Field Test Trip 3

Our third field test had camping at 8 different campgrounds. These included Maumelle Park near Little Rock Arkansas, Camp Billy Joe for the 2023 Okie-Tex Star Party (okie-tex.com) (see the blog for Oikie-Tex), then Cottonwood Lake Campground Colorado, State Forest State Park Colorado, Colter Bay and Signal Mountain campgrounds in Grand Tetons NP, and Curt Gowdy State Park Wyoming.

We encountered a wide range of weather conditions from warm desert to temperatures in the mid 20s, rain and ice. This trip spent most nights in the mountains or high prairie, which meant we got a good rain test and one night of ice on the cover.

We had a redesigned cover for this trip. It is an excellent cover, but expensive to make in terms of sewing time, so we rethought it. The current, iteration is simpler to make and has a feature previous versions did not - a radiant barrier which keeps heat in during cold weather and radiant heat out under the hot sun. The radiant barrier makes the cover waterproof for practical purposes vs. water repellent.

​On the second night at Camp Billy Joe, Oklahoma, there was a large thunderstorm that subjected the Cumberland to prolonged high winds with strong gusts, and rain. Our group sheltered inside the Cumberland, talking into the night, without incident. A number of ground tents and canopies were blown away.

State Forest State Park Colorado