Shelters

The Problems

In addition to base weight concerns, the Florida Trail thru-hiker experiences a number of environmental conditions that limit their shelter choices.

1) Bugs. Even though winter months have fewer bugs that doesn’t mean mosquitoes have completely disappeared and huge swarms appear at dusk in the Everglades Agricultural Area. The panhandle has sand gnats (no-see-ums) and they aren't slowed down by cold temperatures like mosquitoes. Shelters without bug netting will leave you vulnerable to clouds of no-see-ums, and you will have hundreds of bites that itch for two weeks — two weeks! This disqualifies basic tarps, though bug netting can be added to a tarp set up.

2) Dew Point. The dew point is the temperature at which water vapor in the air condenses into liquid water — called dew when it forms on a solid surface, and fog when it forms in the air. The dew point temperature is affected by humidity: the higher the humidity, the closer the dew point is to the current air temperature. That means when it’s particularly humid, as Florida can still be in winter, nighttime air temperatures do not need to drop very far before hitting the dew point.

Must Haves

less than 3lbs

bug netting

seam sealed/ taped

bathtub (tents only)

double wall (tents only)

three-season

Not Important

free standing

What’s Out

tarps

bivvies

four-season tents

mountaineering tents

Expect your shelter to be covered in dew most mornings. Sleeping under a tarp means waking up covered in dew yourself and with your sleeping bag soaked. This can be life-threatening and so further disqualifies tarps. It also means the inside surface of a tent can get quite wet, which disqualifies single-walled tents. Without incredible ventilation, a single-walled tent will create a greenhouse environment and make rain fall on you every night. Similarly, we have concluded bivvies are too damp for Florida.

A double-wall tent has two parts, the main body of the tent and a separate rain fly. The gap between the tent and fly allows ventilation and any condensation that does form on the inside of the fly rolls down the fly onto the ground, rather than drip onto you.

3) Flooded Ground & Heavy Rain. Even during a moderate rain, your campsite can become a big puddle as rain comes down faster than it drains into the soil. While the winter months are usually Florida’s dry season, global climate patterns like El Niño bring unseasonable rains. During an El Niño year you may find campsites with sodden ground and heavy rains can batter your shelter.

Hammocks are a way to get above this problem (see below). Tents on the ground must be fully waterproof (seam sealed or taped) and have a "bathtub" design that goes up at least a few inches, otherwise water will flow into your tent. This further disqualifies simple tarps as well as tarptents that don't have a bathtub design.

4) Cold & Hot Temperatures. While a FT thru-hike happens in the winter, Florida winters are mild. Below freezing temperatures are possible, but so too are highs in the 80s. Your shelter needs to be flexible enough to keep you comfortable in either situation, so a "three-season" tent is best. While those "three seasons" are technically spring, summer, and autumn and not winter, they refer to average seasonal variations in mild places like Virginia, rather than extreme environments like sub-tropical Florida or frigid Alaska. Winter in Florida is like spring in much of the rest of the country, so a three-season tent is best.

Two-Person or One-Person Tent?

While a bivvy will be too wet and clammy in Florida, there is nothing wrong with a one-person tent per se. If you have used one before and are comfortable with it, then go for it. In general we recommend getting the lightest two-person, three-season tent you can afford. After all, you are going to be living in this tent, day in and day out for months. You may end up spending a zero day waiting out the rain in it. In that kind of scenario most people are more comfortable in a roomier space.

Tent Recommendations

Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2

weight: 1lb 15oz

cost: $350

best all-round for the solo hiker

The Fly Creek is one of the most popular tents with thru-hikers and it's our top pick for a three-season tent. Looking at the numbers in our chart below, it's easy to see why. At just under two pounds, not only is it one of the lightest two-person tents on the market, it's lighter than most one-person tents. Anything lighter is much more expensive, single-walled, or one-person. Now, while $350 is not cheap, it is the best bang for your buck. Looking at other tents we find the equally-priced REI Dash is a half-pound heavier, and most other tents are both heavier and more expensive. Significantly cheaper tents around $250 tend to weigh four pounds or more, but since the Fly Creek UL2 is available at places like REI, you can get it on sale/discounted for $300 or less.

