High Sierra Topix

I've only cowboy camped next to the car, when I'm carpooling with more people than can sleep in one car. I try to get some wind protection, as wind (sound & the feeling of it on my face) keep me awake. Never had any trouble with non-human animals.

Once I started cowboy camping, I found that I prefer it to using a tent, when conditions - no rain and no mossies - allow it. I have never had a close encounter with any animals while cowboy camping, though I've spooked a bear and deer several times when I've heard something moving around outside my tent. However, I absolutely would not go on a Sierra trip without shelter. One of the worst storms I've ever experienced was while camping in the Sierra (July 2021, I believe). I'm glad that I had a tent with a floor for that one, though sometimes I only carry a Gatewood Cape, which doubles as a rain poncho and a tarp shelter for only 13 oz, including cordage.

You wrote:

A few years ago, I woke up in the morning as the big spoon to a rattlesnake, no coffee was required that day.
And what happened next?!

Please tell us c0ryn

I have always feared that situation, as I too am an inveterate cowboy camper. With our dogs usually with us, we use the tent more to keep them in, and out of trouble, than to keep the bears out.

I would never go out without having a shelter, but have cowboy camped many times. On one occasion, I had a few squirrels who had great fun playing leap frog on me. Another time I was visited by a skunk who decided to give me a sniff, then mosey off.

I always bring a shelter of some sort but don't always set it up since I much prefer cowboy style because I can really spread out. I am of the age that getting out of a backpacking tent is quite the ordeal. My experience with mosquitos in the high Sierra is that they settle down after dark so it's never been an issue for me. No bivy either, if it's only dew, it won't wet the down and the humidity is generally low so everything drys quickly.

Hammock for the win! Best of both worlds...
(Except it's not really a viable option above the tree line)

I cowboy camp all of the time, but almost always bring a tent, just in case. I ALWAYS bring a tent into the Sierra.

My current sleep system is modular, to afford as much freedom, in as little weight as possible. It consists of a pyramid tarp, ground cloth a mini bug net dome that fits over the top end of my sleeping bag, sleep mat and my bag. I almost always use the netting, as I am a light sleeper and even the sound of buzzing insects awakens me.

I've had two incidents with creatures: one at Royal Arch Lake, when marmots chewed on my blue foam pad and gnawed several holes in my sleeping bag while I was away from my camp; the other was getting stung by a scorpion that snuck into my boot overnight while camping in the high desert. Hiking out was "uncomfortable".

Ed

I prefer to cowboy camp provided the weather and mossys participate, but as with Ed I carry a "roof" just in case.

For the last 20 years or so I've carried an UL bivy, an 8x10 UL tarp, and a sheet of polycro. With stakes and guys lines it weights in at 24 oz. Most nights I am either fully out, or in the bivy. Fortunately, whilst fully out I've not been bothered by bugs, snakes, or other creepy-crawlies. Biggest problem has been dewfall both with and without the bivy. The tarp is always there in case of weather, especially needed on my Adirondack hikes, summertime in the San Juans, and occasionally in the Sierra and southwest.

Prior to this I just staked out my tent and used it as a ground cloth.

I always cowboy camp when feasible, oftentimes even using my tent as a pillow. While this is a heavy item to bring along to use as a pillow, I'm of the opinion that it's a mistake to hit the trail without some sort of shelter. There are infinite micro climates in the Sierra, and just because the weather report at the Lodgepole visitor center gives like a 3% chance of rain, that doesn't mean there won't be thunder roaring over Nine Lakes Basin. I learned this lesson the hard way on the first backpacking trip I ever took in the Sierra, setting out tent-less on a beautiful clear day, only to spend a good chunk of my evening chilling in a bear box at Lost Lake to stay dry in a storm.

Harlen wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2024 1:31 am You wrote:

A few years ago, I woke up in the morning as the big spoon to a rattlesnake, no coffee was required that day.
And what happened next?!

Please tell us c0ryn


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I have always feared that situation, as I too am an inveterate cowboy camper. With our dogs usually with us, we use the tent more to keep them in, and out of trouble, than to keep the bears out.

I screamed like a 2-year-old and started rolling away in my sleeping bag. It was as scary as waking up in the middle of the night with my kids standing at the side of my bed and staring at me. The snake just slowly unwound and slithered off while I watched from afar. I had a really tough time falling asleep the following night.