Ah, excellent! Time for some car-camping聴the best kind of camping there is. I’ve always felt that car-campers are having the most fun in roadside parks. All the RV people聴and I have no argument with them (well, except for the guy with the generator grinding away at that national forest campground near the Wallowa Mountains)聴are inside by seven o’clock, watching TV. The tent people are all outside by a campfire, watching the stars come out, maybe roasting marshmallows, sipping a good wine.
REI Hobitat 4 Tent
Hobitat 4There are several good choices for you. On the domestic front, the MEC Frontenac 4, sold at Mountain Equipment Co-op (C$538; www.mec.ca), sleeps four adults and two youngsters comfortably in a sturdy tent that offers lots of ventilation and windows for more light and better views of the outside world. It聮s built like a mountaineering tent. On the other hand, MEC聮s Funhouse 6 tent (C$399) is a little more like a 聯traditional” car-camping tent. It聮s taller than the Frontenac at just over six feet (1.86 meters), versus less than five feet (1.4 meters) in the sleeker Frontenac. So you might be happier in the Funhouse.
Of course there are U.S.-brand tents that you can purchase in Canada or have shipped your way. One that I like is the new REI Hobitat 4 (currently on sale for US$190, C$210; www.rei.com), which sleeps four quite nicely in a very tall tent聴six feet, six inches (nearly two meters) in the middle. It聮s a well-made tent, but with that height it won聮t be great in super-high winds. And when I set one up a while back, I found I needed a HUGE radius to manage the poles, but that聮s true for most large tents. Otherwise, it聮s well-made, well-ventilated, weatherproof, and reasonably priced.
Eureka聮s Equinox 6 (US$350, C$387; www.eurekatent.com) sleeps six, which means more room for everyone, in a well-made tent that like the MEC and REI tents has aluminum poles (tougher and lighter than fiberglass).
For a mattress, I聮d get an Aero Sport All-Terrain Mattress (www.thinkaero.com) in the twin size (US$70, C$78) or the queen (US$90, C$100). I mean, why not be comfortable?
Check out this year聮s more than 400 must-have gear items, including , in the 2006 Buyer聮s Guide.