The Fly Creek UL2 achieves its weight first by using DAC Featherlite aluminum poles, which are just as strong as regular aluminum poles but lighter, and are pretty much standard on all current lightweight tents. It also has a single door, but more significant is the choice of thin, light nylon for the floor which is more easily punctured than thicker, heavier nylons. As a result, you need to choose tent sites with care and remove all pine cones, sticks, and holly leaves from under the tent.

Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2

weight: 2 lbs 12oz

cost: $400

best choice for couples

While we like the Fly Creek, its single door is inconvenient for couples. Two doors on either side is optimal, that way no one has to crawl over the other person if they want to get out in the middle of the night. More importantly, the Fly Creek's headroom is limited and interior space cramped for two people getting dressed at the same time. On the other hand, the shape of the Copper Spur UL2 provides a lot of interior space, and if divided between both people its weight is negligible.

REI Quarter Dome 1

weight: 2 lbs 2oz

cost: $220

best budget option for solo hikers

If you are concerned foremost about price and are comfortable with a little less space, then REI's Quarter Dome 1 is a great choice. It's only 3 ounces more than the Fly Creek UL2 but $130 cheaper. While it is not the absolute cheapest tent on the charts below, the cheaper options are either very small inside, bordering on bivvies, or aren't truly double-walled, thus making them too damp for Florida. The Quarter Dome 1 has a lot of headroom and interior space considering it's a one-person tent.

Two-Person Tents : A Comparison Chart

2-person, 3-season tents	weight	cost	free standing	double wall	# of doors	floor area sq. feet
ZPacks Duplex Tent	1 lb 4oz	$595	no	no	2	28.2
Big Agnes Fly Creek 2 Platinum	1 lb 9oz	$550	semi	ü	1	28
Big Agnes Scout Plus UL 2	1 lb 14oz	$350	no	no	1	29
Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2	1 lb 15oz	$350	semi	ü	1	28
NEMO Blaze 2P	2 lbs	$450	no	ü	2	30
Terra Nova Solar Photon 2	2 lbs 1oz	$380	ü	ü	1	26
Mountain Hardware Super Mega UL2	2 lbs 2oz	$400	ü	ü	2	27
NEMO Hornet 2P	2 lbs 5oz	$370	semi	ü	2	28
REI Dash 2	2 lbs 7oz	$350	semi	ü	2	29
Tarptent Double Rainbow	2 lbs 8oz	$289	semi	hybrid	2	30
Sierra Designs Flashlight 2 FL	2 lbs 8oz	$370	no	hybrid	2	30
Big Agnes Seedhouse SL2	2 lbs 9oz	$350	ü	ü	1	28
Big Agnes Slater UL2+	2 lbs 9oz	$390	semi	ü	1	37
Big Agnes Bitter Springs UL 2	2 lbs 4oz	$400	no	ü	1	28
Big Sky International Mirage 2P	2 lbs 6oz	$367	ü	hybrid	2	42
Big Agnes Copper Spur UL2	2 lbs 12oz	$400	ü	ü	2	29
Sierra Designs Lightning 2 FL	2 lbs 13oz	$370	ü	hybrid	1	30.5
Marmot Amp 2P	2 lbs 13oz	$380	semi	ü	1	29
MSR Nook 2	2 lbs 13oz	$400	ü	no	1	28.5
Big Sky International Revolution 2P	2 lbs 15oz	$375	ü	ü	2	32
Marmot Force 2P	2 lbs 15oz	$390	ü	ü	2	29
MSR Carbon Reflex 2	3 lbs	$500	no	ü	2	27
Nemo Equipment Obi 2P	3 lbs	$369	ü	ü	2	27
REI Quarter Dome 2	3 lbs 1oz	$300	ü	ü	2	28.7
North Face Mica FL 2	3 lbs 2oz	$379	semi	ü	2	28.3
NEMO Dagger 2P	3 lbs 5oz	$400	ü	ü	2	31

