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mcskinney
12-19-2010, 02:42
what was your 1st tent you owned?

Mine was a Sierra Designs Flashlight clip I bought with birthday $ in 1997

pics if you got em

thelowend
12-19-2010, 02:50
thats awesome. my first tent was the same one. christmas, 08. =)
the first tent i ever slept in was an old school boy scout issued pup tent. fond memories.

4eyedbuzzard
12-19-2010, 03:40
First tent was a :::drumroll::: Eureka Timberline (1975?)
Next one was a Moss Starlet bought in 1991. Sold it a couple of years ago. It was a great little tent.

moytoy
12-19-2010, 08:57
My first bought tent was a Eureka Timberline also. I used it for Motor Cycle camping mostly. I still have it and the grandkids use it in the back yard. In 1959 my dad bought surplus WWll wool sleeping bags with a waterproof cover for me and my brother. We used them on the AT in the Smokys and I continued to use mine until the early 70's. If the rain got so heavy that the cover didn't keep me dry I just through a plastic tarp over the bag. Thinking back I remember some very uncomfortable nights in that bag. If not for modern equipment I don't think I would still be hiking.

moytoy
12-19-2010, 09:00
gramer flaw..threw not through!....

Roland
12-19-2010, 09:37
I got my first tent at 7 or 8 years old. It was a child-size, canvas umbrella tent, that looked a lot like this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/vintagestitches/2814371423/#/), but much smaller. That tent got A LOT of use. My neighborhood buddies and I took that tent on many adventures in the wild--all within sight of my parents' house!

That summer, I spent more nights in the tent than under a roof. Like the fantasy of so many young boys, I was living on My Side of the Mountain.

In high school, I received a Eureka Timberline. Heavy by today's standard, it was my first, real backpacking tent. I used it to traipse all over the Presidentials, summer and winter.

I've had a lot of tents since then, but none have provided the fun, adventures and memories of that old canvas tent!

CrumbSnatcher
12-19-2010, 10:59
1998 QUEST praying mantis

Lone Wolf
12-19-2010, 10:59
1986 Eureka Crescent 1 person

Rocket Jones
12-19-2010, 11:23
US Army surplus Shelter-half, early 70's. Heavy, canvas, I bought two from our Boy Scout troop so I'd have a whole tent in bad weather. Paid almost nothing but big sweat from lugging them along. :D

canoehead
12-19-2010, 11:36
US Army surplus Shelter-half, early 70's. Heavy, canvas. Same here

Old Hiker
12-19-2010, 11:47
North Face Big Frog - looks like today's Big Fat Frog underneath. Fly seems a lot smaller than the Big Fat Frog, but the vestibule was great. Lots of room for a 6'2" thrashing sleeper. It was the first "real" tent I bought. I used it for years until I started looking at weight reduction, sort of.

Sugarfoot
12-19-2010, 12:12
NorthFace Tadpole, 1986, a light-weight 2-man tent for its time, weighing about 4-1/2 pounds.

Spirit Walker
12-19-2010, 12:26
I had an orange tube tent - purchased for about $5. I used that on my first AT thruhike - but usually stayed in shelters. First real tent was a Flashlight (pre-clip) I bought two years later.

Canada Goose
12-19-2010, 19:13
what was your 1st tent you owned?


The first tent I "owned" I made as a kid out of cardboard boxes, lawn furniture, and blankets in the back yard. It was a great tent, but not too weather resistant!


First tent was a :::drumroll::: Eureka Timberline (1975?)
Next one was a Moss Starlet bought in 1991.

Exactly the same for me. Timberline was used for canoeing and winter camping. When I needed a tent for my first A.T. hike, I got the Starlet. I then progressed to a Clip Flashlight, a Light Year CD, a nylon tarp, and finally, a silnylon tarp.

CG

Jim Adams
12-19-2010, 19:15
1986 Eureka Crescent 1 person

GREAT tent! Way ahead of its time. First tent designed by computer.

geek

Mags
12-19-2010, 19:25
The first tent I regularly used (as opposed to own) was one of a collection of heavy A-frame canvas tents from when I was in Boy scouts... DON'T TOUCH THE TENT was the mantra we repeated when it rained (frequently) during our camping trips....

