My old 3-pound tent vs. my new 2-person bivy, one rainy night changed it all

For 6 years I carried that clunky dome tent everywhere, even on solo trips. Thought the extra space was worth the back pain. Then last October near Smoky Mountain I got caught in a downpour at dusk, tried to set up on a rooty slope, and snapped both poles trying to hammer them in. Slept under a tarp I had in my pack. Next week I bought a used bivy sack from a gear swap and now I take it on every overnight. Weighs less than my cook pot. But I gotta ask, how do you guys handle condensation inside those things? I woke up dripping wet even with the vent open half the night. Anyone found a trick or should I just go back to cowboy camping?

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the_wren20d ago

Remind me to never trust a bivy in the Smokies without testing it in your backyard first. Condensation is just a fact of life in those things, but cracking the vent and using a quilt instead of a bag with a hood helped me a ton. Also, don't hammer poles, just sayin'.