Swapping a $600 tent for a 5.5 oz tarp: what the Long Trail taught one hiker
One of the more honest gear stories I have read lately comes from The Trek. Katie Jackson replaced her Durston X-Mid Pro 1 tent with a Zpacks Hexamid Pocket Tarp for an autumn thru-hike of Vermont's Long Trail, mainly to carry less weight. The swap saved 11.6 ounces, most of it from dropping the bug net and floor.
The surprise is that the real win was volume. The tent packed to around 3.5 liters while the tarp took up just 0.7 liters, leaving room for more food in a small pack. Over 13 nights she cowboy camped twice, slept in the trail's wooden shelters ten times, and never pitched the tarp at all, yet she still felt the benefit of the lighter, smaller kit.
She is also upfront about the downsides she found on later trips. Without netting she lost more wind protection than expected, nights below freezing felt colder, and she woke up with sand and grit in dusty spots. With no floor, rain splashing off compact soil and groundwater are bigger issues, so site selection matters a lot. Bugs and privacy are the obvious costs.
On the plus side, there was much less condensation, the DCF fabric dries in minutes in the sun, and there is simply less to break: no zippers, no floor to rip, one pole. She likes being able to see the stars, and once woke up to find a mountain lion a few feet away.
Her conclusion is that there is no single right answer. For the Continental Divide Trail she chose a tent without hesitation, because of altitude, wind and monsoon weather. I appreciated that: ultralight is about matching the kit to the trip, not about the lowest number on the scale.
Source: The Trek
The surprise is that the real win was volume. The tent packed to around 3.5 liters while the tarp took up just 0.7 liters, leaving room for more food in a small pack. Over 13 nights she cowboy camped twice, slept in the trail's wooden shelters ten times, and never pitched the tarp at all, yet she still felt the benefit of the lighter, smaller kit.
She is also upfront about the downsides she found on later trips. Without netting she lost more wind protection than expected, nights below freezing felt colder, and she woke up with sand and grit in dusty spots. With no floor, rain splashing off compact soil and groundwater are bigger issues, so site selection matters a lot. Bugs and privacy are the obvious costs.
On the plus side, there was much less condensation, the DCF fabric dries in minutes in the sun, and there is simply less to break: no zippers, no floor to rip, one pole. She likes being able to see the stars, and once woke up to find a mountain lion a few feet away.
Her conclusion is that there is no single right answer. For the Continental Divide Trail she chose a tent without hesitation, because of altitude, wind and monsoon weather. I appreciated that: ultralight is about matching the kit to the trip, not about the lowest number on the scale.
Source: The Trek
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