Four of us went out this past weekend and had a cottage gear manufacturer's campsite!

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Jeremy's Contrail and Adam's Monk Tarp. Under Adam's tarp is a Nunatak Arc AT and an MLD Superlight bivy.

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My Hexamid Twin and Doug2's Lunar Solo e. Under the Hexamid was my Nunatak Ghost and Bender Newbie DAM.

Also on the trip, a Zpacks cuben Blast 32, a ULA Conduit, and two SMD Starlites, as well as a set of TiGoat carbon poles and 2 GG LT4s!

Yeah for the little guys!

Cool stuff. You just made me realize that the majority of my gear is cottage industry stuff, aside from a few notable items like gps and footwear.

Very cool! You look like you got a nice spot there too. Like our Point Reyes trip, it does not look like a regular campout. It looks BETTER!

Nice shelters! Where'd you go walking?

It looks like it was a great weather weekend!

Did a real quick loop from Caledonia State Park, PA. It was truly fabulous weather. 70s during the day, low 40s at night with little to no wind. Way too short, but with weather like that we just had to get out!

Wow, I'd think you guys were still buried knee deep in snow, sure looks like spring and those temps are perfect. Thanks for sharing your photos. Hey Doug, just by chance, would you happen to know how high off the ground Adam pitched his MLD Monk tarp (6"- 8") and the length of his guylines? Cheers.

Hi Eugene, I don't know, but asked Adam to 'come by' and post the info. My guess is 4"-6" off the ground. Don't know about the length of the guylines at all.

I like looking through all the cottage industry wares when I'm thinking of getting a new piece of gear. For some reason, going the cottage route seems more...."authentic." Dunno the right word...

Hi Eugene,

My Monk tarp was pitched about 3-4 inches off the ground in the back and around the rear sides. Towards the front, I'd say about 6 inches off the ground. I didn't need to pitch it that low, but it was my first time with it out in the field. Next time, if the weather is fair, I'm going to play with some higher pitching options.

Here's a photo of the front view:


Here's the break down of my guyline lengths:

- 7' guyline for the front guyout point (this pitches up and out using my trekking pole.)
- 4' guy lines for the front corners
- 2' guylines for the sides
- 2' guylines for the rear and rear side points

This tarp worked out great. I have a ton of options with it, and it's oh so light at 4.4 oz.

Doug - Thanks for posting these!

And I forgot to mention the Caldera Cones around the campfire -- I had the Ti-Tri with MLD 850 pot, Adam had a Caldera Cone with his BPL 550 pot, and Jeremy had a Caldera shorty Al with an Evernew pot. Doug2 might have had a Caldera as well, I don't remember!

Edited by idester on 03/21/2010 21:20:15 MDT.

Man, this is starting to sound incestuous!

Very nice campsite!!!

Perfect Adam! That's exactly the kinda info I was looking for. I have a BPL Nano cord set I need to tie into my Monk tarp. I've pitched it to the ground with good results just haven't guyed out the sides or rear. Thanks.

You're very welcome Eugene,

The Monk is really such a great tarp... can't say enough about it. Like I said in my previous post, it was my first time bringing it out (I've "graduated" to my Monk from a sil MLD Grace Solo), and I love it. I can see that it will be a breeze to set it up in different configurations, and, paired with my MLD SuperLight or Bug Bivy, it has easily rose to the top as my go to 3 season shelter.
Though, Doug's Hexamid was looking fine!

I thought about the Monk tarp for awhile before BPL came out with the Stealth Nano. I just wasn't sure if the Monk would provide comfortable coverage in rainy weather. It looks like it might be a bit small. I know a bivy would keep me dry, but.

Adam, as a furtherance of my earlier thread regarding short quilts, what did you pair the Arc AT with (besides the bivy) and how did it work?

Thanks.

Adam, funny you should mention, I use the MLD Superlight bivy as well. I actually owned the MLD Monk Spinntex XP a few months back, pitched it, was unsure about it as I'm 6', never got out with it and put it in the closet and regretfully sold it. Shortly after I acquired the Superlight bivy I decided go full circle and pick up a Monk AGAIN for light coverage and pitching variety. I'm doing a 4 day in a few weeks and will be bringing the MLD Monk or my Grace Solo Spinntex depending on the weather. Cheers.

Adam's off to Chicago, so I'll tell you what I know. He has an AT Long with 1.5 oz of overfill. We were laughing about that when I told him I was selling the same thing! He paired it with a Skaha Plus. He was also wearing a pair of Icebreaker 200 leggings. Low temp was 41-42 degrees, if I remember correctly. No real wind to speak of. He didn't wear the hood on the Skaha. He said he was 'quite toasty.'

I'll shoot him an email and ask him to comment further when he gets a chance.

Doug - is that the two-person Hexamid with a sewn in Cuban floor? That looks pretty sweet. How much does it weigh?

Doug - If I could add to Trevor's question...Is it possible to give a brief rundown/review of the two person Hexamid. Thanks

Hi James,

My Arc AT is the long version with 1 oz. of down overfill, and I paired it with a Skaha Plus, also with 1 oz. of overfill. I was sleeping on a GG 1/8" ThinLite and BPL Torsolite. My ULA COnduit was under my legs.
I can already tell, after only one night, that this mix is going to be so versatile and be my standard for all 3 season outings (though, I'm definitely going to pick up a Kooka Bay inflatable pad).
I want to say we got down to the low 40's Saturday night and I had NO cold spots, so drafts, etc. I was very toasty, and did not wear the hood on the Skaha. I also didn't zip it up.
The whole set up was a breeze to set up. Definitely a keeper!

As for the comments about the Monk, yeah, it's a fairly "spartan" set up, but I'm 6'1" and had no problems getting under it and felt sufficiently covered. Moreover, I carry a ULA Rainwrap and can fashion a "door" at the front (with a slightly different pitch from the shown above) and have full coverage. The only caveat to that would be horizontal wind driven rain, which we don't see a whole lot of in the Mid-Atlantic.
Feel free to post any other questions. I can't say enough good things about the set up!

Hi Trevor,

It is the twin, but the floor is not sewn in. Joe made me a cuben floor with grossgrain loops so I can tie it up for a full bathtub floor (hooks into loops he sewed to the inner portion of the Hexamid for that purpose) per my specs to sit in the shelter. So it's a regular Twin with full netting, and then the floor sits inside. With guylines and optional linelocs, the floor and the optional doors, in the stuff sack, it weighs 510 grams (just over a pound) on my cheapo Salter kitchen scale.