We've been looking closely at the reinvigorated ultralight freestanding backpacking tent segment lately, but it hasn't escaped us that there are much lighter ways of sheltering down in the backwoods. They just tend to offer a little less protection and require a little more set-up finesse. The Hyperlite Bug Bivy is about as light as a full-body shelter gets, designed to pack down to water bottle size and carry easily on the longest of journeys. At camp, it provides full protection from the biting bugs that would otherwise make the entire trip miserable.
The lightest way to sleep outside is under the stars, with no shelter at all. The cowboys did it, so why not?
Bugs. That's why not.
And we're not just talking about the mutant spiders and scorpions that scurry and crawl through the deepest, darkest recesses of your paranoia, making you feel vulnerable and itchy even when you're not. We're talking about the actual nasty, biting winged demons that can be hard to avoid on a long journey through the wild, the type of blood-suckers that make you run for cover and spend your entire car camping trip behind the walls of a screen room. Or driving back home.
But there's no car or screen room when venturing out in the backcountry by foot, so you'll need to get more creative. Hyperlite Mountain Gear lends a hand with the Bug Bivy it launched this month. It combines the lightest materials and most minimalist construction into a proper bug shelter that adds a mere 4.6 oz (130 g) to your pack – a small hunk of fabric that will save you from torture by 1,000 piercing nibbles.
The solo shelter features a 72-in-long (183-cm) floor that tapers from 24 inches (61 cm) at the head to 18 in (46 cm) at the foot, providing just enough room to bed down for the night with a sleeping pad and bag. The Dyneema Composite Fabric 8 (DCF 8) tub floor extends 9 inches (23 cm) in height to better protect from blowing rain and ground water, while the properly tiny holes of the no-see-um mesh keep even minuscule gnats and biting midges out while letting air circulate freely. A zipper around the upper provides secure closure.
Some bivy sacks include a small frame to keep the fabric off your head, but the Bug Bivy maintains an ultra low weight with a complete lack of frame. It pitches into shape via four corner stake points and a series of upper guy-out points that secure to hiking poles, a separately pitched tarp (sold separately) or surrounding trees.
The Bug Bivy includes a drawstring stuff sack and retails for US$250. It's designed to work seamlessly with Hyperlite's Ultralight tent stakes for securing to the ground and Flat Tarp or Mid 1 Tarp when full weatherproofing is needed. A 5.7-oz (162-g) 78-in-long (198-cm) version is available for taller users at the same price.
Source: Hyperlite Mountain Gear
