I always take both- a tent to sleep in and a cheap reinforced poly tarp for my kitchen. The tarp gets set up as a lean-to and windbreak just upwind of the tent and provides a dry place to sit and cook. A $10 tarp can be abused and then retired to use as a painting tarp or garage floor tarp at home. You don't need a big place to sleep if you have a nice sized open shelter to stretch out in. When I was a lad (say, around 1968) I often camped with just a tarp. On Isle Royal and other sites with fire rings we'd just set up the tarps like a shelter half with a floor and slooped roof facing the fire ring, like a mini baker tent. When we found ourselves and our canoes unexpectedly beached in an out-of-the-way spot owing to inclement weather, we used the tarps and dead wood to make lean-tos. After arriving in a campsite aftyer dark last summer and struggling with a "simple" tent it ocurred to me that I could simplify the system further, using a larger tarp and a bivvy bag. Ought to work fine outside of skeeter and black fly season. Michael Edelman mje_at_spamcop.net http://www.foldingkayaks.org http://www.findascope.com *************************************************************************** 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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