. The end of the ANF brought us into PA state gamelands. About this time the rain finally let up for the most part. We had a short climb up to a plateau at which point the NCT merges with the Baker trail at a grassy forest road. The rest of the way to Cooks Forest the Baker Trail and NCT are one and the same. The next couple miles through the game lands we simply followed the grassy road. After the harder hiking earlier in the day I was fine with this and actually thought this stretch was scenic in an odd way. At certain points the road was also a gas line which we could tell as the line was a small pipe at ground level. Sometimes we simply walked on this since the trail was so wet. The trail crossed PA 66 at the gameland boundary. Shortly before this the trail went back into the woods and through and interesting wetland with a cool bridge.

The bridge has seen better days

We crossed the PA 66 and the NCT followed a gas line swatch on private land for about a mile. It then turned left and made its way through a small section of state forest land. Surprisingly this small stretch of state forest land was one of the most scenic parts. Through the middle of it runs Maple creek and there were lots of trees that looked a lot like red spruce. The trail paralleled Maple creek before turning to cross it. Right after we crossed it we arrived at our destination for the day, the Maple creek shelter. This shelter had just been built last year and was in perfect shape. Indeed the whole area around the shelter was a beautiful little area.

Maple Creek Shelter

Bridge Over Mapl Creek near the shelter

The one side of Maple creek was lined with spruce was quite beautiful. The rain stopped and the sun even peaked out a few times. We managed to even get a fire going and warm up making for a pleasant evening despite the crappy weather that day.


Day 5, 8 miles
We woke up at first light and started hiking. We had 8 miles to our car. As soon as we started the rain came. We had a little more of the state forest to go through. We crossed the south branch of Maple creek before leaving the state forest.

South Branch of Maple Creek

A short road walk brought us the boundary of Cooks forest. Pretty much for the rest of the time we would be in a large hemlock forest. Most of the way the trail paralleled Toms run and we had about 5 miles of easy walking on an old grade in the hemlocks. Unfortunately it rained harder and we got very cold and wet. We pretty much raced through this section. We arrived at a road and the parking area for the forest cathedral trail. This section has some virgin hemlock and unlike the Tionesta area they are still there. The size of the virgin hemlocks here are quite impressive. They are huge and rise for hundreds of feet. We quickly admired them but the cold and rain made us keep going. After leaving the forest cathedral trail we had a short mile back to the car. We had made it, albeit very cold at this point. We quickly told the park office we were back and were on our way to find food. A stop at the pizza hut buffet in Brookville was heavenly.

Overall Impressions
The NCT was certainly different than a lot of other long distance PA hiking trails. Overall the terrain was gentler than the long trails further to the east like the Black Forest, Mid-State, and Standing Stone trails for example. The fauna was different as well. Hemlocks seemed to be much more prevalent and the forest was generally more "open" for lack of a better word instead of being choked with mountain laurel for example. This would be the one area in Pennsvylania where bushwhacking wouldn't be that hard. We saw relatively few established sites and overall other than the part by Minister Creek and Hearts Content I don't think it sees a lot of use. Despite the lack of established sites the forest is so open finding a place to camp would almost never be a problem. The section south of the ANF in the state forest and Cooks forest was very scenic. All the shelters we passed except Amsler springs were in really beautiful locations and very clean. It was also the most well bridged trail I have seen in PA. Every stream of any note had a bridge.

One of the interesting bridges we crossed

Finally there were quite a few active oil and gas wells on or near the trail. Note that none of these were Marcellus shale wells but rather conventional gas wells or oils wells. This certainly detracted from the trail in the stretches were we saw a lot but looking back this was only a small part of the total trail. I would not let this influence your decision whether to hike it or not.

