Sleeping without a tent?

[westtex]

I have done both, but fyi, the weather is unseasonably warm and the rattle snakes are still moving as of yesterday. 

[jeffblaylock]

Done the tent, tarp, tarptent, and notent thing in the Bend. Never a problem with crawlies, but sometimes a problem with buzzing things. The biggest problem I've had going tentless is waking up covered in dust and sand as the wind always seems to blow when I am not in an enclosed shelter.

[sstrong42]

I'd be afraid to do this. =/  When I was a boy scout, the one time I slept outside of my tent I ended up sleepwalking down a pretty steep bank into the river we were camping by.

[SHANEA]

I'd be afraid to do this. =/  When I was a boy scout, the one time I slept outside of my tent I ended up sleepwalking down a pretty steep bank into the river we were camping by.

 

When I was an adult, I got inebriated once,  twice, three times and got out of my tent and fell in a cactus.    I'll never sleep in a tent again!   

[homerboy2u]

I'd be afraid to do this. =/  When I was a boy scout, the one time I slept outside of my tent I ended up sleepwalking down a pretty steep bank into the river we were camping by.

 

When I was an adult, I got inebriated once,  twice, three times and got out of my tent and fell in a cactus.    I'll never sleep in a tent again!   

 Oh No?....okay, we will take up on this,at a later date. One thing the Desert mountains have taught me: never say never again.

[randell]

I'd be afraid to do this. =/  When I was a boy scout, the one time I slept outside of my tent I ended up sleepwalking down a pretty steep bank into the river we were camping by.

 

When I was an adult, I got inebriated once,  twice, three times and got out of my tent and fell in a cactus.    I'll never sleep in a tent again!   

At least you didn't puke on wife's shoes while hanging your head out of the tent in the middle of the night.

[Sanjuro82]

Well we are going to go tentless.  We'll check the weather forecast before heading out.  As a back-up safety measure, we're taking the footprint and the rainfly to our two man tent.  That way in case we need it (rain, wind, etc...) we can pitch an emergency shelter using my trekking poles.

Thanks for the help everyone!  You're comments and suggestions are much appreciated!

[em2]

Don't know what your budget is, but I've got an Outdoor Research Bivy - Can't remember the model, but it is the one that has the poles in it to keep it off of your face and even has some noseeum meshing for warm evenings.  I have slept in this several times when backpacking in BB, even in about 8" of snow up in the Chisos - warm and toasty inside.  Plus it will keep any creppy-crawlys out and weighs hardly nothing (and you can put your boots inside of it if you want).  can't remember what I paid for it, but I think it was a maybe under $150.

[SHANEA]

At least you didn't    on wife's shoes while hanging your head out of the tent in the middle of the night.

[JodyH]

I rarely use a tent and have never had any problems with critters.
Synthetic sleeping bag and a Goretex Bivy sack.

[Desertwalker]

Recently camped north of Slickrock Canyon. Around dusk a rattler crawled thru my camp. Almost stepped on the poor thing. Of course, it immediately alerted me to the situation and when I backed away it crawled off. After this encounter, I relieved myself of what was left in my bladder and crawled into my tent and didn't come out until sunrise.

I'm glad I had a tent! I would not have been happy to crawl into an exposed sleeping bag knowing what just crawled by.

[aggiehiker]

I've been told by old time cowboys that if you put a hemp/straw rope around your bag, the snakes won't crawl over it. I always use a tent since as luck would have it, a snake that liked that feeling on his belly would crawl into by bag!

[stingrey]

The fact that snakes cross Grapevine Hills road without problems coupled with the fact that they hang out around cactus and the like makes me think that the rope theory would be classified as "BUSTED" on Myth Busters.

[RichardM]

The fact that snakes cross Grapevine Hills road without problems coupled with the fact that they hang out around cactus and the like makes me think that the rope theory would be classified as "BUSTED" on Myth Busters.

Not quite MythBusters, but http://www.texas-venomous.com/myths.html, http://www.texassnakes.net/myths.html, and a bunch of other sites concur.

[JimNewOrleans]

I thought you were supposed to keep the hemp in an outside backackpack pocket, within easy reach??   Just to be handy case a snake is sighted, of course..