Tent: Naturehike Cloud Peak - "inspired by" Hilleberg Allak but costs ~$200 CAD

[JohnAbercrombie]

John, I love the look of the Hilleburg line of tents, but don‘t you find them a little hot and steamy for our coastal tripping season? I have an MSR Elixir, which is a fine tent, but my main complaint is that it has too little mesh. What has been your experience in the Hilleburg and Cloud Peak?

Cheers,
Andrew

Since I am crowd-averse, I seem to do most of my camping in the 'shoulder seasons'. If the nights weren't so long (and boring), winter camping here on the coast would suit me pretty well, too.
With two doors with full mesh, and pretty large roof vents, my Allak doesn't seem too warm. Evenings close to the water almost always seem cool to me, and if a cool mist rolls in, I am glad to be able to zip up the fabric doors. I definitely wouldn't be happy in a tent like the Hubba.

Perhaps a sign of advancing age? I definitely 'sleep colder' than I used to do. And sleeping solo, there's only half the heat output inside the '2-person' tent.

 

[kayakwriter]

Mentions of single-wall tents always bring back memories of the first 'backpacking' tent we owned - an orange variant on a 'pup tent' from Cdn Tire in 1971 or 72. One or two nights in Algonquin Park convinced us a better tent needed to be on the shopping list.

So this sort of thing - with the blue poly tarp material "bathtub" floor? This shot was taken probably 78-79 on a late fall trip on Mount Tremblant in Quebec that turned out to be an early winter trip. And like you, I decided there had to be better options...

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

So this sort of thing - with the blue poly tarp material "bathtub" floor? This shot was taken probably 78-79 on a late fall trip on Mount Tremblant in Quebec that turned out to be an early winter trip. And like you, I decided there had to be better options...

By the end of the 70s I was checking the mail order catalog from Stephenson Warmlite.
My next tent was a Stephenson, which was a single wall tent with a liner.

 

[cougarmeat]

John: But were you checking the Stephenson catalog for gear or the biology lesson?

kayakwriter: > And like you, I decided there had to be better options...

This is definitely not "storm mode". It's more of an early Proof-of-Concept.

Also on this trip, I decided to try out the "you can set up a hammock on a hillside" feature. The funny thing is, gravity doesn't take a holiday. Your hammock may be happy between two trees on a hillside. But any gear you set on the ground offers a "Performance Art" rendition of the "Jack and Jill" ditty. You'd be amazed at how far a water bottle can roll.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

John: But were you checking the Stephenson catalog for gear or the biology lesson?

Funny-- we are showing our age with that reference.
I drove down to NH (from ON) to pick up the tent during the March school break.
I met a couple of the women in the 'Stephenson family' (commune?), but they definitely looked different, bundled up in two or three layers of sweaters.

 

[SWriverstone]

If the nights weren't so long (and boring), winter camping here on the coast would suit me pretty well, too.

This is definitely the problem with winter camping! I rarely sleep more than 7 hours...and it's a drag to have to lay around in darkness trying to entertain yourself until bedtime or sunrise.