Campers Info Source

Camping in Pennsylvania has some surprises for everyone.  The Allegheny National Forest is a site that is outstandingly beautiful, offering deep trees that will literally run for a hundred miles before you see daylight.  What I can tell you is that camping in

Chinook Tradewinds Guide 6 Person Tent

a national forest requires that you have a good solid tent and you need to watch your step.  You have to be careful about what you’ve heard about bears and their sleeping habits because it’s sometimes not true.  Chinook tents are good solid tents and are perfect for camping in national forests.  If you believe everything you’ve heard or read about bears and their hibernation or migration patterns, you might not be too worried about camping in the late fall.  No bears right? Great time for camping. I’m here to tell you that you may be very wrong.  Late fall appears to be a great time for bear migration.  If camping in the late fall in any national forest, I highly suggest you hang garbage food from high tree branches far away from your campsite so bears will be distracted by the scent found far away.  Or dig a hole and put some garbage food in it and cover it with a few logs to keep the bears busy.  Make it look natural.  I did this once just as a precaution because although we knew bears were in the area, we assumed the bears to be already in bed and sleeping.  However, our camp site was visited one night and our Chinook tents were snuffed by no less than four bears that night. Don’t ask us if it was four different ones, or all the same–we didn’t open the tent to find out.

Family Camping Tents with more than 1 room are realy nice for storage of extra camping gear or for teenager privacy.  As teenagers reach the age of 15, they feel more grown up and less comfortable around their parents and siblings when they are getting ready for

Wolf Mountain Family Camping Tent - without fly

bed or waking up.  They want privacy and an extra room in family camping tents is just what the doctor ordered.  Some family camping tents have two rooms which is really nice but three rooms is wonderful and it’s 18′ by 10′ size makes this tent very roomy.   

The Wolf Mountain tent from Gigatent is a 3 room family camping tent that sleeps 5-6 but more importantly, it also has three seperate doors; one for entering and exiting each room of the tent.  It also has a mesh roof for star gazing at night and the roof can be covered with a rain fly if the weather is not cooperating. 

 The room dividers are removable allowing for one large room or three smaller rooms.  So the next time you go looking for a really big family camping tents, check out the Wolf Mountain and you’ll be howling, happy you did.

This is the fourth in a series of six blog posts describing styles of camping tents to help you choose the design best suited to you.  This fourth style of camping tents is the A-Frame or Wedge Style Tent. 

Eureka Timberline Outfitter 6

A-Frame or Wedge Style Tents

Just like its name, this tent is shaped like the letter “A”. The design was actually the classic tent design in the sixties.  The sturdy end frame at each end forms an “A”, with a single ridgepole across the top to hold up the tent’s canopy.  This style is also called a pup tent.  

A pup tent is a structure used for shelter that is made with some sort of durable material, such as canvas, and two poles.  There are many types of tents, but the pup tent is distinguished by its small size and lack of roof.  A typical pup tent was originally only about 6 ft (1.8 m) long, 4 ft (1.2 m) wide, and about 3.5 ft (1.1 m) high, though they may now be found in slightly larger sizes. One pole holds up the front, and one pole is placed in the back, giving the tent an A-frame appearance.  They get the name of pup tent due to the small, kid-like size. 

The sloping sides of an A-Frame tent does restrict the interior headroom, but A-frame tents have an efficient rectangular floor space.  The angled sides sag in wet or windy weather, so other, more weather-worthy designs have mostly replaced the use of A-frame tents.    The ‘A-Frame or Wedge style tent is the type that first comes to mind when someone utters the word “tent” and is a style that’s been in use for many centuries.  More compact and therefore lighter in weight than either a wall-tent or a pyramid, a good sized wedge nonetheless provides excellent shelter for two people and all their stuff.  Historically, big A-Frame tents such as 6 person tents were not as popular as 2 person tents.  Tents and other temporary shelters were used routinely in the military for storage of guns and also by fur traders who needed shelters for their annual journey to and from the Bay or Lake Superior.  Everyone had to live in A-Frame tents while a fur post was under construction.  Today, A-Frame tents are popular with cub scouts, boy scouts, hikers and backpackers.  They are also are bigger.  The Eureka Timberline Series tents like the one pictured are very popular and sturdy A-Frame tents.  Eureka Timberline series includes 2 person tents, 4 person tents and 6 person tents.