This looks sort of interesting...

[RayBan]

Not exactly the Packa but it looks like it does things the Packa doesn't...

http://www.exped.com/exped/web/exped_homepage_na.nsf/0/F3944450BB0FD1A3C125786200544363?opendocument

[RayBan]

...and yes I know: a number of folks make something like this

[JAK]

Cool. Using two ponchos is an old military and scout theme.

[Ktaadn]

Is it just me or do these shelters look like serious construction projects? I'm looking to go backpacking, not design a geodesic dome before dinner.

[JustADude]

Is it just me or do these shelters look like serious construction projects? I'm looking to go backpacking, not design a geodesic dome before dinner.

This forum really needs a like button b/c this post is classic.

[Tinker]

This might have been the original Silnylon poncho. http://www.integraldesigns.com/produ...ail.cfm?id=728
Back in '00, everyone wanted one (everyone who used a polyurethane coated 1.5 lb. poncho as a shelter, that is).
Now, everyone makes one.
I have a standard (sort of - the hood hole is round) Mountain Laurel Designs poncho. Mine, unlike others, however, is 9.5 feet long and has (I forgot, but roughly) 20 tiedowns around the perimiter and a beak that attaches to one side with snaps and velcro. It makes a very good shelter as long as it doesn't rain too hard or long, or you don't mind getting a bit wet. Yes, you will get wet using a poncho as a shelter, and I wouldn't do it long term unless it was my emergency shelter and I was planning on staying at the official trailside shelters. On western trails, where week long rainstorms are rare, ponchos are still used by a good number of people (most use a water resistant/breathable bivy with the poncho).
Trouble with ponchos is that there's little room under there to do anything but sleep. Getting out of your bag in a rainstorm involves pushing the bag (and bivy) down over your feet, trying not to push it out into the rain. Then you store it in the driest part of the shelter while you try to find something waterproof to use for the brief run you need to make to the bushes (wait! I thought the poncho was your rain gear - - it is,! but at the moment, it's tied to the ground and busy trying to keep your "stuff" dry. So you grab your extra trash bag (you did pack an extra, didn't you ), do your thing, come back under the poncho, try to shake every last drop off somewhere in a corner opposite of your "stuff", then reverse the procedure, pulling bag and bivy back over your (at least partially sodden) body.
It's fun! (or not) - you just hope it doesn't rain too many nights.
But it's light and multi purpose, (or so you tell yourself as the clingy, wet silnylon wraps you in its clammy embrace ). Then the sun comes out, and you, having survived the rainy night, a true Survivorman, observe other pilgrims packing up their wet, not-so-ultralight tents and rejoice at being one of the true ultralighters.

[daddytwosticks]

I like my poncho/Meteor bivy combo in warmer weather when I plan on sleeping in the shelters. They tend to be less crowded down here in the off season, after the thru-hikers pass through. My poncho is a great back-up shelter (and great warm weather raingear/packcover) plus the bivy works well in AT shelters.

[Tinker]

I like my poncho/Meteor bivy combo in warmer weather when I plan on sleeping in the shelters. They tend to be less crowded down here in the off season, after the thru-hikers pass through. My poncho is a great back-up shelter (and great warm weather raingear/packcover) plus the bivy works well in AT shelters.

I've enjoyed being able to stop in the middle of a rainstorm, preferably under a large tree to block direct rainfall, pull my head and arms inside my poncho, remove my pack, take out lunch, eat it, then reverse the above steps and continue hiking. I don't know if you can do that with a Packa - I think there's a divider between the pack and the wearer, if I recall.

The Packa (just for yucks) http://www.thepacka.com/