"The spotted owl is considered an indicator species -- a gauge of the health of the ecosystem that provides its habitat."

I notice that backpackers choose tents with more mosquito netting than they did 40 years ago. Is this a sign of global warming? Are backpackers a new indicator species?

Spotted Daryl

my first tent 30 years ago was a Eureka A frame it had a mesh door and a mesh rear window. that sucker was hot all year round. my current tent is mostly netting - not because i want to keep the bugs off me, i'd rather not sweat to death when it's 40F ;)

maybe i'm an indicator of a reduced threshold for hot tents.

Edited by asciibaron on 06/26/2012 14:05:29 MDT.

Steven - Ah yes, the good ol' Eureka Timberline, right? A classic. I have fond memories of a lot of camping trips with that tent. It stood up to some wicked thunderstorms, too. Really, not a bad tent for car camping.

Kathy Handyside