I’m getting older, and my little one is almost to the age where she would go camping in the BWCA with us.  Time to update the somewhat heavy two-man tent I’ve been dragging up North for the last decade.  A ‘three person’ tent that weighs in just less than 4 pounds was perfect... ended up going with a Big Agnes Seedhouse 3 SL.   Interesting concept – a mesh tent with an outer shell.

My bride climbed inside, and quickly reminded me that while there was plenty of room for two people, three was not going to work.  Nuts.  Now I’ll have to pack in two tents – the same old heavy two-man and this three-child ^H^H man, or pick up another tent for me.

Still, it packed down nice and small… but how does it hold up in the rain and cold?  Heh.  Did a quick Boundary Waters trip this fall.  Far more of a field test than I ever intended. The  night before, we got 11" of rain, so everything, including the ground, was throughly saturated.  Rain continued thought the trip, and the tent kept everything dry.  Not a great shot of the tent in action, but it is what it is when you set up in the dark in a rainstorm.

The principal disappointment with the tent is the vestibule storage area.  The angle of the tent wall is steep enough that there really was not much usable storage in the gap.  Of the flip side, for one person (or even two), there is plenty of storage area *inside* the tent.  The zippers were water resistant, and could be a little awkward getting into and out of the tent quickly... in the rain.  All of the seams were dry, however.

Glad I set it up at home first.  Poles were in a doubly Y, with one pole over the top.  Nice light poles too.  Liked the tent stakes as well.

I can also see it being tricky to convince people this is a 'solo' one-person tent.  I'm liking all of the room to myself (grin) - lots of very usable space.  Were I to buy again, knowing what I do now... I might go with the two-person version and treat it as a solo tent.  The one-person version looks like a really tight fit.

In dry, warm weather, I'll probably give the mesh tent (without the shell) a try some time.  All the beauty of sleeping under the stars - with mosquito netting.  I have the footprint and could do the 'fast fly' option, but I like a barrier between me and the critters.  Looking forward to the Summer!

Did a little shopping this weekend, with hopes of this snow going away. Looks like we actually did get 21+ inches after all. My little one has expressed interest in doing a bit of camping. Car camping... once my bride gave her a bit more information on the practicalities (the bathroom) in the BWCA, she decided that the state parks with full facilities might be more her style.

Fair enough. My old 2 room tent was near it's end of life. Getting 12 years out of a $100 Sears tent, roughly treated - I'd say it owes me nothing. When I was patching some of the newly discovered holes this fall, I figured it was time to replace the big tent. Found one this weekend. 15x12', screened in "patio". It is heavy - but for about the same $100, it will work out nicely if all I have to do is pull it out of the wagon.

Also shopping for a small 2 man tent. Intended on picking up one last year, but never did find anything that really caught my eye. Couple folks that I know are upgrading and looking to sell off their old equipment, so it may be time. It strikes me as really funny the amount of money folks will toss at equipment to shave off an extra two ounces. I know I could lose (or shift up as my bride would say) 20 pounds, so it seems a bit silly to obsess about a fraction of a pound. That said, I've updated and/or trimmed down my equipment and have my pack down to a reasonable weight. Shaving a couple pounds off the tent means more snacks for my bride or some extra clothing. Always a good thing.

One thing I'll be adding into my BWCA gear is some of that hand sanitizer (like purell). Very nice stuff. One of the guys packed some in on our labor day weekend trip, and it really was a handy way to clean up before meals. Worth the extra half ounce in my pack.

Might pack in some swimming goggles after the glacier lakes thaw out some. I have a strong suspicion one could pack out more fishing lures than they brought in if you were willing to deal with some cold water.

Time to book my holiday boundary waters gigs. You wait till it is nice out and you find yourself portaging through Swamp Lake (or not at all).

We have wood fireplaces in our home, and one of the best things about living in Minnesota is we can enjoy it for five months of Winter, plus a fair chunk of Spring and Fall....

Starting the fire can be tricky. Kindling and last weeks newspaper work if you have them, but it scares my wife when I swing an axe around. My bride found some 'fire starters' a few years back that really work well, just toss one in with a few full size logs and you were in business. They were essentially sawdust and paraffin blocks. They were also more expensive than I was willing to pay - me lucky dollar!

Last years camping was also really wet, considering how dry the Boundary Waters was in 2006. Nothing like coaxing a fire to life after a few days of hard rain (while it is raining, of course). I started considering packing in something that might help things along. Thin strips of magnesium worked in the past (may order more), but the sawdust style blocks were heavier than I wanted to pack in. Apparently kruft generated by drying laundry works really well if you pour a bit of melted wax on it.

Always one to try something before I drag it out into the field, I experimented and found it worked well. Well enough that I started hording the scraps of dryer lint.

Yes, my bride is convinced she just found a new definition for the word "cheap".