I recently returned from a 4-day fall subalpine lakes fishing trip accompanied by two-ground dwellers in small two-man tents. There were over 14 lakes on a 4800' plateau. We camped at the uppermost lake in a stand of trees surrounded by meadows. Days 1 and 2 were great.
2016 09 29_0604.jpg Indian Heaven - Rock Lake.JPG Indian Heaven - Lake Sahalee Tyee - Catch of the Day.JPG
Day 3 was miserable. We were in the clouds, temps in the high 30s to mid 40s, gusty-variable winds, with horizontal rain and sleet. My friend described it to his wife as "starting at about 2:30 AM it was raining all but about three 45 minute periods, and when it wasn't raining, the wind was blowing the rain out of the trees so it looked like it was raining."
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My tarp pitch kept had kept things dry and I had slept comfortably and toasty warm with the weathershield open about 6". After breakfast I fished awhile but it was difficult.
We all huddled awhile under the lee side of my Vertex tarp in A-frame mode with the windward side fairly low, drank Tea, cocoa, played harmonica and whistle. I was trying to stay warm sitting in my camp chair wearing a 250 weight Merino wool base layer, Columbia Titanium convertible trousers, a PrimaLoft* Gold puffy jacket, Merino Buff, fleece cap, and a full Gore Tex hardshell, but got pretty chilled. I crawled into the hammock after they finally retreated to their tents but quickly got restless and bored holed up in the hammock. I've since invested in a Mountain Hardware Ghost Whisperer 800 fill waterproof down jacket and a better pair of Gore Tex Pro full zip rain pants with suspenders; both at an additional 25% off from the current sale prices plus free shipping .
This is probably overkill but have any of you NX-TX users contemplated shelling out for a tarp with doors; SuperFly, Winter Dream, or cuben Winter Palace ($$$) to help block gusty variable winds when you're not holed up under the weathershield? They all appear to be hex tarps with a long enough ridgeline, but any idea how the width and side length compares with the Vertex?
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