Backpacking Tents
Naturehike Cloud-Up 2 Review: Three Seasons of Weekend Trips
Three seasons of short Uinta weekends, one wet September night, and an honest answer about whether two people actually fit.
A fifty-eight-year-old in Ogden with a stiff back, a short window on Fridays, and one tent that finally stopped being a problem.
Three seasons of short Uinta weekends, one wet September night, and an honest answer about whether two people actually fit.
Two tents, one borrowed and one paid for, compared over three seasons of short trips. The budget tent wins on exactly one thing, and it might be the thing that matters to you.
A car camping tent is furniture. A backpacking tent is a decision. Here is why the smaller one won at my house.
A fifty-eight-year-old in Ogden with a stiff back, a short window on Fridays, and one tent that finally stopped being a problem.
A sequence that works when the ridge is already humming, from someone who learned it the hard way in the Uintas.
A second opinion after three seasons in the Uintas: where the Cloud-Up 2 earns its keep, where it pinches, and who should look elsewhere.
Three and a half seasons on a self-inflating pad that a 58-year-old back actually likes, and the two things about it that still annoy me.
A self-inflating foam pad and a plain air pad solve two different problems. Here is which one belongs in your truck and which one belongs in your pack.
A sore back ends camping trips faster than weather does. Here is what actually changed for me, in plain terms.
A stiff back, one bad night on closed-cell foam, and three and a half seasons on the same self-inflating pad.
A practical, first-person guide to setting up a self-inflating pad so you stop waking up sore, cold or on the tent floor.
A second opinion from someone who has slept on it for three and a half seasons, including the parts a spec sheet leaves out.
Four seasons in a synthetic mummy bag, including a 28 degree night above the Mirror Lake Highway. What the 20F rating really means, what holds up, and who should buy something else.
One bag costs a fraction of the other and shrugs off wet nights. The other packs down to the size of a loaf of bread. After four seasons in the Uintas, here is where I landed.
Four seasons in a TETON Sports 20F mummy bag, and the case for synthetic fill on short trips keeps getting easier to make.
Four seasons in a mummy bag bought for shoulder season, from a camper who cares more about sleeping through the night than shaving ounces.
The number printed on a sleeping bag is not the number most people think it is. Here is the order I would work through the decision now, after four seasons in a TETON Sports 20F and a few cold nights I would rather not repeat.
Four seasons in a synthetic mummy bag, including the parts the listing does not tell you.
Five seasons of creek water, silty spring runoff and one near-freeze, from a 58-year-old who takes short trips and hates fiddly gear.
Five seasons with the Sawyer Mini, one weekend with a borrowed pump filter, and a straight answer about which one earns the space in your pack.
No handle to crank, no batteries to forget, no spare parts to lose in the grass. Ten practical reasons a squeeze filter covers a one or two night trip, using the Sawyer Mini as the example.
A short story about why the Sawyer Mini became part of the regular kit, and what five seasons of short trips taught me about keeping water simple.
Five steps, in the order I actually do them, from a man who has carried the same filter for five seasons and learned most of this the hard way.
Five seasons with the Sawyer Mini, including the squeezing, the freezing problem, and the two pouches I have worn out.
Three seasons on the Wasatch and in the Uintas with a pair of aluminum poles that cost less than a tank of gas and did more for my left knee than any brace I tried.
One pair bends instead of snapping and adjusts without tools. The other is lighter and packs smaller. After three seasons on one and a handful of trips on the other, here is the call.
Ten practical reasons a pair of poles earns its place in the truck, from the downhill adjustment most people skip to the folded size that keeps them coming along.
A swollen knee in the Uintas, three seasons of aluminum poles behind the truck seat, and the honest list of what they did and did not fix.
A short list of habits that take the load off a bad knee on the way down, in the order I actually use them.
Three seasons, one swollen knee, and a pair of aluminum poles that have mostly earned their spot behind the Tacoma's seat. Here is what I wish someone had told me before I bought them.
Three seasons of short Uinta weekends, one wet September night, and an honest answer about whether two people actually fit.
A second opinion after three seasons in the Uintas: where the Cloud-Up 2 earns its keep, where it pinches, and who should look elsewhere.
Three and a half seasons on a self-inflating pad that a 58-year-old back actually likes, and the two things about it that still annoy me.
A second opinion from someone who has slept on it for three and a half seasons, including the parts a spec sheet leaves out.
Four seasons in a synthetic mummy bag, including a 28 degree night above the Mirror Lake Highway. What the 20F rating really means, what holds up, and who should buy something else.
Four seasons in a synthetic mummy bag, including the parts the listing does not tell you.
Five seasons of creek water, silty spring runoff and one near-freeze, from a 58-year-old who takes short trips and hates fiddly gear.
Five seasons with the Sawyer Mini, including the squeezing, the freezing problem, and the two pouches I have worn out.
Three seasons on the Wasatch and in the Uintas with a pair of aluminum poles that cost less than a tank of gas and did more for my left knee than any brace I tried.
Three seasons, one swollen knee, and a pair of aluminum poles that have mostly earned their spot behind the Tacoma's seat. Here is what I wish someone had told me before I bought them.