The first tent I owned was a Walrus Swift bought in 1996. A 'light' 3.5# hoop tent that was easy to set up and use. Served me well....

Lone Wolf
12-19-2010, 20:20
GREAT tent! Way ahead of its time. First tent designed by computer.

geek
and like most gear companies they stopped making them a year or two later. if it ain't broke don't fix it

mweinstone
12-19-2010, 20:30
orange tube tent 1975 pocohaunis spring. built blocks from sticks and leaves to lessen the wind. all tubes were orange. still are. safer that way,dont wanna look like bozo sleepin.r.i.p. my first night ever outside the city and i was alone, 14, and cold and wet.best trips i ever took. ahh the first nights,....good thread.

Flippy
12-20-2010, 00:01
Eureka Backcountry 4 bought in 1994 I believe. Just shy of 7 lbs, but when I think about it on several ocassions we slept 4 people in the tent (less than 2 lbs/per person). I still use the tent for the kids.

weary
12-20-2010, 01:37
I bought my first tent around 1948 for $3.95 mail order, but I've long since forgotten from who. It had no brand name. And no floor. No bug netting. No zippers, just three ties to close the door. It was made of army surplus coated nylon. The front entrance was 3.5 feet high. Pretty much a standard pup tent, weighing about a pound. I cut the poles on site.

In many ways it was the best tent I ever owned. Just good light weight shelter. I'd buy another if anyone made such a thing any more.

I used it well into the 70s. In an emergency it would sleep three people. Just cut a shorter pole. lower the height and increase the width. I used it early summer in 1951 with two Army buddies from Fort DEvens, MA when we explored the path followed by Henry Thoreau along Cape Cod. That trip was taken during the week furlough I took after being ordered by the Army to fight in Korea.

It was used on weekend and longer backpacks for the next 25 years. Three of us squeezed in one snowy night in November on Bigelow when we found a shelter unexpectedly full.

One snowy June weekend on Katahdin's Chimney Pond was the tent's only failure. My hand cut pole broke under the weight of eight inches of wet snow and I had to retreat to the bunk house.

Also by then the coated nylon was getting a bit tattered, so I also bought a Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight.

im lost
12-20-2010, 02:19
timberline got it when I was 15 or 16 still got it

mcskinney
12-20-2010, 03:43
I had an orange tube tent - purchased for about $5. I used that on my first AT thruhike - but usually stayed in shelters. First real tent was a Flashlight (pre-clip) I bought two years later.

I just found a flashlight "sleeve" at Goodwill, it was only $3 so i bought it. It has a fly but no vestibule (fly is the same footprint as the tent). Is that how yours was? I thought it strange.

mcskinney
12-20-2010, 04:00
So it seems Flashlights and Timberlines were/are popular 1st tents!! I didn't think there would be that much uniformity to that question, wow.





I bought my first tent around 1948 for $3.95 mail order, but I've long since forgotten from who. It had no brand name. And no floor. No bug netting. No zippers, just three ties to close the door. It was made of army surplus coated nylon. The front entrance was 3.5 feet high. Pretty much a standard pup tent, weighing about a pound. I cut the poles on site.

In many ways it was the best tent I ever owned. Just good light weight shelter. I'd buy another if anyone made such a thing any more.

I used it well into the 70s. In an emergency it would sleep three people. Just cut a shorter pole. lower the height and increase the width. I used it early summer in 1951 with two Army buddies from Fort DEvens, MA when we explored the path followed by Henry Thoreau along Cape Cod. That trip was taken during the week furlough I took after being ordered by the Army to fight in Korea.

It was used on weekend and longer backpacks for the next 25 years. Three of us squeezed in one snowy night in November on Bigelow when we found a shelter unexpectedly full.

One snowy June weekend on Katahdin's Chimney Pond was the tent's only failure. My hand cut pole broke under the weight of eight inches of wet snow and I had to retreat to the bunk house.

