Tip for a compact tent and sleeping pad
Okay, so the most I've thought about elk hunting this afternoon came when I got home. In an earlier post I mentioned that I was going to try to figure out a way to combine my tent and sleeping pad in a compression sack...I think.
So I came home and did this. I unrolled the tent (which has the fly included in the fold) and put the three poles in that. By the way, I think this is a three person tent, but you know how that goes...it sleeps two comfortably and one person has more than enough room to sleep and store gear. The specific brand is North Face and the tent is called a "Kestrel." The fly extends on both sides to form a two small triangles, perfect for packs, boots, and whatnot. Okay, so I rolled this tent over the poles (excluding the stakes...there are plenty of those in the woods) and then rolled THAT bundle in the thermarest self-inflating sleeping pad. That made a rather large bundle. But it still fit in the MEDIUM sized Granite Gear compression sack. I think I mentioned this earlier, it will compress both on the circumference of what is in it, as well as the length. However, the length compression only has one strap, so all it really does is bend...although it is good at just making the whole thing tight. I got this whole getup down to about (eyeballing) seven inches in diameter and the width remained at around the flat WIDTH of the sleeping pad..not sure what that is....around 2.5 feet.
Okay, so that's all well and good. But the key part here is the pack it is now attached to. I bought a Dwight Shuh bowhunting pack...and as I mentioned before it has a frame, day pack, and fanny pack that separate depending on your needs. Well this bundle I made fits PERFECTLY between the daypack and the fanny pack...even when they are both already loaded up with all the gear needed to handle downed game and camp for two days. I still can't weigh it, but the duraflex frame rides extremely well on your back since it's so small; it is surprisingly comfortable. With it all combined, I would say it was probably about 30 pounds. Not too bad when I only plan on getting the whole camp in a couple miles. AND, with the way this is packed, I can still carry my bow piggy-backed on the whole outfit.
I would strongly recommend this setup of wrapping the tent with the sleeping pad for any camping trip. However, it probably won't work too well with internal frames for obvious space reasons.
And by the way, I'm still working on getting the cables necessary to hook my GPS up to the TOPO! program. I went to Staples today and got a usb/serial adapter for use with PDAs, GPSs and the like ($30). The problem comes with that it outputs to a male, standard size (A) usb. But my GPS unit excepts only a male mini A usb and outputs also to a male, standard size usb. So, I went to Radio Shack and their unbelievable lack in converters amazed me. However, I DID notice they have female to female usb gadgets on their website, so it looks like I shall have to order it online. And I have found nothing that will convert a male mini A usb to a serial port. So much for TOPO!s claim that these parts could be found at any electronics store. Heck, I still don't know if all this will work in the end. Not too impressed with the deal, but still hopeful.
So I came home and did this. I unrolled the tent (which has the fly included in the fold) and put the three poles in that. By the way, I think this is a three person tent, but you know how that goes...it sleeps two comfortably and one person has more than enough room to sleep and store gear. The specific brand is North Face and the tent is called a "Kestrel." The fly extends on both sides to form a two small triangles, perfect for packs, boots, and whatnot. Okay, so I rolled this tent over the poles (excluding the stakes...there are plenty of those in the woods) and then rolled THAT bundle in the thermarest self-inflating sleeping pad. That made a rather large bundle. But it still fit in the MEDIUM sized Granite Gear compression sack. I think I mentioned this earlier, it will compress both on the circumference of what is in it, as well as the length. However, the length compression only has one strap, so all it really does is bend...although it is good at just making the whole thing tight. I got this whole getup down to about (eyeballing) seven inches in diameter and the width remained at around the flat WIDTH of the sleeping pad..not sure what that is....around 2.5 feet.
Okay, so that's all well and good. But the key part here is the pack it is now attached to. I bought a Dwight Shuh bowhunting pack...and as I mentioned before it has a frame, day pack, and fanny pack that separate depending on your needs. Well this bundle I made fits PERFECTLY between the daypack and the fanny pack...even when they are both already loaded up with all the gear needed to handle downed game and camp for two days. I still can't weigh it, but the duraflex frame rides extremely well on your back since it's so small; it is surprisingly comfortable. With it all combined, I would say it was probably about 30 pounds. Not too bad when I only plan on getting the whole camp in a couple miles. AND, with the way this is packed, I can still carry my bow piggy-backed on the whole outfit.
I would strongly recommend this setup of wrapping the tent with the sleeping pad for any camping trip. However, it probably won't work too well with internal frames for obvious space reasons.
And by the way, I'm still working on getting the cables necessary to hook my GPS up to the TOPO! program. I went to Staples today and got a usb/serial adapter for use with PDAs, GPSs and the like ($30). The problem comes with that it outputs to a male, standard size (A) usb. But my GPS unit excepts only a male mini A usb and outputs also to a male, standard size usb. So, I went to Radio Shack and their unbelievable lack in converters amazed me. However, I DID notice they have female to female usb gadgets on their website, so it looks like I shall have to order it online. And I have found nothing that will convert a male mini A usb to a serial port. So much for TOPO!s claim that these parts could be found at any electronics store. Heck, I still don't know if all this will work in the end. Not too impressed with the deal, but still hopeful.
posted by geotracker12 at 3:46 PM
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