Do you think you would ever need a 4-season (read: winter - COLD) tent in Florida?

Well, last February, I participated in a 12-hour mountain biking race in Reddick, FL and the night before the race, the temperature plummeted into the 20's and even the teens for a little bit! My tent-mate woke up with FROST on his upper lip where his breath had condensed and then frozen! I survived about half the night in the tent and then crawled into my truck for just a tiny amount of additional warmth. All our water froze, our bodies were stiff, and we had to ride for 12 hours! We sat inside a running vehicle for a while, just to thaw out. Some others were smart enough to bring some hay to pile around their tents, others had RVs, but I didn't see any 4-season tents, like an Assault Oufitter (originally designed for the military on cold weather training and action) or a K2-XT (looks like something you'd see on Mt. Everest). While these tents look super-cool, I'm not sure I could justify the cost of one of these for use in Florida, but anywhere north of here would sure be comfy for winter camping.

Once my body was operational again, I started getting ready for the race and noticed several large holes in my current 3-season, 6 person tent. I think it may be time for a new tent. I haven't been camping since then, as Florida gets un-bearably hot during the summer. Finally, this week, it began to get cool, again (and don't give me any of that global warming stuff). Finally, I've started to think about when my next camping trip will be. I'm looking forward to my annual trek to Lake City for the Battle of Olustee Civil War Reenactment, wondering what part of the Florida Trail I may want to attempt to tackle, and contemplating whether my son is old enough for a hiking and camping adventure. We started a fire in our outdoor fire pit the first night it was cold enough, just to get primed for a real campfire.

All of this thinking has reminded me, though, I need a new tent! So, I've been looking around at tents. I've always been a big fan of Eureka! tents. They're reliable, fairly inexpensive for what you get, and durable. This year, I learned about another tent company, named Big Agnes. They have some really cool-looking tents, including the Seedhouse

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXE_QMp3L8

and the Emerald Mountain tents.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-QR7tBN2WM

The Emerald Mountain won an editor's choice award from Backpacker magazine in 2007....even though you wouldn't know it from the video above, is very popular, and that is the one I am leaning towards. I may just stick with the tried and true Eureka!, like one of my favorites, the Apex 2XT. One thing is for sure, I am ready to get back out on the trail!