Wenzel Timber Ridge Sport 9-by-7-Foot Four-Person Dome Tent

Keep your load limber during long hikes and extended cycling excursions with the Wenzel Timber Creek Sport dome tent. Large enough to sleep four people at once yet compact enough to fit conveniently on a backpack or saddle bags, the tent is great for all types of camping and conditions. The Timer Creek Sport includes such features as a Dutch D-style door for easy entry, along with a shock-corded fiberglass frame with pole pockets that sets up and disassembles quickly. Campers will also appreciate the weather-armor polyester fabric and tough side seams, which are reliably rugged and resist leaks of all kinds. The window and roof vents, meanwhile, do a nice job of ventilating the tent and controlling morning moisture.

Additional details include water-repellent threads, zippers, and webbing; a sonic-sealed floor that's welded (not sewn) to eliminate stitch and needle holes; and a removable fly for wet weather conditions. The Timer Creek Sport measures 9 feet wide by 7 feet long and is backed by a 10-year limited warranty.

Amazon.com Tent Guide
Selecting a Tent
Fortunately, there are all kinds of tents for weekend car campers, Everest expeditions, and everything in-between. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

Expect the Worst
In general, it's wise to choose a tent that's designed to withstand the worst possible conditions you think you'll face. For instance, if you're a summer car camper in a region where weather is predictable, an inexpensive family or all purpose tent will likely do the trick--especially if a vehicle is nearby and you can make a mad dash for safety when bad weather swoops in! If you're a backpacker, alpine climber or bike explorer, or if you like to car camp in all seasons, you'll want to take something designed to handle more adversity.

Three- and Four-Season Tents
For summer, early fall and late spring outings, choose a three-season tent. At minimum, a quality three season tent will have lightweight aluminum poles, a reinforced floor, durable stitching, and a quality rain-fly. Some three-season tents offer more open-air netting and are more specifically designed for summer backpacking and other activities. Many premium tents will feature pre-sealed, taped seams and a silicone-impregnated rain-fly for enhanced waterproofness.

For winter camping or alpine travel, go with a four season model. Because they typically feature more durable fabric coatings, as well as more poles, four-season tents are designed to handle heavy snowfall and high winds without collapsing. Of course, four-season tents exact a weight penalty of about 10 to 20 percent in trade for their strength and durability. They also tend to be more expensive.

Domes and Tunnels
Tents are broadly categorized into two types, freestanding, which can stand up on their own, and those that must be staked down in order to stand upright. Freestanding tents often incorporate a dome-shaped design, and most four-season tents are constructed this way because a dome leaves no flat spots on the outer surface where snow can collect. Domes are also inherently stronger than any other design. Meanwhile, many three-season models employ a modified dome configuration called a tunnel. These are still freestanding, but they require fewer poles than a dome, use less fabric, and typically have a rectangular floor-plan that offers less storage space than a dome configuration. Many one and two-person tents are not freestanding, but they make up for it by being more lightweight. Because they use fewer poles, they can also be quicker to set up than a dome.

Size Matters
Ask yourself how many people you'd like to fit in your fabric hotel now and in the future. For soloists and minimalists, check out one-person tents. If you're a mega-minimalist, or if you have your eye on doing some big wall climbs, a waterproof-breathable bivy sack is the ticket. Some bivy sacks feature poles and stake points to give you a little more breathing room. Also, if you don't need bug protection and you want to save weight, check out open-air shelters.

Families who plan on car camping in good weather can choose from a wide range of jumbo-sized tents that will accommodate all your little ones with room to spare. A wide range of capacities is also available for three- and four-season backpacking and expedition tents. Remember, though, the bigger the tent you buy, the heavier it will be, although it's easy to break up the tent components among several people in your group. It's also helpful to compare the volume and floor-space measurements of models you're considering.

