MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2

The MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House offers a lightweight two-person shelter that requires the use of two trekking poles. It's compact yet spacious.

Finding a lightweight backpacking shelter that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg can be a tricky process. But MSR’s Thruhiker Mesh House 2 offers a great solution to this problem. As a shelter that’s designed to fit two people, the interior is spacious, giving users 30 square feet of floor space. When packed down, it’s just 10 by 4 inches in size. 

Cost & Weight

The MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House 2 costs just $199.95 and weighs 1 pound and 2 ounces. If you end up investing in the MSR Thru-hiker Wing 100, too, your total cost will be $389.90. While it’s possible to find a two-person tent that costs less than this one, it’ll probably also weigh substantially more and lack versatility. Your total weight with these two items will be less than two pounds, which is about the standard weight for a one-person shelter. When split between two people, this is pretty unbeatable. 

Testing Conditions

This summer and fall, I was able to test this tent in Colorado, Arkansas, Michigan, and North Carolina. I was generally camping alone, which meant that it was very spacious for me. While solo, I could easily keep my backpack and additional accessories inside this shelter with me. This tent is great at keeping condensation away from you. And, if pitched tautly, it’ll also keep you safe from the wind and the rain.

One of the tough parts about tarp camping is that you have to be sure to carefully choose the pitch of your tent. If you leave yourself vulnerable to the wind, you could easily wake up in the middle of the night from incoming rain splashes. Luckily, when paired with the MSR Thru-Hiker 100 Wing, the MSR Thru-hiker Mesh House 2 gives you plenty of protection from the elements.

Additional Tent Components

The Mesh House isn’t, generally, going to be the only portion of your shelter. MSR recommends using a tarp like the MRS Thru-Hiker 100 Wing. In conjunction with the MSR Thru-Hiker Mesh House, this tarp gives you a great two-person shelter. But you can also pitch just the tarp, giving yourself tons of space. I loved how versatile this piece of gear was. Since I’m occasionally known to camp in a hammock, having this tarp in my arsenal gives me the ability to use it in several different ways.

Background

With over 3,300 long-trail miles behind me, I've been lucky enough to try a variety of tents in many different environments. This was my first tarp/tent combination, and I wasn't disappointed. I was able to test this tent in a variety of environments over the course of nearly a year.