GEAR BIN
WHAT YO U N EE D TO GET O U T NEMO SPIKE STORM TENT
Photos - Brandon Mathis
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A DV E N T U R E P R O . u s
We’ve slept in a bivy sack (short for bivouac; a tiny, mummy style one-person tent) one too many times. They’re great in a pinch and have their moments, but they have no place if you need some room to sit up. We wanted something small, but big enough to actually do stuff in, like organize our pack and clean our contacts. It had to be minimal, it had to be light and it had to be affordable. Enter the Nemo Spike Storm. With nearly 20 square feet of floor space, it’s roomy. And with a 42-inch peak height, it’s tall. At about 22 ounces it’s plenty light. Now, it is not super ultra light, but it’s not super ultra expensive either, coming in at about one-third the cost of some featherweight options. Using a hiking pole for set up, it’s a minimalist design. It has an all mesh door and a small but prized built-in five-square foot vestibule. It also has a swallow-shaped tail that can be supported upright. We use our other pole or fashion the perfect stick. Made with a tough, silicone-treated nylon that’s strong and durable, it’s not 100 percent waterproof but it does provide good shelter from weather. This tent is made to set up, take down and move on. Because it is not freestanding, it can be a little finicky, especially in soft soil or sand. We don’t love messing with guylines forever to get the tension of the walls just right, and there is only one vent other than the mesh door. The pole used to hold it all up is also in the middle of the door way. But that’s OK because we love the price. We also
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CAMELBAK E D DY This is an item that should live on your desk, in your car or at your bedside. Hydration isn’t only vital to exercise, but it’s vital to our health and performance in daily life, affecting every system in our body. It’s the mechanism of carrying nutrition to our cells, getting rid of waste and bacteria, and it feeds our brains, our muscles and our hearts. Undeniably, when a few of us started keeping an Eddy around, we started drinking more water. We like the spillproof top and the bite valve’s flip and sip convenience. No tipping necessary. Its screw-top wide mouth is easy to refill, and the bottle is marked with volume in ounces and millimeters so you can gage your water consumption.
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A D V E N T U R E P R O . u s
love that it has a floor, plenty of wiggle room, a giant mesh door and it goes up pretty easily. We’ve even used it to roll out and lay on with a pad and quilt. When you’re done, it rolls up to about the size of cantaloupe.