camping tent, camping gearBack in the days when I was backpacking all over Arizona, we never used camping tents, but today when I was looking online at camping gear, I ran across a really nice backpacking tent that I might order for my son's 18th birthday. He is such a solid hiker and I feel confident that he is old enough to go backpacking with his hiking buddies now. Having a camping tent along would keep him out of the elements. While we didn't use camping tents out on the trail because we didn't want to carry the weight of a tent along, today's tents are so much lighter and easy to put up. The tent I found is shown in this blog; it's the Eureka Timberline 2 Backpacking Tent shown here and it says it's for two people, but my son is a big guy and probably will fill it up himself along with his camping gear.

Anyone whose been backpacking knows how much fun it is and liberating, too. Putting all the supplies a person needs on their back and heading off in the wilderness for days on end is quite an accomplishment. I want him to have that sense of self sufficiency that backpacking teaches, and to experience life without civilization intruding is a real eye-opener. I found backpacking to be so grounding for myself emotionally and psychologically, and my retreats to the woods left me completely reinvigorated.

I found this camping tent at KE Active Lifestyle at http://kayserenterprises.ispeedway.com/, a site for a lot of camping tents and camping gear. It's a well made tent that weighs less than six pounds. It has 38 square feet of space inside and a rain fly for protection from the rain and wind. It has ample windows and packs to 6" by 24" which is quite small for a tent. Even if he doesn't take to backpacking like a fish to water, he'll get lots of use out of this tent for regular camping, too. We are frequent campers and he's always loved to go on trips with us and can hike for mile after mile without fatigue.

He'll be going to college next year and I'd like to see that he's got all the camping gear he needs so he can continue to go camping on spring break or during the summer. A campground or a campsite in the wilderness would also be a great place for intense studying before finals, too. Notebook computers weigh nothing, and with a solar battery charger, I could see him taking off for a few days to get away from the distractions of ordinary life to get in some intense studying in beautiful and serene locations.