I spent this past weekend living at Club^H^H^H^HTent Hubba Hubba. While not as risque as Club Hubba Hubba, my MSR Hubba Hubba tent worked flawlessly this weekend while I was camping at Bellows AFS.
I’ve got no military connections so normally I wouldn’t be allowed on base. Fortunately for me a friend of mine is a retired navy officer (actually I know a few) so when the call went out for a camping party I was on board. I hadn’t purchased my Hubba Hubba specifically for this exercise, but it sure was worth having.
Let me say this about Bellows. It’s beautiful. Because it’s a military base it is really quite spic and span. Everything is groomed, trimmed, cleaned, and tip top all the way around. But that’s not really the appeal. Sure it’s great to have a super campsite, but I’m sure camping sites in war zones are tidied up too. No, what makes it really super is that here’s the great camp site right smack dab in my back yard, assuming, of course, that Waimanalo can be considered my back yard. In some ways it can as it is right over the mountains from where I live.
It’s a good twenty-five mile ride from home, but a nice one, especially if you leave in the morning while it’s cool. I didn’t see this one the way in as it was later in the day, but to get an idea of the backdrop, here’s what it looked like just after sunrise as I rode out on Sunday.
As for my tent, it’s roomy for one person which is a big plus. Remember the Hubba Hubba is marketed as a two person tent, and it could be done if you have no fear of intimacy. Still I followed the advice I was given and went for a double. I was able to fit all my gear inside and organized well enough to access it all and still had plenty of room to stretch out.
When I arrived at the site a couple of friends where there already. They’d hauled my gear out in their car so I was free to ride unencumbered. Thanks guys! They asked if wanted help setting up my tent but I declined; I wanted to go solo. One of the guys actually time me putting it up, this being only the second time I’d done it. It took seven minutes from start to finish and I was chatting with them the whole time. In other words it’s darn easy. I expect if I were really going for it, say to beat a rain shower, it could be done very quickly.
Ventilation in the tent was really good. I staked out one side of each vestibule for privacy and rolled up the other side. That gave me the privacy I desired but still allowed for ventilation through each door (one for each side). I slept well, not too hot, not too cold, just right.
Finally, and this is important, the netted interior did a great job keeping out the creepy-crawlies. Bellows, being fairly dry and planted with ironwood trees as a small, okay big, centipede population. There are also some fire ants around, but those are easy to avoid provided you don’t set up camp right on top of them. The centipedes though are another matter. They are quite prehistoric looking, quite large, and quite capable of inflicting a painful sting. My Hubba Hubba did the job right and none got through. I have, of course, no proof that one even tried. I shudder when I think of them getting in, but the tent was great. I slept unscathed.
I got my Hubba Hubba through Amazon, but they are available at a number of places online. I don’t know if they are sold in any local shops. I ordered the footprint as well. I might suggest that they really ought to packaged together for one price but I’m not going to quibble. The tent is perfect for my purposes and I can’t wait to use it again, and again, and…
Slower, cheaper, less useful…