What type of shelter do you prefer to use?

I usually take a couple of ponchos, so if it’s raining while I’m hiking I can stay dry and when I stop for the evening I use one for a ground cloth and the other as a tarp.

But my best night out was probably when I hiked one night to some hot springs just outside of Aspen with just a day pack. Then I spent the night in the hot springs. It was amazing, there was a full moon and I had a good view of the valley below and all night long the weather kept cycling, First beautifully clear with all the stars, then cloudy, then rain sometimes with distant lightening, then light hail, then snow, then you could watch the clouds drift off over the valley and then clear again, I was able to nap on and off and then watch the show again. Then in the morning I dug some grapes out of my pack and had breakfast, as I watched morning break. The only draw back was I looked like a prune when I got out of the hot springs to hike back down.

 

I like a van the best you don’t have to pitch a tent or worry about wind or bears. I used to have a van but gas is too much now so I use a tent or a hammock.

Sometimes it is nice to sleep in the open especially on the beach or in the nice weather.

 

I was thinking perhaps a domain underground?

or perhaps this
http://www.floatingbed.com/bigger-view/Tent-w-door-open.html
floating tent? hung from a tree?

 

I own a good lightweight tent as well as a swag (owned by most outdoor type Australians, a sort of giant bivvy with a matress made from heavy canvas, absolutely bomb proof). Neither have been that pleasant to camp in, seeing as I usually go camping in the rain as its the only way to get away from people around here. The swag leaks water and I am too big for a tent so my feet touch the edges and get wet.

Most of all, tents are fucking heavy.

I am converting to a bivvy bag and a lightweight tarp for winter and a mozzie net instead of a tarp for summer.

 

I hike and I looked at swags before settling on a lightweight bivy and tarp combo. Swags are just too heavy for hiking. My set is twenty-eight ounces for the pair and I can use either, nether or both.

Tents don't have to be heavy. I also made one of these: http://www.tarptent.com/contrail.html but I'm not happy with my sewing skills so I may buy one.

 

I voted motorhome / camper, but I really meant camper trailer, the canvas ones.
I also had a stay in a trad horse drawn romany caravan once, and it was very cool and easy to live in for extended periods of time.
Tents I like are simple light weight tunnel tents.

 

clear night - in bag under the stars, rain - prefer tent but will make due with what i got