Totally Bugged Out

[Guest]

Now I'm going to review the Big Agnes Big 4 tent. It was easy to set up, but hot due to poor ventilation. The back door is useless, as it rolls down, and has only a little screen at the top. It should be a full zip open screen door. The vestibule is roomy, but I'm pretty sure the wind resistance is poor due to the large flat surfaces on this tent. I'll give it 3 stars out of 5.

Any modern design tent should be fast, easy and intuitive to set up. I think most of the other potential demerits were discussed when you asked about Glamping Tents

http://www.canoetripping.net/forums...eneral-discussion/92808-stand-up-glamping-rig

IE, more vertical sides will perform less effectively in the wind.

there is virtually no choice your tent will be exposed to winds

The near vertical sides did not fare as well in strong winds as a dome shape or even a Timberline-ish vee.

It has been mentioned the wind blows quite fiercely on Superior's shores.

Fly coverage when getting in and out is greatly aided by having two vestibules. See also having one vestibule used for covered gear storage, one for open entry/exit. Every tent we currently own has two doors and two vestibules. And most of them are 100% symmetrical in body and fly, so I can’t screw up in a rush and throw on the fly bass akwards.

a spacious two vestibule 3+ person tent

About “Hot due to poor ventilation”. Mostly mesh tents (I’d like some tent floor up a foot or so around the bottom, to prevent ground level dust and sand from blowing in) do offer better breezeway than solid nylon walls, but the no-see-um netting itself is a pretty effective wind blocker.

At least with two vestibules open some air can move through, and as a 3 season tent I’ll happily accept lots of mesh. Experiments have shown that a mostly mesh wall tent is only a few degrees cooler on chilly shoulder season trips, and a good sleeping bag will more than compensate for that.

Tent design, like canoe design, is all about use, intentions, places, times and seasons, and compromises will need to be made.

 

[Black_Fly]

I'll take it out by myself this fall for 3 weeks. Maybe it will grow on me.

Here's a question - Who has ever read the set up instructions BEFORE attempting to set up a new tent?

 

[Alan Gage]

Always try to do something yourself first and read the instructions afterwards. They make more sense that way and reinforce why you're supposed to do it the way you're supposed to do it.

Alan

 

[Guest]

The wood you burn for smudge makes a big difference in how bothersome the smoke is. I tried thorn apple once--it's practically lethal! haven't really mastered smudge yet. All the books just say smudge--nothing about what and how. anybody have any info on it?

 

[yellowcanoe]

I am no smudge expert but here is a list of woods to use for smudge sticks. https://frugallysustainable.com/smudge-sticks/

Yes we read the instructions at first sign of confusion... Never before. The lesson is reinforced if taken in the dark

 

[Boreal Birch]

The Athabaskan's supposedly used birch conks (shelf fungus) in their fires to create smoke smudges. We have been buring some since finding this out. Seems to help, you still have to be in the smoke for maximum benefit, of course smoke is itself a health risk.
After a lifetime of "Real men do not read directions" I have subscribed to a modern gentler way of thinking. I do read instructions, the pictures therein make make it easy for even slow learners like me.

 

[sweeper]

At market 'birch conks (shelf fungus)' aka Chaga is worth upwards of $50/pound
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[memaquay]

 

[memaquay]

At market 'birch conks (shelf fungus)' aka Chaga is worth upwards of $50/pound

I'm sure it's just a matter of semantics, but birch conks and chaga are two different things.

Birch conk

Chaga

 

[sweeper]

Yes it is

 

[Guest]

I'll take it out by myself this fall for 3 weeks. Maybe it will grow on me.

Here's a question - Who has ever read the set up instructions BEFORE attempting to set up a new tent?

Seriously, the Big House 4, with vertical wind suffering walls, door/vestibule deficiencies and etc, just for you? For 3 weeks? That seems a combination of overkill size and under-perform design for just one person.

A (spacious for a single person) two person, two door, two vestibule tent with better wind shedding design works best in a variety of conditions for me solo. Even an old refurbished two person Timberline with vestibules would work better.

