Tentsile Stingray Tent

When I was a kid, the Sasquatch craze was in full bloom, with multiple shows and specials about the hairy beast. We lived in the woods and my imagination was incredibly vivid. Every noise or movement was further proof that Bigfoot was on our deck or outside my second-story window looking in. Needless to say, I didn't do a lot of solo camping back then.

Fast forward decades later. I just watched Les Stroud's new series on the Science channel called "Survivorman: Bigfoot."  And the fear is back. I need to do something. I have to face my fear. Live amongst the giant. But how to observe him in his natural habitat while giving myself a measure of security?

I will live in the trees. And I have just the right tent to do it.  The Tentsile Stingray is my answer. The Stingray is a 3-person air-born tent. It is triangular, with straps stretching from each corner to a tree. the straps are secured to tree via ratchet mechanism to create a perfectly suspended treehouse. It comes with a removable flysheet which can be pegged outwards to the ground to create a covered porch area. The tent is accessed via a floor hatch in the bottom of the tent or via the large front door.

If you put this thing high enough, say 12 feet off the ground, you should be out of the reach of Bigfoot. I'm not sure if Bigfeet (is that the plural?) can jump, but if they can you might want to put it a little higher.

Of course, if you don't believe in Sasquatch, then you can lower it somewhat. It will still protect you against know predators - snakes, ground insects, skunks, bears (to a certain extent) so it is still a good value. And who didn't love a good treehouse when they were kids?

Marmot Limelight 3P Tent

A tent purchase is not something you'll do very often. Not every year. Hopefully not every ten years. But when you do need to get one, it's usually because you've been pushed into it. My story starts a year earlier. My friend, Troy, invited me on a week-long fishing trip on the upper Snake river.

I then had to do a quick mental inventory of my gear. Luckily, Troy was providing all the food and cooking provisions, so that left me with just basic needs such as sleeping bag and tent. I'll review my sleeping bag issues in another post, but the tent I figured I had covered. I owned a Eureka Sunrise 4 person tent that was probably 15 years old. It had served me well, but it hadn't been through any serious tests (read: weather) in many years. 

The first night of the trip was uneventful. Clear skies and warm weather for October. However, the second and third nights were another story. Heavy rains and some moderately high winds came careening up the Snake, hitting our unprotected campsite. Initially, I didn't think anything about it. I'd been in rains before and felt comfortably in knowing that my tent would hold up. I fell asleep despite the goings-on outside. My sleep only lasted a couple of hours however.  I woke up to my elbow sitting in a puddle of water in the corner of my tent. The fly was doing its job, but the floor was not. And I didn't have a good ground tarp either. I vowed then and there to get a new tent.

Fast forward a year and prior to the next Snake River trip I needed to get a tent that would keep me dry. And since I was in the market, I wanted to meet some other needs. The Eureka didn't have a vestibule, and as anyone with a similar tent knows, that means you're storing all your gear inside the tent, which makes for a very cramped space, even with just one person, nevermind two or three. I also wanted to get a tent that was light enough to do some backpacking. 

As I began my search, I started asking fellow camping enthusiasts what they recommended. A friend suggested I look into the Marmot Limelight. I immediately liked it. It had not one, but two vestibules and it came with a footprint fitted perfectly to its dimensions. My friend had done plenty of backpacking and said that while I may be drawn to the 2 person, the 3 person would provide a lot more room, and could still be managed on a pack.

The tent comes with a gear loft, and has two D Shaped Doors. It's got DAC Press-Fit Poles and color-coded "Easy Pitch" clips that make lining up the fly a snap. There are nice details such as jingle-free zipper pulls and light reflective guy line points and a welded, UV-resistant teardrop window on the fly. The floor has a catenary cut to keep the seam off the ground (no water in your tent!) The size is 46" x 66" x 93" and weighs in at 6 lb 11 oz, or 5 lb 15 oz with just poles, body, and fly. You can get the Marmot Limelight 3P in either Hatch/Dark Cedar, or Alpenglow (orange/yellow--the one I got.)

Needless to say, the Snake river trip was dry and comfortable thanks to my new tent.

Open Letter to Mr. Parker

Dear Mr. Parker:
 
I am writing to apologize for my part of what happened last weekend. I wanted you to know that our idea was just to have a simple camping trip but it kinda got out of control. I'll try and explain the way it happened.
My brother Rich, myself and our friends Brent S. and Dave M. were planning to go camping in the woods behind my house. We were very excited and we told a few people at school what we were going to do. Your daughter Jill and her friend Peggy said that sounded like fun, but we told them they couldn't come because it wouldn't be right to have girls on the same trip. 

We thought we had picked a very remote campsite, but when we got there it turns out Jill and Peggy were already there. We told them that as long as they stayed in their own tent and not our brand new Eureka! Tetragon 8 Tent, we wouldn't nark on them. 

It was getting pretty dark out by the time they tried to set up their tent and they just couldn't do it (you know girls and tents...) So they asked if they could come in ours. They were getting pretty scared after they said they heard bears coming through the woods (I think it was just squirrels), so we let them in. 

They were passing a bottle of what they said was "Kool-Aid" between them. We had NO IDEA that it was Boones Farm wine. And when you came up to our campsite and yelled "Is Jill here?" Jill didn't say, "Is that my f***ing dad?" She actually said, "I hope that's my dad." So please don't be too hard on Jill. And I sure would appreciate it if you didn't tell our parents about this. 

We love camping and our Eureka! Tetragon 8 Tent and wouldn't want it taken away from us

Sincerely,

Derek Hines, 9th grade, Lincoln Junior High

p.s. Jill and Peggy were only wearing bras and panties because their clothes had gotten covered in poison ivy.

