The Owyhee Backpacking Tarp is as Cozy as a Tent and as Light-weight as a Tarp
Nestled beneath my Six Moon Designs Owyhee backpacking tarp, thunder and lightning unleash within the excessive Sierra. Rain and hail batter my shelter within the limestone cirque beneath Pink and White mountain, deep within the vary. Inside, dry and heat, I curl up with my Kindle to learn. Right here at 12,000 ft on this distant part of the Sierra Excessive Route, safety from the weather in a spacious setting is crucial to my wellbeing throughout the afternoon thunderstorm cycle.
After months of discipline testing whereas guiding backpacking journeys in Yosemite Nationwide Park and a week-long off-trail backpacking journey on the Sierra Excessive Route, the Owyhee backpacking tarp has stolen my coronary heart as one of the best shelter for going gentle and spacious out on the path. Boasting a formidable space-to-weight ratio, excessive climate safety, and respite on the buggiest of nights, the Owhyee has grow to be my go-to alternative for backpacking within the Sierra.
MSRP: $310
The place To Purchase
Moosejaw
Product Abstract
The Owyhee backpacking tarp is a spacious and light-weight two-person shelter made for individuals who wish to go gentle and quick on path with out sacrificing house or consolation. Designed to offer a large quantity of house at a competitively low weight for a two-person tarp shelter, the Owyhee is a dream-come-true for weight-saving backpackers who crave the options of a standard tent with out the majority or weight of 1. The tarp and detachable bathtub ground are made from 30D Silicone Nylon (SilNylon), offering nice weatherproofing at a low weight, rated for 3-season use. The Owhyee is designed to be arrange with trekking poles, permitting the consumer to go away their tent poles behind. It options two doorways, an inner gear loft and clothesline, full perimeter bug netting, and an easy-to-use stress adjustment system.
Notable Options
Two-person tarp shelter
24.6 ounces with out stakes or trekking poles (1.54 kilos)
Full perimeter No-See-Um netting
Trekking pole suitable arrange
Detachable bathtub ground
Inner gear loft with clothesline and pockets
Single wall development (30D Silicone Nylon)
Twin door entry
Modifiable stress adjustment system
Execs
Huge sleeping and residing space
Nice bug safety for a light-weight tarp shelter
Glorious climate safety in stormy situations
Extremely aggressive space-to-weight ratio and low-bulk packability
Adjustable tensioning system
Cons
Extra condensation drip than a standard tent and rainfly
Extra time-consuming set-up than a standard tent
Bathtub ground sturdiness points
The place To Purchase
Moosejaw
Evaluation of the Six Moon Designs Owyhee Backpacking Tarp
Weight
Whereas the Owhyee backpacking tarp just isn’t the lightest-weight tarp available on the market, its house to weight ratio is extremely spectacular. With the mixed bathtub ground and tarp weighing in at 1.54 lbs (with out stakes), this shelter is competitively gentle, with wonderful climate and bug safety and big house. That is corresponding to the best-rated, lightest-weight tents available on the market, particularly if you buy light-weight stakes to come back with it.
Area, Consolation, and Livability
Once I consider backpacking tarps, my largest gripe is sacrificing consolation for weight financial savings. The Owhyee tarp — whereas not essentially the most light-weight available on the market — does a wonderful job of balancing consolation and weight-saving in a smooth, stunning package deal.
The height top of the Owhyee is roughly 4 ft excessive, offering ample headroom for sitting up throughout a storm or when the bugs are out in full-force. As a result of the equal of a vestibule and tent physique house are encompassed by one piece, this tarp offers ample house compared to a standard tent. It’s significantly huge inside, and I don’t plan to return to utilizing a standard two-person tent anytime quickly.
The No-See-Um bug netting on this tarp is an absolute game-changer. This season within the Sierra, the mosquitos have been out in full-force for the whole lot of the season. Whereas I usually love cowboy tenting in good climate, this season, sleeping with out bug safety has been insufferable. Enter: the Owyhee tarp. For its weight, this shelter supplied one of the best bug safety I might ask for whereas concurrently offering nice weatherproofing. Whereas just a few flies had been in a position to get in, the netting stored almost all the mosquitos out.
