Gear Interlude - Inside The Bikers Tent with James Lipton
You've seen the outside tens of times, and everyone is clamoring to know: what's inside the tent? Your answers lie within this special Gear Interlude - Tent Edition.
We always setup the tent and sleeping stuff first thing when we arrive at camp, so it's done and we can relax. In general, we've slept ok on this trip. Our gear is comfy, but campsites can be loud.
Enjoy the tour of our tent life!
Behold: The Zpacks Duplex Zip with Freestanding Pole Kit.
Fits in Sarah's "tent stuff" pannier nice and easy. Everything is very light but kinda bulky.
There are two zippered vestibules on each side that you can stake out. It's so hot at night, we usually roll up both doors though. Or just use one for visual privacy. There's a semicircle screen door on each side that is kind of annoying to zip since the zipper is the top of the arc, so there's no tension and you need both hands. Which can be annoying if you need a midnight pee. And can be extra stressful when you try to close it quickly before any bugs sneak in.
Inside we have our two backpacking sleeping pads: Sarah has a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir and David an Exped Ultra 6.5R. I brought a little Exped air pump to fill my pad; it is nice but also very annoying sounding, so I don't use it if we arrive late. Sarah continues her lung workout. If we're feeling cozy we also have pad coupler straps that you loop in a figure eight to keep the pads next to each other. This is comfy, but we don't need it most nights.
An inflatable pillow each: Sarah has a Nemo Fillo Elite, David has a Exped Mega Pillow. I do not like the felt fabric on my pillow, so I use a bandana as a cooler pillowcase that can be washed.
We both brought sleep masks and ear plugs. Many of the campsites have been near resorts that have late concerts or there are French boys yelling late into the night. Also almost all campsites have street lights, so eye masks really help. I have some cheap foam ear plugs but I keep losing and finding them again. Before we put on our eye masks we always do a thorough bug check. Nobody wants to go to sleep with a mosquito.
Our "sleeping bags" are just silk bag liners since it's so hot. Sarah has a Cocoon, David has a Western Mountaineering silk bag liner. A typical low on this trip has been 75 F or 23 C. I mostly like it as a washable sheet over the pad fabric.
As the one "low temp" backup, we have an old single lightweight summer sleeping bag we use as a duvet over both of us. It's a rectangular bag that you can unzip into a big square. It's light fleece on the inside. We've used this three nights thus far, and every one of those nights someone ends up stealing all the covers.
Sometimes in the morning condensation form on the underside of the tent or ground sheet, so we flop it on its side to dry out. I also try to give the tent a good shake out with one door open before we roll it up. I am not a "tent stuffer"; close all the zippers, fold it in fourths hotdog-style, then roll it from one end and it goes right in the stuff sack.