Hiking the North Country Trail in Pennsylvania Part 1

At over 4000 miles the North Country Trail (NCT) is America's longest national scenic trails and runs from New York to North Dakota Unlike the Appalachian or Pacific Crest trails the trail is not fully complete. Long sections of the trail in places still follow roads nor does it have the shelter infrastructure the Appalachian Trail (AT) has. Pennsylvania is fortunate to have a 100+ mile stretch of completed trail. Starting at the New York border the NCT runs almost exactly 100 miles through the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). From there the trail continues off road through state games lands and Cooks Forest State park following the Baker Trail for a ways. In April a friend and I got a chance to hike a 70 mile section of the completed trail from midway through the ANF to Cooks Forest.

The NCT in Pennsylvania is a world apart from the AT segment in the state. To start with the terrain in Northwest PA is far different that the southern part of the state the AT goes through. The AT follows dry ridges for much of its length. The NCT is a deep forest walk through the gentle Allegheny Plateau. The first section of the NCT roughly parallels the Allegheny Reservoir created by Kinzua Dam. I had been on a short section of the NCT here before so I decided to start further south. The stretch of the trail from US 6 to Cooks forest was almost exactly 70 miles, making a good 5 day trip. We started the last Saturday of April.

Day 1, 10 miles
My father graciously agreed to shuttle us from Cooks Forest to US 6 saving us time at the end of the hike. We registered the car at Cooks forest and headed up to US 6. We on were on the trail at 12:30. Our goal for the first day was to go about 11 to where the NCT crosses PA 948.We were treated to great weather and the walk was a gentle ascent up to a plateau we followed for a couple miles. Our first major landmark was the crossing of the east branch of Tionesta Creek.

Hemlock lined bank of  the East Branch of Tionesta Creek

 This was a wide body of water with hemlock lined banks. After crossing we had a our first walk through a large hemlock forest. One thing that struck me was how many more hemlock trees were still here compared to further south. There would be many more on the rest of the trip. We followed the creek for a while before veering off to follow one of its small tributaries for a couple miles. Eventually we veered west and reached the start of the Tionesta scenic area. We had read that this was an area of virgin hemlock that was never logged. Unfortunately in 1985 a tornado came through and devastated the area and must have destroyed much of it as we didn't see any. Instead the forest was thick decaying trees with small trees that had grown up after the tornado and was not a particularly scenic area.

The Tionesta "scenic" area

We also learned that the maps we were using, both the official NCT map and the Trails Illustrated map of the national forest were slightly lacking. They indicated we would cross a couple roads and there would be another interpretive trail we would pass, neither of which we ever saw. Indeed we had no idea how far we were when all of a sudden we came to the junction with the Twin Lakes Trail at the end of the scenic area. Ironically the scenic area we just went through was the least scenic part of the entire trip. The rest of the day was an uneventful walk down to and along cherry run. We saw quite a few active wells which was a theme for the rest of the trip.

One of the many oil wells we saw in this section

Close to the end of the day near our destination we found a several established sites, none too far from roads. These were the first we had seen all day. Where the NCT crossed a forest road before PA 948 we found my father and a great campsite near some trailhead parking that didn't appear to be heavily used.  He ended up camping with us. We had a nice fire and were asleep about 10 pm.

Day 2, 15 miles
Day two we were up early again were treated to beautiful weather again. The first leg of the day involved a 3 mile walk crossing PA 948, then a climb up to another plateau before heading down to PA 666 and Tionesta creek. Once again the hemlocks were very prominent through this stretch. Unfortunately at the top of the plateau there were a large number of oil wells and roads that were rather ugly. The maps had not been updated in a while as there is a major reroute of the trail down to PA 666. The climb down to PA 666 was quite nice as it followed sidehill down a steep hemlock lines slope. We arrived at PA 666 took a break and began the next leg of the day.

Tionesta Creek

We had about 12 miles to get to the intersection with the Minister Creek trail where we planned to camp. Like earlier in the day we had a climb to get back up to the plateau. The trail switchbacked up the side of the hill and followed an old rail grade to the top of the plateau. On the way up to our right was a hollow that had some of the most open forest I have ever seen. You could see a couple hundred feet down to the stream.

