We have several tents for our family that we have purchased or acquired over the years. Depending on where we're going, and who's coming with determines which tents we use.
National Park Trips:
These usually entail a lot of driving for us. We have found some National Parks have tent pads that are raised, so it would be hard to have two tents. Also, since we tent camp, and most National Park trails don't allow dogs, we leave our dogs home. For these reasons, we bring our trusty Eureka Tetragon 5-person Tent.
Our family fits well in this tent. When the kids were smaller it worked perfectly with Max. Now that they are bigger, and we have two dogs, we fit in the tent without the dogs, but with both of the dogs it is tight.
We love the windows, and have even slept with the fly off when it's been really hot out. This tent is We usually sleep 4 across and one at the feet. Max would sleep in one corner when we'd bring him.
One thing I don't like about this tent is the poles don't slide through the clips, so you have to put the poles in the corners before clipping them on. We've slept in this tent when it's gotten down to the low 30's and with our sleeping bags have been fine.
This tent is about 8 years old, so the model may have changed a little, but it still looks fairly similar.
Backpacking:
When we are backpacking or going to the boundary waters we bring our Kelty Gunnison 4-person tent. My husband is tall, and when I was in college we drove all over town setting up backpacking tents to see if he would fit in it. Some he did, but there was no way I was fitting in the tent with him. We ended up settling on this tent.
We've used this tent in Glacier National Park, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Superior Hiking Trail, and MN State parks. Two people fit very comfortably in this tent. Three people are still comfortable. However, four adults would be tight. Last fall, I used it backpacking with a friend and we both brought one of our dogs. So we had two adults and two large
dogs in the tent and we were still comfortable.
I really like the fly - it's great to put your shoes under when it's raining out. We've used it when it's been in the low 30's and been fine. However, since it's a three season tent, it does get hot in the summer and doesn't have much ventilation. If we're confident it's not going to rain, we'll sleep with the fly pulled back to help cool it off. We've had this tent for 16 years and it's still amazing. Here's a picture of Max and Polo in this tent. Don't let their faces fool you, they love camping!
State Park Trips:
When we only had one dog, and the kids were smaller, we just used our Eureka tent. Now that the kids are getting older, and we've been bringing both dogs, we have played around with the tents a little bit. The Eureka was damaged in 2022 and before fixing it, we brought our Kelty and another 4-person tent with. We put the kids in the other 4-person with one of the dogs and us in the Kelty with the other dog. The dogs love to pick where they sleep and they will trade tents.
We've also camped with family, and friends. My in-laws purchased a Coleman Prairie Breeze 9-person tent. This thing is a monster! It works well for people who want air mattresses or cots. Sometimes our kids will sleep in the big tent with family/family friends and we will sleep in our backpacking tent. My husband and I have yet to sleep in it.
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