{"id":4415,"date":"2020-11-23T19:49:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T01:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/?p=4415"},"modified":"2020-12-23T12:59:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T18:59:33","slug":"can-you-fit-a-tent-in-a-backpack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/decideoutside.com\/can-you-fit-a-tent-in-a-backpack\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Fit A Tent In A Backpack?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I was growing up we always had to attach our tent to the outside of our backpacks in order to get them to fit. It wasn’t until later in life when I found out that you actually store your tent inside <\/em>your pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1 to 2 person backpacks can be stored easily within a backpack of at least 3400 cubic inches, or 55 liters. Bigger tents are still possible to be carried within a backpack but you may need to distribute the load among several backpacks.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The question is why would you want to do so? I’ll explain which types of tents you can do this as well as some reasons why you would want to put your tent inside your backpack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is It Possible To Fit a Tent Within A Backpack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have a Kelty Grand Mesa 2-person tent. I love this tent as it’s worked wonderful for backpacking and for car camping. (See here for a more in depth review<\/a> or you can check it out here <\/a>on Amazon) And I can tell you definitively–yes, this tent fit easily within my 4600 cubic internal frame inch backpack<\/strong>. This includes the optional ground tarp, the tent stakes, the tent poles, the tent itself, and the rainfly and guylines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this particular tent you could<\/strong> definitely fit it within a smaller backpack but you would lose some storage space that you might want for other necessary items. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kelty Grand Mesa, though, is a backpacking tent. This means that the tent poles are made of a lightweight aluminum and can fold compactly. I measured the tent pole length while folded and they are 18 inches long.<\/strong> I would recommend the main compartment to be a few inches longer just so the poles aren’t stressing the backpack fabric.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “long pole” that determines whether you can fit your tent in your backpack entirely is in fact the tent poles<\/span>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was growing up we always had to attach our tent to the outside of our backpacks in order to get them to fit. It wasn’t until later in life when I found out that you actually store your tent inside <\/em>your pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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pole length for my kelty grand mesa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If, however, you’re carrying a larger tent, then you have to be more careful. For example, our Core 6-person tent (not a backpacking tent) has tent poles that are each 25 inches long<\/strong>. This tent is far too big for one backpack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For reference, my Teton Outfitter 4600 (cubic inches) backpack was about 30 inches from the bottom of the biggest compartment all the way to the top. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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my teton 4600 internal frame backpack main compartment height<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, if you want to put your tent in your backpack<\/strong>, you need to make sure that the length of the largest backpack compartment exceeds the pole height by a few inches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, before we continue, though, let’s think more about the question: why would you want to put your tent in your backpack?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should You Put Your Tent Inside Your Backpack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So putting your tent in your backpack has some distinct advantages and disadvantages. Let’s talk about them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n