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So, my crappy cheap Ozark Trails tent is cramping my 40L pack's style/capacity...

In AZ in the Cedar Bench Wilderness in early December, i.e. this weekend, would it be impossible/illogical/not recommended to just 'cowboy camp' in my sleeping bag under the stars? I sleep 'warm' so I'm not very affected by cold, etc.

Mosquitos, bears, coatis, bigfoot?

My life is so complicated (NOT) that I'm stressing over this decision... /sarcasm

Any input/thoughts would be appreciated, because I shouldn't be bummed about this!

TIA.

What's illogical to some is not to others.

Looking at the weather forecast, I see low temperatures in the 40s this weekend. I also see a 20% chance of rain showers. Both of those are things that make me choose a tent.

I generally wouldn't worry about mammals or mosquitos. I like to have a tent for the little stuff that can visit while I sleep. Ants, spiders, scorpions, and giant centipedes.

But that's my preference. Some people don't mind just laying on the ground. Others might throw down a ground cloth and bring a small tarp in case it rains. (Te-wa will tell you to bring a hammock ) Ultimately you will have to make a decision based on what you are comfortable with.

(The number and type of critters you encounter will be related to the type of terrain/flora and how close to water you set up camp.)

Jason Cleghorn wrote:So, my crappy cheap Ozark Trails tent is cramping my 40L pack's style/capacity...

In AZ in the Cedar Bench Wilderness in early December, i.e. this weekend, would it be impossible/illogical/not recommended to just 'cowboy camp' in my sleeping bag under the stars? I sleep 'warm' so I'm not very affected by cold, etc.

Mosquitos, bears, coatis, bigfoot?

My life is so complicated (NOT) that I'm stressing over this decision... /sarcasm

Any input/thoughts would be appreciated, because I shouldn't be bummed about this!

TIA.

I've done a lot of cowboy camping, but I do look at the forecast. It's no fun to deal with rain in the middle of the night. In 45 years of cowboy camping I have never had small critter problems. I did have a bear sniff me one time, but that was in Canada. In 2012 I slept under the stars in Grand Canyon 25 nights in a row, on a river trip, and only put up a tarp for a few drizzles and showers. The year before that 18 nights in a row, under the stars, on a river trip. I used to not mind the cold as much as I do now in my dotage. Tents are just warmer, and that's a fact. I'm looking at doing a solo kayak trip this month for a week or two, down the lower Colorado River, and plan to sleep in a tent every night due to dampness and chill, despite the fact that the temperature may not dip below 50. So now I have confused the issue further!

To avoid having to carry a tent I bought an MSR eWing tarp. There are other backpacker tarps better than that one, but a tarp is a pretty good way to go for ultralight. That being said, I wouldn't relish having to deal with a driving rain while underneath a tarp. I check the forecast.

I cowboy camp when conditions permit. About one time out of four, I guess wrong and have scurry from a sound sleep to get the tent up before the rain gets worse.

If in doubt, occasionally I am really in the mood to sleep under the stars, but I am not sure of the forecast, so I put up the tent, and sleep outside.

I also put up both the tent and a Hennessey Hammock at the HAZfest, and lasted 5 minutes in the hammock, migrated to the tent. I have never been so uncomfortable. Maybe I need hammock lessons. I tend to believe that my back wants me to be flat. I like a relatively hard bed. I don't get the hammock thing. I can't stand the ones people put up in their yards, either. I last about 3 minutes in one of those.

As others have said, weather is my deciding factor. Other than having K-rats wake me up by jumping on me, never a problem sleeping open-face.
If it is a potential for light rain, I will just sleep on a larger tarp than normal folded over. If rain wakes me up, I wrap up burrito-style and go straight back to sleep. The least amount of fumbling while half-asleep is the key.

autumnstars wrote:As others have said, weather is my deciding factor. Other than having K-rats wake me up by jumping on me, never a problem sleeping open-face.
If it is a potential for light rain, I will just sleep on a larger tarp than normal folded over. If rain wakes me up, I wrap up burrito-style and go straight back to sleep. The least amount of fumbling while half-asleep is the key.

Red or green sauce?

there are actually a large number of hammock users on this site. i started sleeping in tents, then UL tents, then under just a tarp - and had an epiphany... "if i can sleep under a tarp on the ground, why not under a tarp in the air?"
but anyway, if you are commited to tenting but want light, and also comfortable and storm-worthy, there are many styles and designs by cottage gear companies.
search the web for zpacks, sixmoondesigns, mountainlaureldesigns, tarptent, et al.

if i were to need a tent, i'd go with the tarptent rainbow - has the room, features and weight/price point that i consider a staple in the UL tent market.

Jason, I have an extra Eureka 1 person tent you can use for the trip this weekend. Its extra now that I have my Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1 (a super early Christmas present to myself thanks to the REI sale a couple weeks back). Let me know if you want to use it...

Thanks guys and gals for all of the input. My issue isn't that I don't have a tent (I do) its just 'too big' to fit in my pack without not having any (much) room for anything else.

Poochie wrote:Jason, I have an extra Eureka 1 person tent you can use for the trip this weekend. Its extra now that I have my Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1 (a super early Christmas present to myself thanks to the REI sale a couple weeks back). Let me know if you want to use it...

Although since its a 1 person, it may be smaller than my 2 person, so maybe I will take you up on it.

I'm super excited in a noob-ish sort of way to do my first overnights in AZ so I may not hike to the campsite but float...

@Jason Cleghorn
Ok, I'll pack it and bring it...and you can decide on which way to go. It's pretty compact (though nothing like the Big Agnes)!

@Poochie

You're very kind. See you Friday PM...

I use a shower curtain as a ground cloth and another as a rain fly if I do not use a tent. Cheap durable and has many uses. You can select from gaudy to earth tone in color.

@Jason Cleghorn
You could bring a small tarp.

You may also want to grab a ground cloth (e.g. a washed piece of tyvek, or perhaps a tent footprint off your old tent) since otherwise you will get pretty dirty sleeping straight on the dirt.

Cowboy camping is very doable at all times of year in Arizona, just be sure you have:
1) a way to stay dry should it rain
2) no aversions to having stuff crawl on you at night and possibly waking you up
3) a way to ensure any cactus spines/needles/etc don't pop your sleeping pad or dig into your back

If you cowboy camp in the matazals you will find there are a large number of gigantic spiders that like to crawl on your face at 2AM. That helped me make a decision to finally buy a tent!

@azbackpackr Christmas, of course! ;)