bivy for the desert
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Over the past 40+ years I’ve done the majority of my backpacking in the deserts of California, Nevada, and Arizona.
I winter, even in the low desert, temps often drop below freezing. Winter is also the rainy season.
One winter in Joshua Tree I slept inside my huge Chouinard Pryamid. Clear sky, but the temp plummeted to 17 F. In the morning the inside of my shelter was covered in a sheet of thin ice.
In the photo below, I was camped in December with clear sky. Low temp around 32 F. I woke about 3 am and the top of my bag had condensation on it. It was dry when I packed up in the morning sun. I would have had some wet down had I used a bivy. I haven’t used a bivy in 10 years or so, when I bought an approximate 8’ x 10’ Cuben tarp that weighed less than my bivy. My Cuben mid is barely heavier that my bivy, which is a MLD Soul model or some similarly named item.
Most of the time I just sleep under the stars without a shelter.
I’ve never had a problem pitching a single wall shelter or tarp. However on rare occasions I have search for a suitable spot. Often I bring snow stakes to deal with soft soil or sand — and never need to bury anchors.
“I think next go in the desert will be with a very light, shaped tarp and no bivy. The tarp will remain in my pack unless there is a threat of rain. AND I will no longer be camping in any vegetated draws! :)”
Yes on all counts!
It looked like someone dumped a bucket of water inside my bivy, completely soaking and flattening my down. Without a bivy, the moisture would’ve just frozen on the exterior and I would’ve been fine; I’ve been there before.
Seek Outside DST is my desert go-to now. Versatile, and big enough for some airy shade for two or three in the heat of the day if needed. 9″ Y stakes haven’t failed me yet.
As for critters, it’s part of the fun. I have photo buried somewhere of a kangaroo rat sniffing a friend’s beard as he slept. Best encounter I’ve had was hearing noise and waking up to find myself in between a coyote and a jackrabbit. When the rabbit bolted, the coyote almost jumped me. That was a cool night.
Nick have you had any unpleasant experiences with crawling critters in the desert with your setup? Snakes, scorpions, mice, etc. I am guessing not in the remote places in your photos. But what about overrun campsites like the Grand Canyon where mice and minibears are epidemic?
I have never backpacked in Grizzly country and the idea frightens me somewhat. Yet a lot of people do it without fear, but use proper precautions. I don’t give much thought to critters in deserts — finding water is a much, much higher priority. At first I was concerned.
I probably see 10 times as many rattlesnakes in the mountains than I do in deserts, even though I spend much more time in the desert.
The only problem I have ever had in the desert was a raccoon got into my pack back in 1971. Since then, I sleep with my food. I do have a steel mesh rodent bag, but quit using it. Not needed. I quit going to the Grand Canyon when the permitting system was put into place. I did get a citation years ago in a remote section of the Canyon. It was worth it because I ran into Harvey Butchart and had a nice 30 minute conversation. At the time I didn’t know who he was. This book is highly recommended:
Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon
There is only one species of scorpion to worry about in the southwest, the Arizona Bark Scorpion. Here’s a picture from Wikipedia:
Joyce and I have probably spent close to 1,000 nights in desert campgrounds in the past almost 20 years. The problem is so few creatures to photograph compared to mountains, swamps, marshes, etc. And I’m pretty good at finding wildlife. Here is a habituated coyote in a Joshua Tree NP campground about 15 years ago.
Believe it or not, here is a beaver lodge on the Colorado River near Blythe, CA. We saw 3 of them. I couldn’t take a good picture of them because I was steering a raft and when I got into position they disappeared.
These were nice encounters . . .
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