One-Person Tents: A Comparison Chart

1-person, 3-season tents	weight	cost	free standing	double wall	# of doors	floor area sq. feet
Six Moon Designs Skyscape X	15 oz	$565	no	hybrid	2	?
Big Agnes Fly Creek 1 Platinum	1 lb 6oz	$500	ü	ü	1	22
Big Agnes Fly Creek UL1	1 lb 10oz	$320	ü	ü	1	22
NEMO Hornet 1P	1 lb 11oz	$320	ü	ü	1	21
Marmot Starlight 1P	1 lb 12oz	$220	no	hybrid	1	16
NEMO Blaze 1P	1 lb 12oz	$370	no	ü	1	18
Big Agnes Bitter Springs UL 1	1 lb 13oz	$350	no	ü	1	18
Lightheart Gear Solo	1 lb 13oz	$280	no	hybrid	1	30
Mountain Hardwear Mega UL 1	1 lb 13oz	$350	ü	ü	1	16
Easton Kilo 1P	1 lb 14oz	$350	semi	ü	1	18.8
The North Face Triarch 1	1 lb 15oz	$300	ü	ü	1	16.9
Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1	2 lbs 2oz	$280	ü	ü	1	22
NEMO Veda 1P	2 lbs 1oz	$330	no	hybrid	1	24
Montbell Crescent 1	2 lbs 1oz	$200	no	hybrid	1	21.8
REI Quarter Dome 1	2 lbs 2oz	$220	semi	ü	1	21.4
MSR Carbon Reflex 1	2 lbs 2oz	$400	no	ü	1	15.5
Tarptent Rainbow	2 lbs 2oz	$260	semi	hybrid	1	23
Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 1	2 lbs 3oz	$370	ü	ü	1	22
The North Face Mica FL 1	2 lbs 5oz	$319	ü	ü	1	16.9
MSR Hubba NX	2 lbs 7oz	$350	ü	ü	1	18
Sierra Designs Light Year 1	2 lbs 11oz	$170	no	ü	1	20
Marmot Eos 1P	2 lbs 11oz	$230	ü	ü	1	21
Eureka Spitfire 1	2 lbs 11oz	$140	no	ü	1	18
Sierra Designs Vapor Light 1	2 lbs 14oz	$255	ü	ü	1	15.5
Exped Mira 1	2 lbs 14oz	$330	ü	ü	1	16.6

Benefits of a Hammock

During an El Nino year Florida receives more winter precipitation than any other state. This graphic from CNN illustrates the unseasonable rainfall that plagued FT thru-hikers in 2015. If the year you are planning to hike is forecast to be an El Nino year, you might consider using a backpacker's hammock instead of a tent.

You can easily find yourself in a situation where the trail and surrounding woods are flooded and there is no dry ground on which to set up a tent, as we once did in Ocala National Forest. Rather than slogging on until you find a damp spit of land big enough for your tent, possibly after dark, you can set up a hammock over the water and sleep easy. Additionally, sleeping in a hammock eliminates worries during a nighttime storm that your campsite might flood.

Sleeping over water in Florida might inspire visions of alligators leaping from the water to snatch you from the air — a spectacle common at alligator farms where chicken meat is suspended above hungry gators. It's unnerving image, but as we discuss on the dangerous animals page, alligator attacks are rare, and most of the time people are too big for alligators to consider us as food. Besides, if it wanted an alligator could attack you on the ground in your tent just as easily.

Hammock Options

Camping hammocks are unique and relatively new to backpacking. Hennessey Hammock pioneered them for backpackers and for a long time you could only buy one from HH's website or at thru-hiker events like Trail Days. Today they are available at REI.

If you are thinking about a hammock, we strongly recommend visiting a store, trying them out in person, and experiencing the differences between models first-hand.

Hammock	weight	price	weight capacity
Hennessy Hammock Hyperlight Asym Zip	1 lb 9oz	$279.95	200 lbs
Hennessy Hammock Ultralite Backpacker Asym Zip	1 lb 15oz	$249.95	200 lbs
Hennessy Hammock Explorer Ultralight Asym Zip	2 lbs 4oz	$279.95	250 lbs
Hennessy Hammock Explorer Ultralight Asym Classic	2 lbs 7oz	$269.95	250 lbs
Hennessy Hammock Explorer Deluxe Asym Zip	3 lbs 3oz	$239.95	300 lbs
Hennessy Hammock Explorer Deluxe Asym Classic	3 lbs 6oz	$229.95	300 lbs