Re: Epic debate: Stuffing vs. rolling tents

Poll

Stuff vs. Roll

This poll has expired. Voting is no longer possible.
8 votes were received.

Stuff it!	3		38%
Roll it!	2		25%
Stuff this poll!	3		37%

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The age-old debate of how to care for a tent never seems to stop.

http://explore-it.blog.com/

There are enough rolled shaped items on the bottom of the backpack:

Sleepy bag
rest pad(s) (especially if you are using the new Neo)
"roll shaped" bear cannister
Tent poles

You need to utilize space in the pack by stuffing in the nooks and crannies with:

Tent/fly
Tarp
Rain gear
Thermals



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 10:14PM by Bee.

I usually roll my stuff.

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
I usually roll my stuff.

Huh?
What are you rolling?
(you folded your therma last trip)
(and you have some goofball way of putting your sleepy bag in your pack)

Had a tent for +10 years. Just stuff that baby in. Don't matta.
Guess it depends on how big da tent.
For forrestranga it's probably supa-size roller. (see his camping list) (yowza)

(and I also post to annoy and amuse)

Mikey MOOSHES his sleepy bag so it sort of oozes all over the place!!! (I tried that once and it took up ALL of the space for EVERYthing!!)

B

If I don't roll it, it just sort of bunches up. I've got to get it all into the tent bag. In fact once it's folded and rolled I can then get in the footprint and a mallet in the same bag.

I've also got one solo tent with captive pole sections sewn into the corners. That one has to be folded up and rolled - otherwise it doesn't fit in the stuff bag.

You guys didn't get it.

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
You guys didn't get it.

At least you don't do yer smokes like yer sleepy bag!

Quote
mrcondron
You guys didn't get it.

Oh - I got it now. Just jamming it in the pack or rolling then jamming it into a pack.

I hate it when I'm not in on the joke.

Why would anyone even consider putting their tent INSIDE their pack???
[Afraid that it will get wet if it rains? No matter how large the interior volume, that is valuable space... strap it to the outside. The only conceivable Sierra scenario that I can envision is if one straps their bear cannister to the outside.]


Mallet? Surplus British Boar War tent?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2009 12:47AM by szalkowski.

Quote
szalkowski
Why would anyone even consider putting their tent INSIDE their pack???

I don't like anything on the outside of my pack (if possible) because it's one more obstacle to get hung up on tree limbs, etc., when Goataineering. Even on the three day trip, the only thing I had onthe outside of my pack was the Z-rest (because it gets used during the rest stop) The pack gets tossed onthe ground, scraped against granite, and otherwise, pretty beat up, so I like to store inside as much as possible. (even though I was carrying a tent inside, I still could have fit ANOTHER tent inside after fully packed, but then again, I was only toting my own load)

B

Get Serious Mike, I got it...

Len, what the h-e-c-k you got in there that a small tent or tarpola don't fit?

[after tredging up the Goat Gulch venue a bleagured Marmot Man went to put up his tent
only to find a chewed up strap ...]

Quote
bill-e-g
Len, what the h-e-c-k you got in there that a small tent or tarpola don't fit?

If I have two other people with me: about an extra 10 kilos of stuff that they should be carrying.

Quote
bill-e-g
[after tredging up..., a bleagured Marmot Man went to put up his tent
only to find a chewed up strap ...]

Never happened to me in 40 years of backpacking...AND my coolant hoses have never been chewed on in Mineral King either.
(Another reason to cultivate friendships with furry friends instead of feathered food.)

Toting, kilos, rolling, .... what's this thread turning into?

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
Toting, kilos, rolling, .... what's this thread turning into?

Uh, Mike, I believe that is spelled with a "k" and not a "t" in the middle.
See this thread: http://yosemitenews.info/forum/read.php?1,17054

What do I know of these things?

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Old Dude

Quote
mrcondron
What do I know of these things?

Memory loss?

Quote
szalkowski


Never happened to me in 40 years of backpacking...AND my coolant hoses have never been chewed on in Mineral King either.
(Another reason to cultivate friendships with furry friends instead of feathered food.)

The campground host at Courtright Reservoir (nowhere near Mineral King) said that marmots chewed his hoses and wire insulation.... He hung dryer sheets around his engine and that stopped.

I for one don't use a tent. Everything I own gets stuffed, except for the sleeping pads (which I don't always take, but when I do they are rolled).

Quote
AlmostThere
I for one don't use a tent.

What do you do in Dec.? I'm curious because I don't use a tent much either anymore...
but come late Nov./ Dec. I'm bringing a tent...

Quote
bill-e-g

Quote
AlmostThere
I for one don't use a tent.

What do you do in Dec.? I'm curious because I don't use a tent much either anymore...
but come late Nov./ Dec. I'm bringing a tent...

I hammock, always. And if I can't I pitch the tarp on the ground.

Quote
AlmostThere

Quote
bill-e-g

Quote
AlmostThere
I for one don't use a tent.

What do you do in Dec.? I'm curious because I don't use a tent much either anymore...
but come late Nov./ Dec. I'm bringing a tent...

I hammock, always. And if I can't I pitch the tarp on the ground.

Don't take this the wrong way. I'm trying to get info here.

So... it's early-late spring and mosquitos are out and then it starts raining....
you have ???

