[Philmont] PhiLessons

I looked at the tent in question. Two weeks before leaving and the crew wants to buy it.
   
  Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Do they really know what they want or is it reactionary?
   
  Hands down, buying any tent two weeks before departure even if from a store right next door would be foolish.
   
  My overiding question on this whole thread of tent selection is "WHY BOTHER?" Use the PhilTents, that is why they supply them in the first place. Spend the money on other things or charge LESS for the Scouts to go.
   
  Now let's look at why use a tent in the first place. OK, OK, I'll not get into a four hour discourse on that subject.
   
  When I first looked at the tent in question, I would have turned it down first crack. It's a FUNNEL, not a tent.
   
  The primary purpose of a tent is to protect one from things that fall from above due to the force of GRAVITY. Those things include Raindrops, Fog droplets, Snow, Sleet, Hail stones, Pine cones, Tree limbs and last but not least BUGS!
   
  Yes, it's wet and cool at Philmont right now. Well, in the higher elevations. What's new about that? Nothing, it ALWAYS is wet and cool at the higher elevations in mid June. And July and August and September and October and November and December and January and February and March and April and May and June. Oh my gosh! It's wet and cool at higher elevations the year around! Amazing!
   
  You will be sleeping in your tent at LOWER elevations also and on warm nights when you DO NOT want to zip it completely closed so you get SOME air circulation. You will want some of that air circulation on those nights, evenings and days when it rainsand rains and rains for a long time.
   
  Any tent with a door flap that opens UPWARD is not my idea of a good tent to carry in the summertime where it rains or where it doesn't rain. So why do they make them? So they can say "my dog's better than the other dog's", meaning that they can cut corners and make a lighter tent if they make the door flap slanting from the apex toward the ground and damn the torpedoes, who cares if it funnels tons of water into the tent.
   
  So, you make your choice and pay your price. Older style tents were designed to not do this bit of silliness back in the days of coottn and wool because if your clothes got wet, it took days to dry them out.
   
  Today some people have become spoiled and lulled into ignoring such things as the purpose of a tent is to keep you dry.
   
  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a very prejudiced person when it comes to tents and the one tent design that remains FUNCTIONAL and provides protection against both rain AND sun is the Ureka Timberline design. It is an old style tent with modern conveniences. It's been in production for longer than most on this list have been alive. Why? Simply, it works and works well. Enough said.
   
  That "other tent" reminds me of the old Scout campfire trick where the tenderfoot was shown a neat trick of spinning around with a nickle on his forehead and how to drop it after three turns into the funnel placed in his belt. Then when he tried it, a cup full of water was poured into the funnel on his second turn.
   
  Well, if that's the kind of tent you want, for goodness sakes buy it.
   
  For me, I'd take a PhilIssue tent and learn how to use it. They work and work well.
   
  As far as having to clean it up to turn it in and not having time to go to town to buy a pizza, what's wrong with teachint a little responsibility? You can buy Scouts a pizza in any hole in the wall town. Only at Philmont will they learn PhiLessons.
   
   
  John LeBlanc
  Philmont Trail 1959 & 2002

 
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Received on Mon Jun 18 13:22:32 2007