Appy Trails Mark V

My husband and I have used our Mark V now on three trips and will use it again next week at Glacier. It is a single wall backpacking tent. It is light weight and easy to erect.

We have slept in the rain and wind in it and also in some sub-zero temps and it was fine. With just the two of us the vents take care of condensation.

It does not have a floor so we have used an all purpose plastic emergency blanket as the ground cover. I have fashioned a slightly larger one of black 4 mil carpenter plastic for our Glacier National Park trip. That is larger and slightly lighter.

One minor issue at Lake Chelan, WA. We camped in a damp part of the campground and at 3 a.m. my husband awoke with a large slug crawling across his face and bald head. Several slugs had invaded under the edge of the tent. We camped in the snow in the Grand Tetons without any slugs attacks. Have also used it at the Bowl and Pitcher state park near our home in Spokane.

Lots of room inside to put your pack, etc. You can set muddy boots on the ground next to your ground cloth without getting anything else messed up.

Update August 2012

We used this tent numerous times in the last two years both in the backcountry and at regular campgrounds in the Inland Northwest. We used on a 5-night backcountry trip in Glacier National Park and have camped at other car camping sites in Glacier as well. No other slug attacks or bothersome creatures since Lake Chelan.

If it looks like there will be a gap we now find a couple of rocks to put on the edge of the tent. We've not gotten wet or had any trouble with stability in two years. The material is durable and no holes or rips. There are no zippers, just velcro closures so there is very little to break or go wrong.

I like that I can stand up in the tent and there is plenty of room. I do not have to crawl in on my hands and knees like a regular 2-man backpacking tent.

Without the poles and stakes the tent weighs less than 2 pounds. You do not need a pole if you want to suspend it from a tree or you can use a treking pole with an extension, but the ready made poles are easier for us to manage. We are considering getting a carbon pole to replace the aluminum one which came with the tent and I am considering replacing the black plastic I use as a ground cloth with something even lighter, but it is already very light for the amount of space you have inside.

I have looked and looked for something as light and as comfortable and only find very cramped small tents at very high prices for the same weight. We'll keep our Mark V until something better comes along.