Our New Crazy Ultralight Tent Replacement
My first true backpacking experience was an overnight stay on the south rim of the Chisos in Big Bend National Park and much of the fun was lost in the effort to merely survive the trek. My wife and I carried standard backpacks and filled them with everything we ‘might need’ and I’m sure we both carried over forty pounds on the day-long hike. Seven and a half hours of that isn’t as fun as I had anticipated. The hike back in was slightly shorter and shadier and that helped some, but as soon as it was over we drove about an hour to our next camping destination and I returned from the restroom to give my wife the exciting news: showers! I don’t ever remember a hot shower feeling so good.
So yes, we survived and we have a great adventure story to tell, but it wasn’t enough fun that we continued doing it. We became your basic car-campers. We did do a few years worth of rock climbing at one point but the nights were spent back in the campground and the weight of any backpacking was unavoidable what with the ropes and anchor gear. We didn’t hike anywhere with our tent or sleeping bags.
Some time last year I ran across the concept of Ultralight hiking/backpacking. I was intrigued. The concept was part zen, part practical. Hiking is supposed to be about getting away from civilization, and it is also supposed to be about having fun. Many were rediscovering the joy of hiking by shedding unnecessary weight. Not only was this practical but it was also a bit of introspection regarding material things and the consumer/packrat mindset. It encourages one to look around at their possessions and think “Do I really need all this stuff?”
Ultralight enthusiasts tout their current base weight (meaning all backpack weight minus consumables) and some are doing multi-day hikes with a base weight as low as 2-3 pounds! At some point we bought into this idea and began going through our gear. We weeded out those things that were for car-camping only and then weighed everything to get a baseline. Our combined gear came in at 33 pounds. It appeared that we had some work to do.
One weight-saving idea that we discovered was to ditch the traditional tent for a tarp. I thought it sounded just plain crazy, but many ultralight backpackers use one. If it is angled properly it shelters you from rain and wind, which is a major reason why people use tents. Living in Texas we had additional concerns, like fire ants, scorpions and mosquitos, so we found a tarp design that included mosquito netting. We bought the material and the plans from Ray Jardine, an infamous adventure sport pioneer, and my wife did about 95% of the work in assembling everything. That is an immediate savings of five pounds.
Another weight-saving idea came in the area of food preparation. An entire mini-industry seems to have sprung up around the concept of super-lightweight fire containers. At the simple and easy end of the spectrum you can poke some holes in a coffee can and use it as a wood stove. More sophisticated solutions involve taking juice, soft drink or beer cans and drilling lots of little holes in them. These types of mini-stoves typically use alcohol as a fuel and the holes concentrate the flames like a gas stove top. So far I am leaning toward the mini burners and have tested one prototype. The end result will probably be another 3-4 pounds of weight shaved off.
Soon we will set up our tarp and begin practicing different configurations and setting it up with nothing but a couple of walking sticks. It’s sort of like Scouting for grown-ups. Stay tuned for further updates.