Camping

Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent with Screened Porch: What It’s Good For and Who Should Buy It The Coleman Skydome 4-Person Tent with Screened Porch is a budget car camping tent built for small families and couples who want a bug-free hangout space without paying cabin-tent money for it. It runs $150-180, pitches in under 10…

YETI Hopper M20 Backpack Cooler: What It’s Good For and Who Should Buy It The YETI Hopper M20 is a soft-side backpack cooler built for hike-in campsites, day trips on the water, and anywhere a wheeled or hand-carried hard cooler becomes a liability. It holds roughly 20 cans with ice, weighs 5.7 lbs dry, and…

Stanley Classic Vacuum Bottle 2.0 QT: What It’s Good For and Who Should Buy It The Stanley Classic Vacuum Bottle 2.0 QT holds 64 ounces, weighs 2.9 lbs dry, and keeps coffee hot longer than anything else I’ve run through a basecamp. It’s not technical gear. It’s a steel workhorse. Here’s what it actually does,…

Coleman Skydome 6-Person Camping Tent (Dark Room): What It’s Good For and Who Should Buy It The Coleman Skydome 6-Person Dark Room Tent is a budget dome tent built for car camping and weekend trips, with a fabric treatment that blocks roughly 90% of incoming sunlight so you can actually sleep past 6 a.m. If…

YETI Tundra 45 Cooler: What It’s Good For and Who Should Buy It The YETI Tundra 45 is built for trips where losing ice means losing food — three to five days off-grid, not an afternoon at the lake. It’s not cheap, and it’s not trying to be. I’ve run one in a truck bed…

Camping Clothing Layers: The Complete System for Cold Weather and Rain Your layering system is the difference between a miserable night at 11,000 feet and a genuinely comfortable one. Get it right and you can camp in the Colorado Rockies in October — shoulder season, afternoon thunderstorms, temps dropping to 28°F overnight — without suffering….

Best Tent for Hiking: Lightweight, Durable, and Weather-Tested Options The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 is the tent I’d hand you if you asked me to just pick one. Two lbs 11 oz dry weight, 40 inches of peak height, two vestibules, and I’ve had it out in 40 mph Wyoming gusts without a…

How to Camp in the Rain: Tent Setup, Gear Protection, and Comfort Tips I’ve logged more wet nights than dry ones — three weeks straight on the Olympic Peninsula one September, a full week in the Smokies pinned down by a slow-moving front. Rain camping isn’t miserable if your system is right. It absolutely is…

Sleeping Bag Temperature Ratings Explained: Comfort, Limit, and Real-World Testing That number on the sleeping bag tag isn’t a guarantee — it’s a starting point. Understanding what EN/ISO temperature ratings actually measure is the difference between sleeping soundly at 11,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies and shivering until sunrise. I’ve tested bags from the San…

How to Set Up a Tent in the Rain: Step-by-Step Technique and Gear Tips Rainfly goes up first. Everything else waits. I’ve been running that rule since my second season guiding in the Cascades and I’ve never had a wet tent interior from setup — only from forgetting it. Setting up in rain isn’t complicated….