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KristalB

Ultralight Tent Research brings Reward!

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I did quite a bit of studying, research, and weighing out the options (every def of weigh implied). I looked at LightHeart Tents, but I have Leki's screw lock poles. For those tents it was recommended to use slide lock poles and I saw their reasoning after watching a video review. To be honest, I liked the idea of using the poles I already carried to use for tent poles. I searched through the REI, EMS, and USOutdoors sites and compared countless tents against prices and features available. By the way, sticksblog.com has great video reviews if you are looking for info on a hiking product. These are my specs that I wanted in my tent: 1. Total enclosure to keep bugs out. 2. Something to dress in... Privacy. 3. No condensation. 4. Light weight. 5. Under $300 6. Something that can support the weight of clothes drying on it. 7. Free standing in case I want to set up in a shelter with ease. 8. Vestibule to hold all my stuff. 9. Roomy on the inside. I looked at the reviews on every ultralight tent I could find and found only one tent to have good reviews all across the board coupled with my needs as a hiker. Then I found it but couldn't find any online. I called REI and they only had 2 left in the US. The next day I called Dallas to ship me my choice tent: Big Agnus Copper Spur UL1. I am so looking forward to trying it out on a camping trip in two weeks. Yes, my family will be in the Yurt, but I'll be camped by the lake to try out the features of this new tent prior to bringing it on trail.To protect the floor of the tent, I will invest in a footprint... something I've never used before. To save money on my footprint, I ordered a 4x8 Tyvek to cut to size. This will protect my tent from those rogue rocks and animals I may mistaking set up my tent on/over. Tyvek is super durable and ultra light... And only cost me $12. Much less expensive than the Big Agnus footprint.Welp, here's one more piece to my Thru-hike puzzle. I don't know when I will be doing my thru-hike, but I know I'm slowly collecting the important pieces to have a successful one. Here's to going semi-ultralight.

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