Customer Review: GREAT tent for $25
I've had this tent for just over a year now. It's been used about 20x. It has amazing quality thru-out. Nothing has torn-up with it at all. The floor is still completely sealed and there are no signs of anything wearing. Amazon had it on clearance back in March of 2007 for right at $25. My only regret is that I didn't buy 2 or 3 of them @ that price... GREAT PRODUCT... GREAT QUALITY...
Customer Review: Exactly as expected
This tent was perfect for my price range. I took this camping and it is quite light. It is especially light if you're going to have 3 people sleeping in the tent and I think it is safe to say that 3 people could backpack with this tent (by each carrying a 1/3rd of the tent weight). Four people, although technically do-able without gear, would be quite a tight squeeze. Tent was an easy, standard set-up as far as tents go, and we were able to take it down in the rain in only a few minutes. Definitely a good purchase for the price (only tested in a light drizzle).

The bucket of need feels bottomless and overwhelming. At the offramp I take, on my way to work, there are more homeless people congregating and living under the freeway, than I ever remember. I see tents now. The amount of migrant workers around the corner from work have doubled. The little shopping center near my home has been empty since the shooting that killed the two owners of the Sahib Indian Restaurant. I watch the hardened faces of commuters, and how people cut each other off, and nobody allows one to merge. And yet, I see the sidewalks filled with people, shopping bags in their arms. Something is so striking about the American need to shop, when the world is falling apart around them. Sometimes I am quite dismayed and disturbed. Sometimes I feel I could freeze into a state of apathy, too painful to consider. But activism exists all around us, what is your response?

I saw one of my clients the other night at an art opening. I almost talked myself out of going, because it was wet and raining, and I was tired from a full day at work. My daughter clinging to me, saying, "I need you," only added to my hesitance. But, I wanted to support my client. The show was the culmination of a series of workshops on different aspects of the Tarot deck. She is good friends of the artist who is also a client. She filled me in on the process of the workshop they had taken together, and then turns to me and says, "You won't be seeing me for awhile, I am letting my hair grow,everywhere, in response to the war in Iraq. I will not cut any of it until the war is over. She had actually heard a mother and daughter interviewed on KPFA, who were doing the same thing. "I felt inspired." My client said, "It's something I can do."

We all have to find our own response, that something that we can do to say No More War, or looking to see where the problems exist and offering a solution. Art is a response. Creating pieces of beauty, so our minds can focus on what is right in the world is a response, suicide bombers is another. Luna lived in a tree to help save the Redwoods. 738 days she lived in that tree, yet another way to say, "This matters to me."

Lisa Gaultier heads up a small nonprofit, that make these hair mats made from human hair and mushrooms. They were used to help clean up the Cosco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay. The hair drags up the oil, and the mushrooms will soak it up and make for non-toxic compost. We started immediately sweeping hair into bags and a stylist in the salon sends it off to the Matter of Trust organization. And there you have a ingenious idea. Some people write letters, some people rally, and still others do nothing. It's people like Lisa that use their minds for great things, that inspire me. I've never met the woman, but I cannot stop thinking about the industry I am a part of, and the concept that salons can contribute to cleaning up waste, not just produce it, was a beautiful moment. I think now, about what is going into the trash. Can it be recycled?

I'm convinced that whatever people decide to do that they think will make a difference in the world, does not need to be public. It's more important that it is an action, because where there is action, there is reaction. Action has ripple effects, and you never know who that ripple will touch.

Decades later, Martin Luther King Jr. and his tireless crusade for human rights is ever present in my mind. Rosa Parks, Caesar Chavez, as well. Some ordinary people doing extraordinary things. These are people my daughter learns about now in preschool, and we can never forget. We all have our contribution to make, it is uniquely ours.

Although, my clients decision to grow her hair is a personal one, and most of the world won't know about it, it is a peaceful act. And the ripple effect of her action touches me. Small acts of activism are happening all around us-what is your response to what you see? Do something. And let me know what it is.

If you would like to know more, check out http://www.shineforth.com