My solely critique on this class is condensation buildup and drip in moist situations. As with all single-wall tent or tarp, I seen that I woke as much as some condensation drip every time the relative humidity elevated. Whereas condensation buildup was under no circumstances a deal-breaker on this tarp, it was noticeable compared to a double-wall tent.
Climate Resistance
I used to be extremely impressed with the climate resistance of the Owhyee backpacking tarp. I put this shelter to the take a look at in torrential rain storms in Yosemite’s Hetch-Hetchy zone to hail and lightning within the japanese Sierra excessive nation. That stated, I had my Owyhee shelter seam-sealed by Six Moon Designs, which comes at a further value. With out seam-sealing this tarp, it isn’t absolutely waterproof – so be certain to issue this step in earlier than use, or take into account letting Six Moon Designs do it for you.
The form of the tarp sheds water nicely with out pooling, as long as it’s staked out and tensioned nicely. The tub ground, with corners barely raised off of the bottom, permitting for peace of thoughts throughout stormy nights. Compared to different tarp-style shelters, I discovered that set-up for bomb-proof weatherproofing was a lot simpler than with a standard rectangular tarp.
Ease of Set-Up
I’ll be trustworthy: there’s a little bit of a studying curve in relation to organising the Owyhee tarp. After repeated use, nonetheless, my set-up has gotten sooner and sooner – particularly with good grime to stake it out with. There are ample changes on the tarp for easy tensioning, however it does take a couple of minutes to get the stress proper in each adjustment location.
In alpine areas the place I couldn’t get stakes into the bottom, I discovered that one of the simplest ways to get the Owyhee standing upright and safe was to wrap the guyline round a stake and place a big rock over every guyline-wrapped stake. This labored considerably higher than wrapping the guyline round rocks alone. Staking the Owyhee out securely is significantly important as a result of the shelter lacks the identical sort of free-standing body that tents have. With out correctly staking it out, it would definitely collapse in dangerous climate.
The bug netting on the Owyhee kinds a pointy angle with the tarp physique. Consequently, if the vestibule is staked out or tensioned too tight, it may be tough to push the zipper from the tent physique to the zipper part across the mesh netting. This isn’t a significant concern, however one thing to concentrate on.
Sturdiness and Versatility
The 30D SilNylon development is totally sufficient by way of sturdiness for the tarp physique, however I needed that the tub ground was made from beefier materials. To this point, after 3 months of constant use, I’ve solely ripped one small gap within the bathtub ground groundsheet.
It is a extremely versatile tarp for any three-season journey. It does nicely in wind, rain, hail, and solar. It makes for a wonderful two-person shelter, or a roomy one-person shelter. I’d really feel comfy utilizing this tarp in almost any location or situations.
Why Purchase
That is the shelter to buy if you happen to desire backpacking with a pal or accomplice, wish to go ultralight, however don’t wish to sacrifice house, consolation, or bug safety. The Owhyee tarp is a high-quality shelter that showcases Six Moon Designs’ design prowess in ultralight backpacking tools.
The place To Purchase
Moosejaw
My Testing Course of
I examined the Six Moon Designs Owyhee Shelter over the course of three months of intensive use within the Sierra Nevada mountain vary in California. This included six weeks of guiding backpacking journeys in Yosemite and the japanese Sierra, in addition to a private, week-long off-trail backpacking journey on the Sierra Excessive Route.
Temperatures ranged from 25F to 105F whereas utilizing this tarp shelter. Throughout my testing course of, I encountered torrential rain, thunderstorms, hail, and excessive winds. This vary of temperature, climate, and relative humidity accounted for optimum testing situations.
The Backside Line
The Owhyee is a spacious, two-person weather-proof shelter that balances the ultralight weight with spacious consolation and bug safety out on the path. I’d extremely suggest it to the ultralight-intrigued who need a spacious, high-quality shelter.
