When you go touring and you know it is not going to rain during your trip, why do you still carry a tent? Personally I'd rather just sleep under the stars. Any reason not to do this?

Where do you live that it never rains?

Just look at the week's forecast, it doesn't rain here too often over the summer

I tour mostly in Michigan, if the rain doesn't get you the mosquitoes will.

Tick born diseases if its in the summertime. Even an overnighter.

I usualy use a hammock or a tent. But I have also just slept on the ground during the winter. No snakes or bugs then.

As "Mr. Jim" said, bugs and rain. During the spring, ticks. During the summer, mosquitoes, especially as we often camp by a water source. In the late fall, no bugs, and if no rain, under the stars providing there's no likely heavy dew overnight.

One really good reason to use a tent: Hungry Mosquitoes.

I won't bother packing a tent if I know for sure it's not going to rain. The problem is weather forecasting is a more of a guess than a sure thing in western Oregon. They usually can forecast the next day - past that it gets iffy. If a trip is longer than 4 days, I'll be bringing a tent just in case.

It also depends on where I'm camping - If I'm in a crowded public campground, sleeping on the ground with no privacy is a bit weird for me and a little hard to fall asleep. Off the beaten path on some side road off in the woods - not so much of an issue.

Bugs. Snakes. Spiders. Toads.
I used to camp under a tarp. Woke up with a squished toad under my back. EW.

Mosquitoes, unscheduled rain, dew, plus the false sense of security of being inside.

1. It always rains when I tour.

2. Snakes.

3. Spiders.

4. Mosquitoes - and particularly the fact that they carry West Nile disease, Murray Valley encephalitis, etc.

On my first overnighter I stealth camped using a tarp because I didnt have a lightweight tent. It was summer and we don't have many wee, sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beasties.
We have more of a tick problem now so a good tent is useful in wooded country where there are deer.

Tarps are a really good, cheap, practical solution for lightweight camping.

I have never been touring when/where I knew it was not going to rain during my trip. In fact I think it rained at least once on every tour I have been on. It seems like you would have to go on very short tours in very dry places to be reasonably sure it wouldn't rain.

I guess if you tour in a bug free area with predictable weather and keep your tours short (like a week or less), then maybe you could reasonably be able to plan on no rain for a tour.

Then there are the mosquitos... So far there have been plenty of them for at least a part of all of my tours.

That said, on my upcoming tour I am planning to go with a bivy and a micro tarp. The whole rig weighs a pound and a half including stakes and poles for the tarp. The bivy provides enough extra warmth that I can use my lighter sleeping bag so it will hopefully save another pound and a half because of that. The tarp is only big enough to shelter my upper body and some gear with enough room to cook under while lying in the bivy if the need arises.

I expect that I will sleep under the stars with the top of the bivy rolled down or else on top of the bivy at least some of the time. That said I can't imagine counting on a lack of rain for any longish tour in any locale where I have toured. Even in my relatively short touring experience, I have occasionally been hit by a down pour even in the desert.

The bivy will be a bit of an experiment though. I expect it to work well in the cool dry weather I expect in the southwest for the first half of the trip. I am less sure how it will be in the warmer wetter gulf area. I expect that condensation may make me switch to my tent at some point along the way. The tent will be laid out at home waiting to be mailed to me if needed.

Where is "here"?

I sleep better in a "den."

Human instinct is to seek out shelter. Some can overcome this instinct better than others.

My first tours lasted three days. I did three of them. They were during the summer when the forecast was for no rain. I didn't bring a tent. It was nice to save weight, but I started bringing a tent on my next tours because it was nice to have a place to change clothes, get away from neighbor's eyes, and have a mosquito-free place.

I met a guy riding down the Oregon coast who didn't have a tent. He just put lots of insect repellant on his face and hands before he went to sleep. When it rained he had a blue tarp he'd throw over himself. Not for me; no thanks.

If you are sleeping under the stars, some areas can have a heavy dew, you might get your gear almost as wet as if it had rained.

Also, if you are camping where there are other people around, a tent where you can hide your gear and yourself can be nice.

Several decades ago I often wilderness camped with a small tarp/tube tent contraption that was made by Gerry Sports. It could be pitched like an A frame tent and had loose mosquito netting that hung down by gravity in the front and back, no floor. I used a space blanket as a ground cloth but if I had wanted to set it up smaller, I could wrap part of it under me like a tube tent, I think it had a zipper for that purpose. But, I wanted more gear storage so I never used it in tube tent fashion. I hung it from a line tied to two nearby trees and only used about 4 or 6 stakes. I generally only used it in spring or fall when the bugs were subdued in the chill.

There are some other options out there that are like floorless tents with no netting for the ultra light fans too but I have never used one of these newer ones.

tarp and bug bivy if needed. I also use a tent. it depends.

on The trip in the pics, no worries about bugs.


5 days skiing and biking in Mount Rainier Nat'l Park. Fabulous, absolutely no need for a tent on this trip.

Considering how light and inexpensive modern small hiking and touring tents, including fly and sewn-in floor, are now-a-days, and how easy they are to set up and store, I always take one unless credit card touring. It's not always easy to find a suitable spot to set up a tarp lean-to, and takes just as much effort and time, and only makes a minuscule difference in weight, while giving you the benefits of moisture, bug, and snake protection. I use a tarp late in the year when in remote wilderness after mosquitoes are gone mainly so that I can have a fire and cook my meals within arms reach of bed without worrying about leaving food smells clinging to a tent and attracting bears.

I do always, bugs, dew, are the main reasons

I always carry my tent, but I don't always use it. When I do, it's for the reasons given by others.

1. Potential of rain or dew
2. Privacy
3. (The big one for me) Protection from the bitey things.

When I'm in a remote location and reason 2 isn't an issue, and when I'm confident that reason 1 won't be either, I'll often use the tent but skip the flysheet. It's mostly mesh so it allows me to enjoy the stars without becoming a buffet.

Hostels are nice , I used them extensively in Europe and Ireland/UK.

Touring solo I like being out of a storm, sometimes, and the social meet-ups
that never happen upscale .. in Hotels..

NL and Belgium, some Hostels serve beer !

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. You can always take a risk, but why take that risk with something as wonderful as sleep. So many compact and light weight tents available these days.

Asking that question is like asking if everyone uses common sense. Most people do but not all the time...and that's usually when they wish they had.

I'll be at one with the ground in a few short years,I'd like a little comfort before I leave......so I use one.