From back in Novemberish...this didn't publish for some reason, maybe it's not finished...
This past weekend was spent camping at Table Rock State Park, SC.
It's starting to get cold and the big Coleman 8-man tent is a little big for cold weather as well as the car. The solution was to get a 4 or 5 man tent. Unfortunately, Walmart failed to have the same tent that I used in college years. It was a great tent, a Coleman 4-man simple dome tent. Window in the back and small vents at the top.
I found one, but I couldn't get it shipped in time so the dilemma of what tent set in. I ended up picking out the Eureka! Apollo 9, 5-man tent. It is a '3-season' tent that should work great. When I put it up in the dark at 10 pm, it was not as easy as the Coleman. But, the quality of the tent material was great. It had great features. However, at 3 in the morning, it was FREEZING! Apparently, the giant vented walls turned into the best natural circulation freezer-tent ever. We had a heater and freezing cold air was pouring in the four corners where the tent poles pulled the rain fly away from the tent walls.
We found that it was much better if the poles for the rain fly were removed to allow it to drape over the open top vents. That works well, but wouldn't work if it were windy. We decided it will make a great summer tent and we'll keep it rather than send it back. We'll have to get a Coleman for the next winter trip though.
Aside from freezing, we spent a good amount of time hiking. We conducted a test run late Saturday and made it about 3/4 miles up the trail. Sunday, the goal was the full 7+ mile hike with a 4 and 6 year-old, a 75 and 100 lb dog, and two parents that were betting on not how long to finish, but how far we could make it before turning around.
We set off Sunday for our ascent. The first mile, everyone was happy. As the miles tracked by and elevation climbed, the kids seemed to have more to complain about. Surprisingly enough, they made the entire trip. The views were amazing and the kids were excited to claim victory. The descent wasn't too bad either. And of course, the kids still wanted to play at the playground at the bottom.
After playing at the playground and some stretching,we headed to camp. We managed to keep Steven awake long enough to get a few bites of food in him. Wanda immediately went into the tent. Everyone slept great that night even in the cold tent. We still will replace this tent and let it be the summer tent.
