Our Little Orange Tent

We were about two weeks in to our first big road trip in 2010, 3.5 months traveling the west to climb, when signs for the Sierra Trading Post Outlet starting popping up on the side of the road.  I love gear.  And I love a good deal.  I suggested we stop.  Of course I wanted to browse, but I also really wanted a new tent.  The tent that the four of us (Chelsea, Star, Titan, and myself) had been using for the past two weeks was a little two person tent that I had bought from a friend.  At the time I bought it, it only needed to house Titan and I.  Now, I was realizing that it was a bit small for four beings on an extended trip.  Yes, you read that correctly, we were sleeping with two humans and a 60 and 75 pound dog in a two person tent, and planned to do that every night for three and a half months straight.

I found the tent section and there were a bunch of orange Marmot tents.  Orange is my favorite color, so I didn't need any convincing on which brand I would buy, and there was a three person tent called the Titan.  I may be biased towards things named Titan.  I bought it.

The little tent spent its very first night pitched at the base of the Grand Teton.  Titan and Star unfortunately were not able to be present for the tent's inaugural use, but they were happily running around on a large ranch while we climbed the Grand.  After a rewarding summit and a long descent, it was comforting to see our little orange dome beckoning us in the distance.  Our new home.  

Over the last five years, the tent has traveled everywhere with us.  Although we have been primarily sleeping in the car and now in the van for the more recent years, it still sees plenty of use.  It is not a lightweight backpacking tent, but it comes on all of our backpacking trips.  It has spent 14 days on the Tahoe Rim Trail, five days in the Wind River Range, and eight days on the Denali Highway this year.  It has a few bends in its poles from tent-flattening winds in Indian Creek and the Denali Highway.  It has a couple leftover blood stains from squashing bird sized mosquitoes in it in Cape Breton National Park in Nova Scotia.  One side of it is primarily Tenacious Tape after a tricky repair following Star's attempt to jump through the tent wall one morning.  It has kept us dry in countless nights of rain and snow.  It has traveled from east to west and north to south and been pitched in all of our favorite sports in between.  On clear nights, we enjoy leaving the fly off and looking through the mesh at the stars.  

It is a great tent.  It feels like home.