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When you go camping with a bigger group of people, do you most often take one larger tent, or does everyone bring their own solo or two man tents? I'm looking at taking a trip with a few friends and most of them do not own a tent, so I have been considering whether or not I should buy a bigger tent that can hold us all. It might also be nice to have a bigger tent for car camping trips etc. I recognize that a big tent will be a little annoying for portages, but the trip I have in mind is only one overnight with one portage. With that being said, what tents would you recommend that have a bigger footprint? (4-6 people).
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RCShevalier wrote:
I recognize that a big tent will be a little annoying for portages
On the contrary, one big tent will be less heavy and bulky overall than several smaller tents, and reduce your load on portages. Even say a 5-man tent will pack into one of the bags that you were going to be using anyway.
But you've also got to consider the economics of investing in a big tent just for this one trip... if it were me personally, I'd bring what I have (or buy what best serves my longer-term needs), see what I or the rest of the group could borrow from other friends, and tell them to rent whatever is still outstanding.
Though you do say you might use a larger tent for car camping so perhaps there's a case for it.
And then there's comfort of course... do these guys snore? etc.
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Backcountry campsites often don't have flat areas large enough to "house" a large tent. Many times all you'll find are a few small flat tent-sites on a campsite .. only suitable for solo and small tents!
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One more thing to consider: space for the tent on the site. Often it's easier to find space for 2 or 3 smaller tents than space for one big tent on sites in Algonquin (although that's not a hard and fast rule!).
When we go with people who don't have gear we often borrow from other tripping friends instead of buying new stuff we won't need. We can often scrounge up enough gear. Another option would be renting a tent to avoid the full cost of a tent.
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i use a tarn 2 tent from m.e.c. the tent fits one person although it is a 2 person tent. bulletproof
i think i have had enough of the hennesey hammock,, the hammock seems to hyper-extend my knee and bends my ankle on to the side.
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Ive been on a 7 person tent where we all brought our own tents, it worked out nicely and i don't think we would have been able to set up a large tent on the sites we stayed on.
IMO everyone having their own tent is easier to setup unless you know you're going to have a large area to set it up on.
I personally would feel much more comfortable in my own smallish tent than sharing a big one with 4 other people. Also, large (4+) tents are usually aimed at car camping and give less protection from elements than backpacking tents.
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We camped in a 4 person backpacking (not 4 person car camping) tent last summer for 23 days in Algonquin and had no trouble finding sites that were already present - but I would not want to go bigger than that. Personally I would recommend between 2 and 4 person tents - unless you have some real solitary types on your trip (who need their own solo tents).
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An option not mentioned is rental, if it's a group size you won't normally be traveling with.
If the outfitters still have something like the Timberlines, those work well for groups
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I've gone on a bunch of trips with 6 guys, with one large tent (if I were to guess, 6ft x 12ft). Occasionally we would find campsites with a big enough tent spot, but most of the time 1 or 2 people would be sleeping on top of a root.
I've never had issues with my smaller trips though, using tents that sleep 4 people (or less).
If you're going with >4 people, and you want a decent sleep, and can afford the extra packing space, then I'd bring two tents.
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