>>306593Really depends on where you go and when, and how good you are at rigging tarps. I've always done just fine with a tarp in the Sierras in summer. But summers are famously nice there. I'd want a bomber fucking tent if I were camping in the Sierras in winter, or the North Cascades or the Wind Rivers or the Absarokas or the Beartooths anytime at all, really. Or somewhere seriously rainy like the temperate rainforests in WA state. Also consider the bug situation--I'm told that New England, for example, is home to swarms of ravenous blackflies that will take little nips out of you, and if I were camping under those situations I'd want something more tightly sealed than a tarp.
