I made that shelter last season for winter camping here in the Ozarks, but I also played a lot with heat reflectors while leading up to that design.

Lightly compressed that tent is about the size of a soccer ball in a stuff sack. I don't bring the tent poles when I backpack, I tie off the roof corners to tree limbs and stake the floor corners as best I can. Considering the weight and compressed size, it's a fairly comfortable two person shelter. For one person it's very roomy and could be smaller.

I tested it in my back yard on some very cold nights but I've only got to use it about 3-4 nights while actually backpacking. I'm not fast at setting it up, but I'm beginning to like the design once it is. It packs small and is light enough to make hauling it a breeze. So far it's held up fine, but my nights backpacking with it were clear, cold, and mostly pretty calm. I'm not convinced yet that I'd be nice and dry in a downpour, but there are things I could to improve my odds before I even try that.

Honestly, I don't think a design for a lightweight backpacking campfire tent made with that reflective material has really been well thought out yet. I think the concept is definitely worth exploring more.

But to answer your question, yes, I do think the concept of a lightweight campfire tent made from that material is practical and after making that shelter I won't be using anything else for cold weather backpacking here in the Ozarks. To be honest, it's not only practical, it's absolutely luxurious. It's bigger and lighter than any backpacking tent I've owned and it's an amazing luxury to sit inside it and be so warm, and even more amazing to crawl into a warm sleeping bag after letting the campfire die out for the night.

It gets plenty cold enough in Texas to use one of those for winter backpacking. Even if you don't have a fire going that reflective material helps keep your body heat in the tent, but one needs to be designed with that in mind to really take advantage of that capability.

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What I've found while playing with the reflector concept is that the Walmart silver "Space" blankets work great as reflectors, but the "SOL Emergency Blankets" are much more durable, bigger, and only a couple bucks more, so that's what I've been using.

2" Clear duct tape works great for seaming the blankets together and 1" fiber reinforced packaging tape works great to reinforce edges. You can get a cheap grommet kit at WalMart or a hobby/craft store and those work great when you put them in a spot reinforced with the tape (I used extra tape where I put the grommets).

Rigging a square tarp into a simple "Baker's Oven" style shelter is easy, and I'll suggest you start there. Google "Tarp Setups" and "Baker's Oven Shelter" for videos, pictures, and illustrations on how to do it. It's a very simple, but incredibly efficient design for this purpose.

I you make one of those you'll instantly realize how effective that reflective material can be with just a small campfire in front of it, plus you'll have a good ultralight tarp for camping anytime. You can even rig it shiny side up for a shady spot in the Summer, they work really good for that too.


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