I have done one trip and looking to back west to archery hunt elk in Colorado in September. Wanting to get a light weight tent or shelter. I see that floorless is lighter but never used one before. Any pros and cons for or against? Thanks.
Unless you are using a wood stove in your floorless shelter, a floorless shelter is just a real fancy tarp with all of the issues with crawling things and flying things that a tarp has. The potential pluses for a floorless are (a) wood stove and (b) more enclosed in the case of high wind or wind-driven rain or snow. Not being a fan of flying/crawling things, I'd have to use a nest inside a floorless just as I use a bug bivy under my tarp. Either would include a small section of floor to keep from drawing moisture out of the ground into my sleeping bag, etc. as well as keeping the bugs away. When you add all of the components, for a single person setup, there's no gain for floorless/nest or tarp/bivy over the best of ultralight tents .. and sometimes a net increase in weight. What you might gain is flexibility.
Tom