“Two person”, so I’m not ensconced in a coffin like space with my elbows touching either wall.

“Two door, two vestibule”, so I can pile rain protected gear, accessible from inside the tent, under one vestibule, and reserve the other vestibule for my shoes and the piss bottle and a piece of fake grass for clean-knee crawl-in entry to the bedroom.

Something with better wind shedding design, maybe with some webbing tensioners and multiple guyline points on the fly, so it isn’t flapping in the breeze, and can be cinched down tight to ground in sideways rain.

Lots of mesh, so it offers a bit of air flow on warm nights, and doesn’t condense breathy exhalations overnight on the tent body to rain on me in the mornning. 100% symmetrical so I can’t possibly put the fly on bass-awkards. Fast, intuitive set up.

We do not own any high-end tents, but the MSR Hubba Hubba is dang near perfection for me as a solo tent. Enough so that we own two of them.

We also own an early Big Agnes clone of the Hubba Hubba ; it is (stupidly) designed just ever so slightly asymmetric, with a wee bit lower “foot” end than head end. I cannot tell you how many times we have begun to attach the asymmetrical fly backwards. And I do not like having a designated “head” end in case I misjudge the sleeping slope angle.

Like BB and YC, despite the fact that instructions badly translated from Chinese are sometimes a source of comical frustration, I do read some manuals and instructions.

New (or new to me) vehicle? I read the manual at my lesuire, and then go sit in the driver’s seat and read parts of it again. Ohhh, so that’s what that button does. Same for any expensive appliances, equipment or shop tools, although a more cursory reading. Does a refrigerator really need wi-fi capability?

To wit, the second Hubba Hubba we bought was a 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] or 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] generation MSR, clearance priced cheap on REI. It came with an attachable “gear shed”. heck, I have put up a Hubba Hubba a thousand times, I don’t need to read no steenkin’ instructions.

After a half hour of aborted gear shed installation frustration in the yard I gave up and read the instructions. Well crap, no wonder it won’t go on that way.

 

[Boreal Birch]

Thanks for the excellent pictures of fungus on birch trees, Memaquay. I do not know the names for all the conks, have heard them called hoof conks. I have made many mini shelves with upside down shelf conks, even made my mother a mini flower pot one time. She did not want a a fungus in the house, but did hang is outside with a dried flower arrangement. A couple of friends of mine use them in fine wood working projects, such as lids on birch bark boxes and knife handles.
The Chaga fungus was/is used to catch sparks from flint & steel for fire making and in keeping a ember viable when traveling way back in the day. The chaga business in Fairbanks has taken off, making it hard to find this fungus along trails in birch woods there they were once common.

 

[lowangle al]

An omen at the border bridge - a huge cloud of bugs obscured our vision through the windshield. Now, a week later, my head is covered in scabs. My left ear is almost normal size and no longer purple. My calves are still ringed at the sock line. The poor dogs' bellies and ears are healing after being nearly consumed by black flies. My new glamping tent looks like a mob massacre happened inside from the big blood smeared on the walls. We bailed for plan B - day trips and hotels on the upper peninsula. I don't remember a buggier July up North.

Gil Gilpatrick used to take "Raid" type of bug spray in case one of his clients forgot to close their tent and it got infested. I guess it was more than just keeping his clients happy, it kept his tents blood free.

 

[Guest]

At market 'birch conks (shelf fungus)' aka Chaga is worth upwards of $50/pound

I have made some knickknacks from dried shelf fungus, but I have mixed feelings about locals “harvesting” flora or fauna for resale, and don’t know where to draw the line.