The climb away from Tionesta Creek

Once at the top we generally stayed on the plateau through open forest and large tracts of hemlock. We saw other backpackers, the only other hikers we saw the entire trip. About 5 or 6 miles from PA 666 we arrived at the Hunters Run shelter. The NCT has 5 shelters from here to south of Cooks Forest. The shelter was really nice and was in great shape as it didn't appear to be heavily used.

Hunter Creek Shelter

There was a picnic table and lots of nice looking tentsites around. We had lunch and I tried to take care of a blister that had developed. From here we had another 5 miles to the Minister Creek trail. The trail went up and down several times as we passed upper and lower Sheriff Run. At each crossing of Sheriff run was a nice campsite. Once again in this section we crossed multiple roads that didn't correspond to what was on the map. We arrived at Minister Creek at about 4:00. At this point several tributaries of Minister Creek meet in a small valley with multiple established campsites. There was nobody else there so we took the largest which had a huge fire ring and stone seats. The valley was gorgeous and this was by far the nicest campsite we saw on the entire trip.

Minister Creek Campsite

Day 3, 21 miles
The third day brought another early start and we were on the trail at 6:45 am. Our plan was to get to the town of Kelletsville where there was a restaurant, Cougar Bob's. The initial climb away from Minister creek was a gentle rail grade along a stream and by 8 we were back up on the plateau.

Trail West of Minister Creek

After 3 miles we arrived at the junction of the Tanbark Trail. This heads off towards Hearts Content but the NCT makes a sharp southern turn here. We followed a grassy forest road for a mile and arrived at Queen creek where the second shelter we would was located. The shelter was beautiful and was only a year or two old. It would make a great spot to camp.

Queen Creek Shelter

We still had about 10 or 11 miles to get to Kelletville so we didn't hang around too long. The terrain to Kelletville was gentle with minor ups and downs as we stayed on the plateau. The forest was once again very open with large numbers of hemocks in places. There was little evidence of trail use as we only passed one established campsite in this stretch, although the forest was so open finding a spot to camp would not be any trouble at all.

Typical scene on the stretch of trail between the Tanbark trail junction and Kellettsville

As we got near Kelletsville we got another surprise as there was a reroute that was not on either of the maps we had. The maps indicated we would end up on PA 666 and have walk a mile along it to Kelletville. Instead we ended up on a dirt forest road that went straight down to Kelletville. At this point we had gone almost 17 miles and the thought of real food had kept us going. So you can imagine how disappointed we were when we got to Cougar Bobs only find they were closed on Mondays! From here the trail crosses Tionesta creek again. On the other side is an Army Corp of Engineer campground we intended to stay at. We sat there about 20 minutes deciding what to do. It was not even 4 so we had plenty of daylight and good weather still. We had a 1.5 mile road walk with camping indicated on the map where the trail went back into the woods. With so much time we decided to do the road walk, eat dinner and decided what to do. We quickly finished the road walk and found several sites near a large tributary of Tionesta creek. I had a dinner mashed potatoes and we looked at the maps. From here it was a climb and we decided to get it out of the way as it looked flat at the top and we figured we could find somewhere to camp. So up we went with the biggest climb we had all day. Just as we started up we could feel a little rain so we raced up the hill as fast as our tired legs would go. On the way we passed some giant boulders the size of houses but with being tired and the threat of rain we didn't stop to take pictures. At 6:30 we made it to the top and looked for a spot to set up. It was ironic that the entire day we had been walking through relatively open forest where setting up a tent would not be a problem but now when we had to set up were no good spots for two tents. We ended up having to pitch our tents in the middle of the trail just in time as it started raining steadier. I was exhausted after a 21 mile day, the longest I have ever hiked in one day. We both went to bed early. It rained hard at times in the night and the wind picked up considerably.

More continued in part 2 . . .