Black Diamond Lightsabre Bivy

I have a friend, his name is Smitty. Smitty really likes his bivy.

What's a bivy you may ask?

A bivy is a tent, only smaller by contrast.

Smitty likes to camp all alone. He doesn't even bring a phone.

We ask him why he takes no one, and all he says is, "One is much more fun!"

He has no need for other folks, 'cause then he'd have to share his smokes.

So off he goes all light and giddy, into the woods with his little bivy.

No more rhymes, we promise, okay? Here's the description without further delay. (Sorry...it's just so much fun.)

The Black Diamond Lightsabre is a super-light bivy for the gram-counting minimalist concerned with comfort. The Lightsabre combines the Bibler Tripod Bivy design with ultralight, highly packable EPIC water-repellent, breathable canopy fabric and a waterproof SilNylon floor. Three DAC Featherlite aluminum poles lift the canopy off your sleeping bag and away from your head and feet. The Lightsabre has a large zippered entry with a mesh window above your head and a mini-mesh vent under the foot-box awning to keep the critters out and allow fresh air in. Stuff sack included.

Vargo Shepard's Hook Titanium Stakes

March 17, 2009 Athens, Greece --Officials today unearthed one of Aesop's lost fables carved on a stone tablet that was found buried under a porta-potty near the Parthenon.

The fable is already being considered one of Aesop's greatest works. It is the story of a boy that told his father that he was going to travel the world to seek his fame and riches. With his father's blessing the boy packed his mule with all the things he thought he would need for the long journey. Among these items were his sleeping mat, an alpaca fur blanket, a pillow made of ostrich feathers, and a burlap tent. When his father asked him how he planned to secure the tent to the ground, the boy replied, "I will use these stakes made of chicken bones. They will hold." The wise father responded, "My boy, I love you, but you have the brains of an auroch if you think that will hold your tent in place. The gods test such travelers as you, and mark my word son, this will be your undoing." "Father, I appreciate your concern, but I am a man of the world now and must travel light to go as far as I possibly can," the son responded.

So off the boy went. The boy had traveled 30 nights without event, when he came upon a large outcropping of rock. "I shall make camp here tonight and start fresh tomorrow." The boy set up his tent and staked it to the ground using the chicken bones he had brought. During the night, the ground began to tremble and a voice from above quaked, waking the boy. "YOU HAVE DISOBEYED THY FATHER AND HAVE BROUGHT MUCH RATH TO THINE SELF. It was the great oracle, Hephaestus speaking. The boy was indignant. "Hephaestus, I am a man now and do not need advice from my father!"

Just then, the earth heaved greatly and the boy was thrown off his feet. The wind blew violently and the tent's chicken bone stakes snapped, sending the tent into the air and out of site. From high atop the rocks came a massive spew of volcanic ash that came pouring down on the boy, burying him up to his neck. "YOU HAVE BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF, YOUNG BOY. YOU SHOULD HAVE PURCHASED THE VARGO SHEPARD'S HOOK TITANIUM STAKES!" The boy was filled with contrition and said, "You are right, great Hephaestus. If you let me live, I shall spread the word of your magnificence throughout the land." "SO BE IT!" shouted Hephaestus, and at once the boy was back standing next to his tent as though it had all been a dream. But in place of the chicken bones were brand new Vargo Shepard's Hook Titanium Stakes.

The boy made it back to his village and spent the rest of his days making and giving away Vargo Titanium stakes to all who desired them. And he lived to a ripe old age of 42. (People died young back then.)

Officials are scurrying to set up a camping gear store next to the Parthenon to take advantage of the situation.

Travel John Privacy Tent

So you desperately want to go camping, but your wife refuses to put herself through the nightmare that was your last camping trip. You remember what happened, don’t you? She woke up in the middle of the night and said she had to go to the bathroom. You gently reminded her that you had kindly set up the porta-potty just down the path behind the big oak. She cursed at you, rolled over and tried to hold it for a while. When that didn’t work, she scrambled for the flashlight and huffed out of the tent. A few minutes later, you heard a blood-curdling shriek and hurried footsteps as she dashed back to the tent. She screamed that there were “creepy squirmy things” all over the toilet and that as she was going, she could see a pair of animal eyes staring at her in the woods. She vowed never to come camping with you again and rolled over without so much as a good night.
While this might be a sign that your relationship has bigger problems, we have a good suggestion for getting the little lady back into the wilderness. May we offer the Travel John Privacy Tent. This wonderful invention will shield your better half from nature’s intrusions, giving her a sense of comfort and relief. She’ll come back to bed calm and kind. The perfect Stepford wife.
And it has other uses too! Use it as a shower room, changing room, hunting blind, or privacy shelter. The Privacy Tent comes with a KWIK Silver™ mechanism and unique umbrella frame that sets up in 5 seconds! Just pull 2 ropes and the tent just pops right out instantly. It can also be taken down in just a few seconds! The Privacy Tent has a dome cover and mesh roof panel and 3 windows for air ventilation. It also comes with privacy window flaps, inside storage pocket and carrying bag (7″ x 7″ x 28.5″ packed). Also included are 4 stakes for anchoring or 4 weight pockets if stakes are not used. The heavy duty frame weighs 7lbs. It has a center height of 6′ and the dimensions are 4′ x 4′ sq. ft. A 1 year limited warranty is included. It's on Sale too!

Welcome to BigFire Camping Gear!

Just a quick note to say hi. I own BigFire Camping Gear Reviews. We review all manner of camping and outdoor gear and apparel. In the past, I've owned my own camping gear retail site, so I've had first person use of the types of products featured on this blog. 

So once again, welcome to BigFire. And Happy New Year!