Under the Stars

Hi All,

I'm working in the Arabian peninsula and like to camp in the desert. I have a mesh tent which I use w/o the fly but would like to go a step further and sleep under the stars. I'm not really comfortable, though, without any protection from crawling critters like scorpions, camel spiders and the like. I've thought about a bivy but am not sure if that's an improvement over a mesh tent, as I'd still be peering thru mesh (and be much more confined), although it does seem to be a simpler, more basic set-up. I guess I'm wondering if a bivy gives one a feeling of being 'closer' to nature than a mesh tent would. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Not really. A tent with a fully mesh upper section is about as close to Nature as you will get without actually sleeping outside the tent. Most bivies have you pretty much fully enclosed except possibly for a mesh peep-hole for your head, and some bivies do not have that. Well, some are more like a cagoule or parka, with a hood that leaves your face fully exposed. But if you are worried about creepy crawly or flying things, you won't want even your face exposed.

Up to my 30s, we used to sleep out without any sort of tent in the Arizona desert, Sierra, Rockies, White Mountains (both the Arizona Whites and NH Whites). We kept a tarp handy to pull over us in case of thunderstorms, but otherwise never worried. In Arizona, our solution to keeping creepy crawlies away was the old legend about laying out a horsehair rope around the bedroll (didn't have sleeping bags, just a blanket rolled up for travel). Supposedly if a rattlesnake came up, it would tickle his belly and he wouldn't try to crawl in bed with you. Can't call it an "old wives tale", since it was what we told the dudes and tenderfeet ("dude" had a different meaning 50 years ago). Course, we shook our boots out in the morning (and yes, we occasionally did shake a scorpion out of the boot).

Don't know why I went to tenting. Getting soft in my old age, I guess. Although, last week in the Sierra, I did just throw the ground cloth and blue foam on the ground and my sleeping bag on top of that - no tent, no tarp. Really nice to look at the stars with no mesh to fuzz the view. No visits from bears, snakes, 6 or 8-legged critters, or flying beasts either. Just beautiful clear views of the stars, couple planets, and the Milky Way.

Hey, the 6 and 8 legged guys are part of Nature. Keep them out, and you are keeping from having the full Natural experience!