Camping and Hiking Tents Camping can be a great endeavor whether you’re planning on a solo backpacking journey, a family hiking adventure, or something in between. Tents are an essential piece of camping gear, come in all sizes and styles, and are made for every outdoor environment. From scaling Mount Everest to taking the family on a trip to a beautiful lake, choosing a suitable tent ensures an enhanced camping experience. What are the different types of camping tents?
• Dome and Pyramid: The sloping sides resist wind and rain well during camping and are suitable for solo campers, a family, or small group. Options are available with enough room for up to a dozen people to fit inside.
• Cabin and Wall: Cabin and wall tents offer expansive headroom with vertical walls and a capacity to sleep several people. Some cabin tents slope inwards halfway up or towards the top for better durability in extreme weather. Additional rooms can often be added to a wall or cabin tent for larger family or group camping. • Tunnel: This suitable camp option provides privacy for all campers and is designed to connect rooms end-to-end.
• Screen-room: Expand any area or room with this see-through option. Screen-rooms are designed similar to cabins, keep out bugs, and allow full view of the surrounding scenery.
• Toilet and Shower: Camping does not mean you have to leave necessities behind. Long-term or fast setup options are available to keep you from running to a campsite’s facilities several times during the day or night. A toilet tent gives you an extra private room doubling as the bathroom no matter how secluded a camp location. What is a rainfly? • A rainfly is a separate waterproof cover that goes over the tent without touching it.
It is designed to protect against rain and provide ultraviolet protection as well. Rain flies come in many sizes to allow for any view and ventilation adjustments. What should be considered when choosing a tent? • Structure: How the structure is designed will make a difference when setting up the camping tent and for durability when pitched.
The most common structures use poles, pop-up, or a basic a-frame. • Materials: Climate should be considered when choosing the material. Polyester offers ultraviolet protection, but nylon is strong and lightweight and suitable for backpacking.
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Canvas and poly cotton are also options. • Capacity: Consider how many people will be sleeping inside and if gear will need to be stored, too. The capacity listed is based on the number of people that can sleep on the floor space with sleeping bags and no other supplies or gear.
• Features: Features considered necessary to one person or family may not be necessary for another. For example, setup options range from inflatable to pop-up and may require more than one person. Other features range from waterproof to ultraviolet protection, high altitude, mosquito nets, organizer pockets, and mesh panels for cross ventilation. Stabilize in rough weather using guy lines and a tub-style floor to keep out moisture during camping.
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Tent Sleeping Capacity When choosing your tent, first choose a model based on your group's size and whether or not you might need additional space for extra friends, gear or dogs. Keep in mind, however, that no industry standard exists that defines per-person tent dimensions. When evaluating tent capacity ratings, our general advice is this: Assume a close fit.
If you seek more room, consider upsizing your tent capacity by 1 person, particularly if you or your usual tent companion(s): • are large people • are claustrophobic • toss and turn at night • sleep better with more than average elbow room • are bringing a small child or a dog. 3-Season Tents By far the most popular choice of tents, 3-season tents are lightweight shelters designed for the relatively temperate conditions of spring, summer and fall. They are usually equipped with ample mesh panels to boost air flow. Mesh panels keep out insects (but can still let in powdery blowing sand). Properly pitched with a taut rainfly, 3-season tents can withstand downpours but are not the best choice for sustained exposure to harsh storms, violent winds or heavy snow. The primary functions of 3-season tents: • Keep you dry during rain or light snow. • Shield you from bugs.
• Provide privacy. 3- 4-Season Tents Extended-season (3+ season) tents are engineered for prolonged 3-season usage, suitable for summer use but also trips in early spring and late fall when moderate snow may be encountered. Their goal: offer a balance of ventilation, strength and warmth-retention. Typically they include 1 or 2 more poles and fewer mesh panels than pure 3-season models. This makes them sturdier and warmer than their 3-season cousins. Extended-season tents are a good choice for those who make frequent trips to exposed, high-elevation destinations. While very sturdy, they are not as fully fortified for harsh winter weather as 4-season tents.
4-Season Tents Engineered to withstand fierce winds and substantial snow loads, mountaineering tents can be used in any season. Their chief function, though, is to stand firm in the face of seriously inhospitable weather, principally in winter or above treeline. They use more poles and heavier fabrics than 3-season tents. Their rounded dome designs eliminate flat roof spaces where snow can collect.
They offer few mesh panels and rainflies that extend close to the ground. This hinders ventilation and can make them feel warm and stuffy in mild weather. But when foul winds begin to howl, a 4-season tent provides a reassuring place of refuge. Peak Height If you like being able to stand up when changing clothes or enjoy the airiness of a high ceiling, then look for a tent with a tall peak height (listed in the spec charts). Cabin-style tents feature near-vertical walls to maximize overall peak height and livable space, (and some models come with family-pleasing features such as room dividers and an awning, or a vestibule door that can be staked out as such).
Dome-style tents offer superior strength and wind-shedding abilities, both of which you'll appreciate on a stormy night. They stand tall in the center, but their walls have more of a slope which slightly reduces livable space. Tent Poles A tent's pole structure helps determines how easy or hard it is to pitch. Virtually all family tents these days are freestanding. This means they do not require stakes to set up.
The big advantage of this is that you can pick the tent up and move it to a different location prior to staking. You can also easily shake dirt out of it before taking it down. Fewer poles allow faster setups. It's also easier to attach poles to clips than it is to thread them through long pole sleeves.
Many tents use both clips and short pole sleeves in an effort to balance strength, ventilation and setup ease. Color-coded corners and pole clips also make setup faster. Aluminum poles are stronger and more durable than fiberglass. Guyout Loops Higher-quality tents will include loops on the outside of the tent body for attaching guy lines.
Guy lines allow you to batten down the hatches—no flapping fabric—during high winds. Optional Tent Accessories Footprint This is a custom-fitted groundcloth (usually sold separately) that goes under your tent floor. Tent floors can be tough, but rocks, twigs and dirt eventually take a toll. A footprint costs far less to replace than a tent. For family tents that get a lot of in/out foot traffic, this is especially useful. Also, footprints are sized to fit your tent shape exactly, so they won't catch water like a generic groundcloth that sticks out beyond the floor edges. Water caught that way flows underneath your tent and can seep through the floor fabric.
Gear Loft Most tents come with an integral pocket or two to let you keep small items off of the tent floor. A is an optional interior mesh shelf that can tuck greater volumes of gear out of the way. Other Nice-to-Have Accessories • for varying site conditions • Broom and dustpan • Inside/outside floor mat • Tent repair kit • Seam sealer • Utility cord • Battery-powered ventilation fan Shop REI's selection of.