Dirt2

Thanks for the replies, Kevin and okmco.

My first priority was to get away from the tent. I needed a camp that would fit in the bottom half of a normal-sized daypack. Any kind of tent just overloads the daypack and leaves no room for clothing, food, etc.

See, I've been doinga 10-12 day backpack elk hunt every September for five years. I backpack in about 10 miles and set up a base camp. I have come to see that returning to a set base camp every night is limiting my hunting a little, and I don't like limits. Too many times I've had to turn away from a bull because dark is coming and I've got to get back to camp. Alternately, on some hunts the elk will have shifted a few miles, so I spend the first hour or two every morning hiking through dead country to reach the elk.

I'm still going to pack in and set up the base camp. But now, I'm going to take the daypack bivvy camp out for 3-day, 2-night periods. In these jaunts, I can chase elk right up to dark without regard to where camp's going to be 'cause it's right there on my back!

I just tested the setup again this weekend past with an overhead tarp (8 x 6). I still used the bivvy sack, but with the head opened up. See, I'm 6 feet tall, and even with an 8' long shelter, I'm in danger from slanting rain. I like theadded security of the bivvy sack.So, I used the bivvy this weekend basically to keep my feet dry - slept with my feet sticking out about a foot. This way, my head is well inside the upper end of the overhead, giving me leeway from blowing rain.

To sum up, I still had condensation big time. I'm about at wit's end. I'm nearly ready to ditch the goosedown bag, and buy a synthetic bag that's at leastfairly compressible. Then, if it takes on some condensation it still retains its warming qualities. The bummer is I'm out $260 for the goosedown bag. Oh well, life's a crapshoot!