It's almost camping season. Let's hear about some tents!

 

Haha, looking for one with a little more room in it these days?

Haha' date=' looking for one with a little more room in it these days?[/quote']She may be. I'm still digging the Drifter. You would have appreciated our conversation last night:

 

Gf: you mean we can't take MY air mattress on a hiking trip?

Me: Sure we can. You can carry it.

Gf: It's not that heavy.

Me: Bet it gets left by mile 5.

She may be. I'm still digging the Drifter. You would have appreciated our conversation last night:

 

Gf: you mean we can't take MY air mattress on a hiking trip?

Me: Sure we can. You can carry it.

Gf: It's not that heavy.

Me: Bet it gets left by mile 5.

 

I had a conversation that was something like that with my better half:

 

Me: So do you think you'd want to go backpacking down at the Gorge this spring?

Wife: Backpacking like with stuff in your backpack?

Me: That's the general purpose of backpacks, yes, carrying stuff.

Wife: But you mean camping stuff, right.

Me: Yup

Wife: I'll backpack as long as we're backpacking to a hotel or cabin where we an sleep at the end of the day.

My tent is a 1998 Prevost Marathon with a Queen size bed....LOL!!! You asked....

Haha, looking for one with a little more room in it these days?

Well, it DOES look like I'm looking for a bigger tent now. Even though I think the Drifter has plenty of room it's become apparent that in order to have happy camping trips I'm going to need a bigger tent. So, I'd like to stay as light as possible still. It would be nice if it could fit her previously mentioned queen size air mattress. We need room for the two of us to sit be able to sit up in it. The dog may be with us too. Hoping I can fill these with under a $300 budget.

 

Weight isn't as important as I think it may be used for car camping with hiking thrown in and I doubt any backpacking happens this year. Though if it does come to fruition I'm hoping to get something that the two of us can comfortably pack. One thing I don't want to budge on is the quality. After getting the Drifter there is no way I'm going back to Coleman or any other Wal-Mart tents.

 

Finally, this thing needs to be easy to put up. My search has just began so I don't have anything in mind just yet. But may check back in for advice as the search progresses. Right now we have a Ragnar Trail Race lined up where we will be camping a few miles from our car for a few days. After that we both have a week off and the plan is to throw a tent down somewhere.

Early favorite. Like the size. Pleased with the company. Have to see if it fits this stupid air mattress.

 

Mountain Hardwear Optic 3.5

 

Found it for $228 here.

Early favorite. Like the size. Pleased with the company. Have to see if it fits this stupid air mattress.

 

Mountain Hardwear Optic 3.5

 

Found it for $228 here.

 

Man...that's pretty awesome. You're only talking 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of added weight in a backpack (although let's be realistic - a pound to a pound and a half isn't "only" when you're backpacking :lol2: ) That's a GREAT size for you guys, plus those giant window openings are pretty stellar for ventilation - so long as you know the weather isn't going to suck. Gotta like the double vestibules too.

Man...that's pretty awesome. You're only talking 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of added weight in a backpack (although let's be realistic - a pound to a pound and a half isn't "only" when you're backpacking :lol2: ) That's a GREAT size for you guys, plus those giant window openings are pretty stellar for ventilation - so long as you know the weather isn't going to suck. Gotta like the double vestibules too.

Nice...thanks for the advice. Ordered it here for $205.

Once again Mountain Hardwear came through. It was strong enough to hold up to a pretty hairy storm in WV, a storm that took down many of our fellow campers' tents.

 

The huge ventilation made for very comfortable nights sleeping on the beach in Florida.

 

But most importantly, it won the gf's stamp of approval. Towards the end of our Florida camping trip she even admitted that camping was "the way to go"...