Selecting the Right Tent

What to look for

A tent is like a good all-terrain vehicle: You can take one pretty much anywhere, at anytime. You just have to be a little more careful about not getting bogged down, waterlogged, blown over or swept away.

Exercising good judgment when selecting a good camp site--and anchoring your tent securely with the right equipment--will make your tent as versatile as any HUM-V. The first and most important consideration: where do you really want to camp?

Rough it in the wilderness or take the advantage of a commercial campground? The reason for the question is simple.

Regardless of which type of experience you choose, three considerations are of paramount importance. They are water, flat ground and fuel. a commercial campground, water and flat ground are always provided--along with flush toilets. You bring your own lantern and stove fuel unless you opt to buy it at the camp store.

In the wilderness, nothing is guaranteed. You'll have to search for a site that furnishes a comfortable flat place and a ready supply of water that can be filtered before drinking or cooking. And you have to lug in all the lantern and stove fuel.

Even if you decide to cook with nothing but wood--a risky decision either because you may not find it or it may be illegal to have an open fire where you're camping--you still have to supply the lantern fuel. Yes, convenience is a factor...but not always the most important factor.

To Selecting the Right Tent Site

To What the Ideal Tent Site Will Have

To What to Have--and Not Have--Around Your Tent

To Camping Homepage

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