Picture please (of your hammock setup)

Or... your above treeline... what is your setup?

(I got ALOT of gear so... it all depends on the forecast/time of year for me...)

Quote
bill-e-g

Quote
AlmostThere
I hammock, always. And if I can't I pitch the tarp on the ground.

Picture please (of your hammock setup)
Or... you're above treeline... what is your setup?

Skyhooks are extremely useful devices for this situation.

Warbonnet Blackbird, MacCat Deluxe hanging from large pines and cedars in the Rancheria Creek campground near Hetch Hetchy. I hadn't finished tightening the tarp down but wasn't intending to - when it's not cloudy I usually throw the tarp back so I can watch the moon rise.



One tree hang in an oak at Henry Coe State Park. I didn't even put the tarp up - beautiful cold night. The green is my underquilt, which I generally take instead of a pad - I use a second quilt just like it over me in the hammock. The bugnetting is thrown back over the ridgeline in this shot - at night it's zipped up to keep the bugs out. This model of hammock has a shelf and a footbox.



A practice pitch of the tarp on the ground. I did this in subalpine meadows on the JMT earlier this month. No bugs to speak of this late in the year. Had there been any I would have pitched the tarp in an A frame and set up the hammock as a bug bivy with the pad under the hammock to protect the hammock bottom from the ground.



Sometimes you end up in the bottom of a canyon with tent folk who can't just walk up the hill to better trees. Rather than be antisocial I made use of the straps. Clear frosty night - I draped my poncho over the bugnet here for warmth, as the tarp would have been difficult to hang due to the overabundance of brush. There were only a couple of spots for tents down here.



If I think there is going to be real weather I take a 10x12 tarp that can be closed down on the end. Was glad to have it here - we were sitting in the uphill end of it, boiling water out of the 40 mph wind, when I took this pic.

Most nights I spend in this are below 40F, generally in the 30s, with varying degrees of wind and rain. I love hammocking in the rain.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2009 12:22PM by AlmostThere.

Quote
AlmostThere
I for one don't use a tent.

How do you deal with the blood loss?

The bugnet on the hammock is nanoseeum netting.

I think you HAVE been smoking something.
Great posts though (I'm kidding).

Dude

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Old Dude

I fold my tent, stick it in it's bag and then stuff the bag into an elongated exterior pocket on the rear of my pack, barely getting the zipper closed. Poles go inside pack in corner; footprint gets stuffed anywhere inside.

Jim

Very interesting. Thanks.
I'll have to look into that hammock thing.

I invariably prefer this over anything:


Ground cloth, and pads... and the stars above.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2009 05:48PM by bill-e-g.

You need to tell that bird not to leave the bear can so close to his sleeping area....

He's probably also cold, that bag is way too big for him.

Quote
AlmostThere
You need to tell that bird not to leave the bear can so close to his sleeping area....

He's probably also cold, that bag is way too big for him.

Regarding the bear can. This is the one I def. laugh at when they tell you to put it way over
there when giving the permit. We just say "ya". If a bear wants to come sniffy my bear
can during the night ... go ahead. It's not getting the Twinkies inside. I need that can
within arms reach cause I'm cooking right there too. This isn't Grizz country so no need
to worry.

Here's the setup from this weekend. Rained from Sat. 8pm-ish to nearly Noon Sunday.
Nice and toasty dry in bivy and 30 degree sleepy bag. (the bird had to use his own
down to stay warm)

I'm just thinking here of a friend who pitched his tent and his idea of putting the can away from camp was to put it ten feet from someone else's tent. We were all got up at midnight by "someone else" who took exception to the biggest black bear in Yosemite showing up to pick up the bear vault and sit next to his tent licking it, after knocking over people's pots and biting into my little tackle box. Bears chew on everything, including a chick-on, I bet.

All the other canisters were under a rock, buried in rubble, out of sight. Bear didn't even check 'em out. We kept piling slabs on the cans, one night a bear started to unbury them - one of us ran out yelling and the bear walked off ten steps, then looked back as if to ask "do ya really mean I have to go?" She threw rocks and the bear went.

You were camped in one of the "hot" spots no doubt.
We avoid those like the plague during the busiest months unless
absolutely necessary. Small groups, Leave No Trace, Stealth Camp typically.
If I can see you, you are way too close is my moto.
Most trouble I have is with rodentia at high elevation wanting to nibble on
plastic bite valves, shoe strings, chick-on, etc... and those Cleptomaniac Marmots
snagging spoons (I take 2 now).

Quote
bill-e-g
and those Cleptomaniac Marmots
snagging spoons (I take 2 now).

It's about time that you learned to share. (You were supposed to learn that in Kindergarten.)

P.S. Pack Marmots

Hammocking is great for keeping your gear "toothless" - a marmot got my trekking pole handles, but only because they fell in a gust of wind. I'm more secure in my suspension tactics these days.

And some people just don't know how to pack:

Quote
eeek
And some people just don't know how to pack:

Clearly the elephant was uncomfortable riding uncovered in the truck....

Quote
AlmostThere

Quote
eeek
And some people just don't know how to pack:

Clearly the elephant was uncomfortable riding uncovered in the truck....

Rained today (Sunday) at Pumice Flat and I had to roll up my wet tent again...then stuffed it into the sack. Gotta unstuff and unroll it (Monday) to dry it out before it rots.