Bivy or tent...?

imported
#1

I am thinking of using a one man tent, but my only concern with using a tent is the following. Lets say I get to a camp and want to use the shelter. Well I don’t want to be bothered by bugs so I’ll have to set this tent up. I was looking at the MSR Zoid. First, I don’t know if this is free standing and second I’m going to take up half the shelter w/ my tent. With a bug bivy I’ll take up no more room than normal and be free from bugs. On days when I’m not in a shelter if I use a tent I’ll be fine and have a bigger area to change and a place to be “indoors” while I cook. Neither of these things will be as easy to do with only a bivy sack. Maybe I bring the tent and the bug bivy this way I won’t have to set up the tent in the shelter to be “bug free” but also will have the tent for those days when I’m not in a shelter…this seems like over kill to me, but it also covers all grounds. In short should I use a bivy sack and a bug bivy or just a one man tent. I realize there is no deffinate answer, but I’d like to see what people think.

Thanks,
~sETH

Seth

#2

While I don’t have any first hand experience, I would suggest looking into just plain bug netting, a couple yards worth that you could string up inside a shelter, hanging from the ceiling or whatever. It might be lighter than a bug bivy’s support system, and you could in theory have room to sit up, eat dinner, etc under the hanging canopy. Just a thought.

Chris

#3

The only concern that I have again is in the event of a hard rain storm where will I cook…? What I’m thinkng is that I’m going to bring a tent and also a piece of the No-Seems netting to use on the buggy shelter nights.

Thanks
~sETH

Seth

#4

on my AT thru hike I carried an OR deluxe bivy and used it frequently to fend off bugs both in shelters and when camping. Unfortunetly the buggiest times were also the hottest and most humid times on the trail so I often slept in only a pair of shorts and my sleeping pad inside the bivy. A full bug bivy would have been much cooler but It wouldn’t offer much protection on the nights I camped out in the rain; by itself a bug bivy wouldn’t be practical on the AT. I rescently bought a simple 6 ounce bug bivy made by Adventure 16 (http://www.backcountrystore.com/store/ADV0006.html?CP=MySimon) that slips over my head and shoulders and had a flexible pole that creates a small tent of netting over my face. I’ve seen others using it either in shelters or in combination with a tarp shelter. I’m hoping it will be a good shelter for a future PCT hike.

celt

#5

Both will work. I loved my bug bivy tarp combo. Skate hung her tent in the shelters like you described and it workd great for one simple reason. When the bugs are out, the crowds are not. By the time the bugs arrive, most the NoBO pack will have quit by then. And if the shelter does get full… then set the thing up outside the shelter. Its a tent after all. The zoid is not freestanding but in the moist eastern US where the ground is always capable of taking a steak, thats not an issue. Its not that hard of a decision to make. If you don’t feel comfortable not using a bivy, then use the tent. You seem to be overthinking this. Although anything will work, you would be better off with a tarp and bug bivy, not bivy and bug bivy, or a tent would work as well.
TB
BTW… cooking inside a tent will melt the tent and kill you from the fumes. You can cook under a tarp but not in a tent.

TurkeyBacon