Big Sky Evolution 2P

While cottage manufacturers have given us plenty of lightweight tents, those looking for a more traditional free standing, double wall tents usually have to look to more mainstream companies. For example Big Agnes produces several lightweight 1 and 2 person tents under 3 pounds. However, as someone 6'6" in general I have found that these are lacking, either in length (Big Copper spur) or height or aren't really free standing (think the fly creek/slater series from Big Agnes). I have been looking for a lightweight (under 3 pounds) free standing tent. I have a couple tarptents (the moment DW and stratospire 2) which are great, but sometimes you want a free standing double wall tent. like when you are staking on snow. I also like having enough room in my tent to bring my pack in a have a little space to spread out so that eliminates most 1 person tents and I generally use a 2 person tent solo (the moment DW is the exception). I had been eyeing the tents from Big Sky for a long time. I have seen several great reviews of their evolution and revolution series and from these it looks as though they have an unmatched weight vs space for a traditional tent. Like many other cottage manufacturers their tents are made from sil-nylong, no polyurethane coating here. A quick internet search however can give on one pause in buying a tent from them. Apparently many years ago people would pay for tents and not see them for a year. Their website doesn't really help the situation quite frankly as it is a mess. The pictures they have a of many of their tent models are not the current revision of what they are selling. For example, the evolution 2p tent pictures on the website is not what you will get. The pictures of the evolution are an older revision that is quite different than what they currently sell. I only knew what to expect because of other reviews. 

The space and weight of the tents just seemed too good to pass up. Big Sky now keeps an up to date list of what is available and from internet posts it sounded like they had fixed up their act in terms of delivering tents. Moreover they do not charge your credit card until it is ready to ship. I decided to take the plunge and order one. 

Mesh Inner Tent

Big Sky Evolution 2P with the fly on

I settled on the Evolution 2P, which is a traditional free standing double wall tent It is a simple dome with two crossing poles, two doors/vestibules, and requires pitching the inner part of the tent first. As I wanted to use the tent in winter, I ordered both the mesh inner  and the inner tent that has a breathable fabric instead of mess. Big sky offers a couple of options such as a slightly lighter fly and carbon fiber poles, but I chose the base model with the standard sil-nylon. Those options would have saved another 5 or 6 ounces off the weight. After placing the order, I was surprised to get an email from Bob Molen, the owner of Big Sky. Apparently the website had not captured the poles I wanted. He wanted to know which I wanted and offered me a free compression sack for the trouble. In any case, about a week later I got the email that my tent had shipped. They were out of the fabric inner so he said that would ship when they made another one, in about 2 or 3 weeks. Several days later I received the tent. Of course the first thing I did was weight it. On my scale with the compression sack, it got 47 ounces. This is the compression sack, fly, inner tent, and poles. It does not include stakes, of which you need 4 at the minimum and 8 for the strongest pitch.

After setting the inner tent in my living room I was blown away with how much space it had. Big sky claims 42 inches of headroom and that was accurate. I can sit upright without touching the ceiling. They also claim a 91 inch length of the inner tent. That seems about right as I can fully stretch out without touching the ends. The width is fairly standard, 53 inches tapering down to 47.

Notice how the ends of the inner tent are near vertical.

There is nothing fancy or revolutionary about the tent. It is a simple dome using lightweight silnylon to save weight. Quite frankly having used quite a few freestanding double wall tents over the years, the Evolution 2P just blows them away in terms of the space for the amount of weight.

Up close view of the high end.

The fly has the usual features one would expect on a high end tent. It has two generous roof vents that can be propped open, velcro tabs to attach the fly to the poles, and guy out points on the four corners. Big Sky uses an interesting mechanism to attach the corners of the fly to the body of the tent. Instead of clips, the corners attach to heavy duty shock cord, allowing the fly to self-tension itself. With the mesh inner ventilation looks great. One nice feature is that you do not have to seam seal the fly.

Plenty of ventilation

The vestibules are reasonably sized. You can order a porch fly for more vestibule space but I didn't go with that feature.

Reasonably sized vestibules

A view of the vestibule

I'm quite pleased with the purchase. After about a month I did receive the breathable fabric fly. I will try to post some pictures of that soon. If you are looking for a tent Big Sky is worth a look. Although they really need to fix up their website the tent itself is beautiful and they were prompt and communicative in the buying process.