Piedmont Mountain folk harvesting ginseng? I dunno, it is a longstanding Appalachian tradition, but the harvest wasn’t previously being shipped to Asia, with every wee dam bit to be found worth poaching and selling.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...eng-poaching-great-smoky-mountains-180958858/

Or “crafty” folks weaving tourist trinkets from birch bark, sometimes middle of the night stripped from trees on private property.

https://www.wpr.org/stealing-birch-northern-wisconsin-forests-new-trend

Locally, on the Chesapeake Bay, it is catching Diamondbacks and snapping turtles for the Asian market food market.

https://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/reptiles/commercial-harvest-of-snapping-turtles-in-virginia/

Asia has dang near eaten their way through the local turtle species, snappers and diamondback will have to suffice.

https://www.turtleconservancy.org/turtles-in-trouble

Further south in the America some past Pope declared turtles to be “fish” and acceptable to eat on Fridays. Add to that “collectible” pet turtles and tortoises with attractive shell coloration and everything wild-caught has value.

There seems no solution to the world-wide demand, and as some flora and fauna becomes less common, more valuable and more eagerly harvested or poached, it isn’t gonna get any better.

 

[lowangle al]

One day up north during skeeter season there was just enough wind to keep them down, it was beautiful. I was unconcerned when I had to squat down to do my business. When I looked down I saw what looked like a layer of fur that hadn't been there before and quickly realized it was mosquitoes. A lot of slapping and flapping ensued disturbing the peacefulness of the moment. I'm not an English scholar but this event got me to thinking that at one time there was an expression "beating off mosquitoes" that had gotten shortened over the years.

 

[sweeper]

I have one Chinese Herbalist that I supply with Chaga and Reshi. We have discussed the supply chain, my two concerns were a. they always have a supply and b. I don't keep a lot on hand so what they get is the freshest possible. I harvest sustainably, I've checked the trees I harvest from and almost everyone is growing new conks.

I have a GPS that has over 150 Chaga Conks marked as 'Waypoints on it, so when I need one I can harvest it in an area I may way to visit for other reasons.

I have read sustainability studies of commercial harvesting of chaga in Siberia and even in the most pessimistic outlook Chaga is sustainable. Commercial harvesting in the US and Canada is nowhere near as heavy as Siberia.



I will not havest Ginsing or disclose the locations of it.

 

[Guest]

I have one Chinese Herbalist that I supply with Chaga and Reshi. We have discussed the supply chain, my two concerns were a. they always have a supply and b. I don't keep a lot on hand so what they get is the freshest possible. I harvest sustainably, I've checked the trees I harvest from and almost everyone is growing new conks.

I have a GPS that has over 150 Chaga Conks marked as 'Waypoints on it, so when I need one I can harvest it in an area I may way to visit for other reasons.

I have read sustainability studies of commercial harvesting of chaga in Siberia and even in the most pessimistic outlook Chaga is sustainable. Commercial harvesting in the US and Canada is nowhere near as heavy as Siberia.

I will not havest Ginsing or disclose the locations of it.

Sweeper, no offense intended. I know bupkiss about Chaga or Reshi (?) or its sustainability.

My experience is mostly with turtles and tortoises, where wild catch has devastated populations in Asia, to the point where a lot of species are now rare, endangered or extinct. And of course when something becomes rare the price goes up and becomes more eagerly sought after in a spiral of destruction.

 

[frozentripper]

If chaga has a life history like other fungi (I'm no expert), harvesting the black surface clump of mycelium will not kill it, since there is more mycelium inside the tree. It will stay there until the tree finally dies, at which time different fruiting bodies will emerge and allow the fungus to sustainably spread to other trees.

So is it worth looking for? Never tried it.

PS... roads and roadkills are also a big issue with turtle declines. Here in Ontario there will be some signs posted to watch out for them.

http://www.torontozoo.com/adoptapond/images/Crossing1L.jpg

 

[sweeper]

Sweeper, no offense intended. I know bupkiss about Chaga or Reshi (?) or its sustainability.

My experience is mostly with turtles and tortoises, where wild catch has devastated populations in Asia, to the point where a lot of species are now rare, endangered or extinct. And of course when something becomes rare the price goes up and becomes more eagerly sought after in a spiral of destruction.

No, I get it, Mike I've seen a lot of over-harvesting and did it once early on when I thought I had a market. Now I am just trading product for services.