I'm a southern paddler and the biggest problem with a tent is not getting hyperthermia. One neat trick taught to me by an Arkansas paddler/camper is to take a tarp for shade. It needs to be first folded lengthwise in half and cross wise in thirds. Where the first third and the half lines meet, put in a gromet. Then carry one expandable pole. When you get to the sandbar, beach or gravel bar, fist take out your tarp and set it up, putting the pointed end of the pole in the gromet. (Didn't get around to the gromet? Then cut a little X in a tennis ball and put it over the stake and pull the tarp over that. It goes up a little harder and is not as smooth.) Stake down the corners using long ropes so the bottom of the tarp ends above the ground for good air flow. Then sit down under it and set up your tent, leaving the fly off. Set up the tent so the pole is near your front door. You will have extra storage space in back of tent. This makes all the difference in coolness. I use a fully mesh Walrus 2-man tent when I am cramped for space and a large Kelty Sundowner with large windows on 3 sides and a door on the 4th side for car camping or sharing with friends on a trip. I use sand stakes for both if I'm camping in sand or gravel. The Sundowner is free standing and the Kelty needs at least 8 stakes. I have never used it below 30 degrees but would want a 4 season tent at much below 20 degrees. The secret of keeping dry is to cut a piece of 6 mm plastic in the shape of your tent but 8 inches larger in all dimensions. Then lay in INSIDE the tent, letting the extra go up the sides of the tent to make a little tub structure. You may end up with water on the floor of your tent but never on your side of the plastic. Another option I use when I know I'll have trees but no mosquitoes is a Youcatan hammock. I also just got the Hennessy hamock but haven't camped out of it yet. I will not use it in the souther summers but it may be useful for northern summers and southern falls and springs. I camped out of my hammock for a month while traveling in the west one summer. And I used a tarp for years before I got a tent. It was from the Frostline kit and had ties every square foot. I would string a rope between 2 trees just high enough to tie it over the rope at the one-third line. Then I would fold it at the next third line and end up with a little A-frame with a floor. I could tie the edges together and stayed warm and dry enough in Arkansas and Louisiana and East Texas camping. Marilyn Kircus *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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