Saddlesore: A hunting partner this season trucked in a Cabelas tent with a high center pole and four probably 4 ft corners poles. A floored unit with a vestibule. Probably a 12 x 12 floor. It was for sleeping only.
My issues with that one were: 1. it did not shed snow, and there's no easy way to tarp them short of custom fabrication.
2nd. Was the floor. One had to unshoe or run through a boot cleaning program if he needed to dash in from the mud or snow for some small item.
Looked like a great summer camp rig, maybe something one could let the muppets crawl around in, but not a unit I would count on in a wilderness snow setting.
The modern approach seems to be how many gimmicks and creature comforts can one squeeze in (cots, boot racks, showers, tables, chairs, electric lights, cell phones, games, MP3 players, air mattresses and pumps, propane heaters and steak grills, chairs with plastic parts that break in cold temps, etc). I'm not one of those minimialist folks that heads out with a trash bag and a match, but I do look at the load each year and ask what I might leave behind.
With an axe, a wall tent and sheepherder stove, and some rope, we put together a pretty fair camp.
