About 20 years ago, my son's friend went along and wanted to take along his great new tent. As it turned out, it was a cheap chain store tent and when it rained, we got wet. Fortunately, it only showered at night once and not to much at that. We were lucky there. I now basically supply all the gear for our trips. I allow you to bring items if you want, but these are redundant to what I bring.

What have you taken which did not work out so well in similar circumstances.

For the first trip I took to Quetico/BWCA, a friend who was an experienced tripper brought a bug net tarp that he had made (silnylon and all that). Instead of taking two 2-man tents, we rented a 3-man because the plan was to sleep out under the tarp (rain was not predicted for the week). I preferred sleeping in the tent so that I would be away from the snoring. Well, it rained hard one night, the tarp leaked (my friend had not sealed the seams), and the two other guys came into the tent. That situation was much too cozy for me and the loud snoring made for a miserable night.

Seven years ago, my friend and I planned a backpacking trip into the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. He told me he had this great new tent we could use. I did
not bring my tent.

Big mistake. It wasn't till we set up for the first night a days walk in. That is tent was a K mart special with just a tiny rain fly.

The first three nights were fine no weather.

The fourth night, high winds/rain at 2am. By 2:30 we were soaked. By 5:00, four inches of snow fell. Temp 30 degrees at 11,000’.

Nine hour walk out. We made it, but I was close to having the pre-stages of hypothermia.

Never again will I bring someone's gear I haven't checked out myself.

I don't trust I other people's gear. But funny story. One trip I had brought my gear but my partners also didn't trust other people's gear. We ended up with 4 hiking stoves. All light weight, good quality and all fully functional. We didn't worry about running our of fuel that trip lol.

I have to say the BWCA weeds out the sick gear fast. I too test out my gear before it comes on a trip. Test stoves, set up tent and tarp, inspect straps on packs. If there is a hint of (will this make it one more trip), I don’t take that piece of gear.

Savage Voyageur: "I have to say the BWCA weeds out the sick gear fast. I too test out my gear before it comes on a trip. Test stoves, set up tent and tarp, inspect straps on packs. If there is a hint of (will this make it one more trip), I don’t take that piece of gear. "

yeah, me too. I always buy one extra steak, and taste test it the night before. Just to be sure.

One time we were going car camping. Close to town, so it was really no big deal. But i couldn't find our air mattress blower, so I stopped some place to pick one up. They had the standard coleman ones for like $10 bucks, and this off-brand pink thing for a couple bucks less. It looked identical, so I thought, what the heck, I'll just get that one.

I wasn't even done with the first air mattress and it was spewing plastic, and smoking. Fan was toast, 2 minutes in.

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Sometimes I have problems with bait. Vados in St. Louis park, hand sorts their bait. So when you buy Jumbo leeches, they are ALL jumbos. I buy the next size down. They are a little on the spendy side, but you definitely get what you pay for.

When I've bought from other vendors, some times the large, or jumbos, will have a bunch of very tiny leeches mixed in.

Last year I didn't check my tent. When we had light rain at night . I had drops of rain on each side of my head. I didn't get . I got really lucky as couple thunderstorm s passed just south of us.

R1verrunner: "Seven years ago, my friend and I planned a backpacking trip into the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming...
The fourth night, high winds/rain at 2am. By 2:30 we were soaked. By 5:00, four inches of snow fell. Temp 30 degrees at 11,000’.
"

Yes, it seems in the Big Horns it's not unusual to get all 4 seasons in a day. Cool like 30 deg. in the morning, 60-70 deg. about noon. Then sometime in the afternoon it rains and turns to snow about 4 PM. Then magically warms up a bit around 5 or 6.