A tent will be one of the most important pieces of gear you decide upon when planning a long backpacking trip. It will provide your home away from home — where you retreat to sleep and rest when you are not hiking hours upon end. Choose wisely.
Most average American families opt for the traditional tent – If you were ever a boy scout, this is probably the type of tent you were pitching. Something like this bad boy:
However, you may have noticed something about these tents. They’re HEAVY. That’s not a Good Thing when you’re hiking many miles per day and also carrying all of your food and water. It may be ok on short weekend camping trips, where you pitch the tent not far from where you parked the car…but a long distance hike is an entirely different animal.
For a two person tent, 5-6 pounds is often on the average to lighter end. If you want any extra luxuries, it’ll cost ya — in both weight and price.
Luckily, technology has advanced. There are many more tent options available than there were before.
TENTS
Tent camping is considered the “norm” for hikers, especially in harsher conditions, and is generally the first shelter option most new hikers will jump to.
Pros:
- Bug protection. When you are on the trail, you WILL encounter bugs. Since tents are enclosed spaces, you can avoid most bugs, especially flies and mosquitoes in the summertime.
- Rain protection. Summertime is the rainy season on the Appalachian Trail, and it is pretty much guaranteed that you will often be pitching tent either somewhere wet, or somewhere that soon will be. Tents are the most foolproof way to stay dry, and many also provide a “lofting” space to keep your gear dry.
- Comfort. It cannot be denied that tents give you the most “home away from home” feeling. You have your own little bubble, if you like that sort of thing.
- Warmth. Since they are often made of thicker material, on top of being completely enclosed, tents trap and retain the most heat. This is hugely useful in winter, but isn’t much of a benefit to me since I’ll be hiking in the summertime.
- Protection from the elements. There is a reason that mountaineers and winter wildlife photographers, among other winter outdoorsmen, use tents exclusively. When you need sheer staying power, even in a blizzard, you have to get a tent.
Cons:
- Weight. Full-blown tents are generally the heaviest option. A traditional one person tent can weigh anywhere from 4 to 10 pounds. I will leave imagining the weight of 2-person tents as an exercise for the reader 
. I prefer to avoid unnecessary weight if I can at all help it.
- Cost. High quality hiking tents are often very expensive due to the materials used and more intricate construction needed to keep them structurally sound.
- Complexity. Although this isn’t true of all tents, most take much longer to pitch than your average tarp or tarptent. On top of the tent itself, you’ve gotta carry poles or stakes. At the end of the day, when you’re tired, hungry, and drenched, a complicated tent may be more trouble than it’s worth.
Tents are heavier, yes, but they provide other benefits including comfort and weather protection. In especially cold or dangerous places, the cons of a tent are far outweighed by its necessity in keeping warm and dry. Luckily, other options also exist for the savvy summer hiker.
TARPS
Increasingly embraced by lightweight hikers, tarps are becoming much more popular in the Appalachian Trail community. Tarps are a good option if you’re willing to learn the skills to operate one and don’t mind not being completely enclosed.
Pros:
- Lightweight. Many hardcore lightweight hikers use tarps exclusively, for this quality alone. Your average tarp can weigh anywhere from 10 ounces to a bit less than 2 pounds.
- Flexibility. Tarps provide the minimum necessary for shelter. Hikers often add things like bugnets in the summer and groundsheets to keep your gear dry in the rainy season. What this means is that if you don’t need a certain quality on a certain hike (like bug protection), you don’t need to carry that extra weight.
- Cheap. ‘Nuff said.
Cons:
- Skill. Tarps do require a little skill if you want to stay dry. Like learning to pitch a tent, though, I don’t consider this a major inconvenience.
- Openness. Tarps are more open to the elements than a tent. For some people, this can be a benefit — “communing with nature” and whatnot — others, not so much. Tarps do provide less privacy…more like just a roof over your head.
TARP-TENTS
Ahh, the middle ground. Tarptents are hybrids that offer the protection of a tent with the weight advantage of a tarp. These are often made of a very lightweight material and generally come with just about everything you need and can weigh around 2 pounds.
Pros:
- Lightweight. Tarptents are much lighter than a tent, though not as light as a tarp. For the tentlike experience, though, the lightweight aspect of a tarp is pretty impressive.
- Comfort. Like tents, tarptents enclose you from all sides.
- Bug protection.
Cons:
- Expense. Due to the high quality of materials and the creativity needed to design a good tarptent, they’re generally a good deal more expensive than your average cheapo family camping tent.
Whew! If all of that was too complicated for you, I’ve created a handy dandy chart for your viewing pleasure. You are welcome.
ETA: HAMMOCKS
Recently on the scene are camping hammocks and many hikers are moving towards them. They offer the benefit of getting you up off the wet ground, are easy to pitch, and lightweight. However, there isn’t much space and there’s no real method to keep you warm.
I don’t really know too much about hammocks. For a more indepth discussion, listen to ATHiking’s podcast or Practical Backpacking’s take on the matter.
As for my choice of shelter? We’ll be using this excellent tarptent by Henry Shires:
- The Squall 2 Tarptent
Good luck, and happy hiking!
Resources:
Whiteblaze forum thread: Tarp or Tent
wish i had this understanding when i bought a tent. i got a decent two-person tent for an overnight when I did the MS 150 bike ride. my only problem was being too tired to set the thing up properly. took a while but i got it. still got the tent to, although not used much anymore. sad.