Also by then the coated nylon was getting a bit tattered, so I also bought a Sierra Designs Clip Flashlight.

This is exactly why I posted this thread. Seeing this response and the others from that whole 1st page makes my day.

1st nights, canvas, boy scout trips...

My first backpacking trip i strapped a backpack on top of my frame pack to carry all my stuff, I was so top heavy I fell over several times, much to the chagrin of my buddy and his dad. Those were the days, life was so simple when I was 15, LOL.

DuctTape
12-20-2010, 20:21
Sierra Designs Light Year, summer 2000

BradMT
12-26-2010, 01:35
what was your 1st tent you owned?

Mine was a Sierra Designs Flashlight clip I bought with birthday $ in 1997

pics if you got em

Some sort of Eureka... 1973 or 74.

Still have my 1979 vintage North Face VE24...

MuffinMan11
12-26-2010, 04:42
My first tent I purchased was a North Face Slickrock.

sir limpsalot
01-03-2011, 17:46
Eureka Timberline....back from 1979. Just retired it this fall and bought a timberline outfitter 4! (gotta have a loaner tent)

Pioneer Spirit
01-03-2011, 17:52
A blue side wall tent from JC Penny circa 1975. Still have it.

Red Hat
01-03-2011, 19:58
blue pup tent mid 70s.... but my first tent on the AT was a Walrus Zoid 2003. Still have that one.

ShaneP
01-03-2011, 20:11
Best Christmas ever. 1977. I got a White Stag dome tent. 1st of it's kind I ever saw. It's still the basic design for most tents; two crossed fiberglass section poles in sleeves with a fly. Also got a White Stag down bag, a Himalayan backpack, and a Svea stove.

What ever happened to White Stag?


S

mister krabs
01-03-2011, 20:23
When I was 10 I got a sweet Sears canvas 8x10 cabin tent, my best friend had one just like it. I used it for years of back yard camping.

The first tent I bought myself was a 96 sierra designs Meteor Light, an excellent canoe camping tent.

wornoutboots
01-03-2011, 20:48
Nice question! mine was back in the 70's in cub scouts. I have no idea what it was called who made it or whatever but it had one pole in the front(2pcs) with a pointed top that you stuck thru a grommet & staked out & same in the back, it was a triangle shape & you staked the edges out & you were done. One zipper down the middle in the front & no rain fly. That was a loong time ago.

Feral Bill
01-03-2011, 21:07
1969 3 person Gerry tent, blue. Great tent, but needed a bunch of stakes. Eventualy died of UV light.

58starter
01-03-2011, 22:42
Boy Scout tent from Sears 1963. No name brand. No floor. No netting. Flaps tied together to close the front. I had two wooden poles to hold it up. When it rained it leaked. But, great memories in scouting with it.

mcskinney
01-04-2011, 06:14
Best Christmas ever. 1977. I got a White Stag dome tent. 1st of it's kind I ever saw. It's still the basic design for most tents; two crossed fiberglass section poles in sleeves with a fly. Also got a White Stag down bag, a Himalayan backpack, and a Svea stove.

What ever happened to White Stag?


S
I have a white stag down parka that I inherited from my Grandmothers brother. It dates from the 50's I was told... warm as hell!

Awol1970
01-04-2011, 11:53
The first tent I regularly used (as opposed to own) was one of a collection of heavy A-frame canvas tents from when I was in Boy scouts... DON'T TOUCH THE TENT was the mantra we repeated when it rained (frequently) during our camping trips....

The first tent I owned was a Walrus Swift bought in 1996. A 'light' 3.5# hoop tent that was easy to set up and use. Served me well....

....DON'T TOUCH THE TENT.... just made me spit coffee. My father would scream it @ about 4AM when the thunderstorm would roll thru. :rolleyes:

rambunny
01-04-2011, 16:34
Sierra Design Summer Moon (95?) was and is (tuckerized of course) my rainfly&protection . Many old circus tents & pup tents before.