Tent recommendations

[jamesb2h]

3 of us heading up the haul road and going in by airboat for caribou in August. What do yall recommend for tents? Tipi? Dome? Floor or no floor? Thanks

 

[IBen]

Personally i would bring three single man dome tents for sleeping and one floor-less pyramid for cooking and hanging out in the rain.

 

[Alaska 4x4 Rentals]

Personally i would bring three single man dome tents for sleeping and one floor-less pyramid for cooking and hanging out in the rain.

This. And remember, it can get super windy up there. Tipi might turn into a kite.

 

[jamesb2h]

I've seen differing opinions on the subject. Looking for area specific recommendations. Thanks for the response.

 

[WeiserBucks]

You're going to get differing opinions here too.

 

[Alaska 4x4 Rentals]

Everyone is going to have their own opinion, that's why it's called an opinion, and you have your own. lol. Personally, I use my KUIU Mountain Star tent.

 

[jamesb2h]

I don't have my own to be honest. This will be my first trip to Alaska.

 

[Alaska 4x4 Rentals]

I don't have my own to be honest. This will be my first trip to Alaska.

Please do some research on it, not just ask for opinions. Alaska can be a very unforgiving place, but it can also be a walk in the park. There are too many variables to give you good recommendations on tents. You're going to the Haul road, okay that's step one. Are you rifle or bow hunting? Are you hiking out? Road hunting? Going to be on the tundra or up in the Brooks Range? What season/times are you going? Literally every one of those questions can change recommendations.

 

[WeiserBucks]

3 guys means 3 tents in my opinion, maybe bring a big tipi to hang out in and cook like mentioned earlier. Each guy gets their own tent so that nobody has to sleep next to some other A-hole that's all sweaty, stinky, snoring, farting, getting up to piss and flopping around in their bag all night.

 

[madscientist]

I have never been to alaska, but i do ALOT of camping.

I strongly recommend Nortent. Pick your flavor. I love the poly cotton. its heavier, but if your base camping, its not a big deal. Although I would not do the polycotton without a stove. the polycotton is water resistant, almost water proof after its been weathered, but I still like the stove inside to dry things out.

if your going to hike to a new camping spot every night, I have a bivuake with inner, which is great for keeping the bugs out. The good thing about that tarp specifically is that its SUPER roomy for something like 4.5lbs? its barely noticeable in the pack. I love putting it beside a lake and opening up one side for the view and i already carry my trekking poles to pitch when there are no trees.

give us more info on your trip and where youll be. environment matters.

 

[jamesb2h]

Please do some research on it, not just ask for opinions. Alaska can be a very unforgiving place, but it can also be a walk in the park. There are too many variables to give you good recommendations on tents. You're going to the Haul road, okay that's step one. Are you rifle or bow hunting? Are you hiking out? Road hunting? Going to be on the tundra or up in the Brooks Range? What season/times are you going? Literally every one of those questions can change recommendations.

Tundra hunting. Airboat ride out. Rifle hunting. Mid August.

 

[IBen]

3 mountain hardwear meridian 2p tents for sleeping and 1 argali absoroka 4 p tent to hang out for breakfast, coffee and dinner.
The argali isnt quite big enough for chairs if you want chair you’ll need a 6 p seek outside. Bring enough stakes and guylines to stake out every possible tie off.
Thats what i would do

 

[mcseal2]

My caribou hunt was out of Kotz, so I’m not sure about the brush where your going along the banks to block wind. Take my advice on tarps with that in mind. Others will have better recommendations.

Going today I’d take my Kuiu Storm Star to sleep in. Overkill is not a bad thing in Alaska on tents in my opinion. That one is pretty solid in bad weather.

When we went all 3 of us stayed in a Cabelas Alaskan Guide Instinct 6 man tent, about 10’x10’ floor space. It worked fine but didn’t allow a lot of extra floor space with 3 light cots. I bought the Storm Star for Kodiak where we had 4 people. There we slept 2 of us in a couple 2 man tents, 2 in the 6 man.

If you have the weight allowance a big tent like that for cooking, or hanging out in during bad weather would be great. Maybe even sleep 1 or 2 in it.

If you don’t have the weight for a cook tent I’d take a 10’x10’ or bigger tarp to set up as a cook shack if possible. Seek outside makes some nice midweight tarps like the DST that have served me well. The heavier Aquaquest Defender tarps are my favorite for a base camp with a generous weight allowance. We loved the 15’x15’ on Kodiak set back in the brush.

Out hunt was later and we had temps down to 0. Lots of rain and wind, some snow/sleet. You may not want to be under a tarp and outside bug netting as much as we were?

 

[Mvaughan]

Lots of good advice. I’d prefer my own 2p tent to sleep in and a bigger one to hang out in when (bc it will) rain.

 

[OlPappyB]

I've been in an SO Redcliff, SO Cimarron, Kifaru Sawtooth and a couple canvas wall tents. All of them work great in the Snow and or Rain, if you can stay out of the heavy wind. If you can't stay out of heavy wind, I agree with IBen on what to use.

 

[Yukon Cornelius]

Go floorless with whatever you choose. I like tipis.
Are you staying one spot? Or moving? If one spot and weight doesn’t matter check out the Nortent gamme 6 or 8.

If weight does matter I like the space in a 6 man or 8 man tipi.

Floorless. Best option on tundra or anywhere in AK IMO.

 

[buffybr]

My first hunt in Alaska was in 1980 when 5 of us went on a DIY caribou hunt out of King Salmon. We brought all of our gear from our homes in Montana, and we brought a large umbrella tent for all of us to sleep in and a small 2 man tent for our gear. The umbrella tent had a large enclosed front area where we could cook and get in out of the rain.

The umbrella tent also had a floor, but we got a large sheet of plastic in King Salmon that I told the first load of our crew that flew into our camp to put the plastic under the tent. They didn't, they tried to tie it over the tent for a rain fly, which blew away, and as a result water from the tundra under our tent seeped through the floor, and we had a wet week.

For over 20 years I had horses and packed my wall tent into Montana's back country for elk, moost, and bighorn sheep hunts. We also used it many years in eastern Montana on antelope hunts for a couple of us to sleep in and for a dry place to cook and eat. It doesn't have a floor, but I always put tarps down everywhere except under the wood stove.

If your tent doesn't have a floor, you need to at least put a tarp down to help keep your sleeping area clean.

Several years ago I went on a guided Brown Bear hunt in SW Alaska. My guide had a 2 man tent for each of us. They had floors and rain flys and were tucked in the alders, but we couldn't stand up in them, and we had to cook and eat outside. I prefer a tent that I can stand up in.

 

[VernAK]

I spent a quarter century in that area and further North as well as several hunts on AkPen and Kodiak. I tried various tents during those years but once I found the Hilleberg Black Labels [Mine is a Tarra] the search ended.

 

[tunaorlater]

Tipi’s have treated me great up there, we make sure the sod skirt is sealed up tight and got MSR “cyclone” stakes for it, we also have brought a back up 4 season tent to store gear and as an emergency back up. If I could only take one it would be a 4 season tent especially if your in open tundra with no wind breaks close by.

 

[Rustynail]

All I say is skip out on luxe. Order a $400 tent and never heard a word from them!

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