March 16th: Bivy or Tarptent?

[SunnyWalker]

OK, here is my 2 cents worth: Gatewood Cape W/Serenity Net Tent (used in conjunction with the Cape), and REI Minilamist bivi.

[Datto]

Forget the bivy -- take the tarptent. Reason:

It's highly likely, up the Trail after you acclimate to trail life, that you're going to want to continue the peace you've gained during the hiking day. You may/will find that you actually prefer, during good weather, to tent right at the point in the evening when you're done hiking for the day (which may not be where there's a shelter). So you just throw out your tarptent, setup camp, cook dinner using the water you gathered at the last watering hole, relax for the evening in the calm of your campsite (inside the tent if there are bugs), look around and enjoy all the splendor that surrounds you and then go to sleep in the peace you've retain from the hiking day. The next morning you wake up, the peace is still there and with you and at your leisure you pack up and start hiking again.

I don't know if I met anyone on my AT thru-hike who was carrying a bivy. Just didn't seem to be that good of a solution for an AT thru-hiker. Particularly in the Swamp Fuss of New Jersey and Connecticut where you'll want to sit up and be protected from the bugs and relax.


Datto

[Datto]

Buy the way, I used a one-person Nomad tent for my AT thru-hike. Probably the best one-person tent ever made for long-distance hiking (don't think it's made anymore). After my AT thru-hike I switched to a two-person Nomad tent for New Zealand and Scotland then switched to a tarp for the desert portion of the PCT and then back to the 2-person Nomad for the rest of the PCT.

From what I have seen of the tarptents that others have carried they are probably as close to what I got out of my one-person Nomad that I could buy today.


Datto

[q-tip]

Warm is the sleeping bag-dry is the tent--a bivy might be difficult to use considering long nights in March-Aril

[SunnyWalker]

Read the post again, RE bivis.

[daddytwosticks]

Good one, maybe "she" hangs? What then, aerial sex?

Don't forget your Cuben condom.

[Coosa]

BIVY LIFE IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. However, if you're going to spend your nights on the Trail in a Shelter most of the time, it's ideal. Especially if you sleep on your back and you like to snuggle into your covers. In a bivy, you are protected from dirt, shelter mice, spiders, mosquitoes, ticks and other bugs.

I LOVE my Bivy ... REI Minimalist ... 15 ounces. USE WITH A SMALL TARP. http://www.bearpawwd.com/tents_tarps/tarps.html

Silnylon
6.5'x10': 12 oz.
5'x10': 8 oz.

OR CUBEN
6.5'x10': 7 oz.
5'x10': 5.5 oz

I especially like the many loops on the surface of these tarps ... while you're looking, check out their CUSTOM WORK tab ...

I am about to purchase a 6.5x10 silnylon tarp ... in grey I guess. My bivy is RED.


Coosa