Tarps have to be frequently replaced. You can still buy plastic tube tents. Neither are much good above timberline, but are better than nothing in an emergency, unless wind shreds them to bits. You can get oversized nylon ponchos that are stronger. Been there, done that as a kid. No more "Motel Six" shelters for me!
Back in my Army days as an infantryman we used our rain ponchos which are rip proof and waterproof as "lean-to's" like hetuglar posted above except that we used available wood/foliage/rocks to anchor. The army surplus tropical rain poncho is extremely light (couple of ounces) and serves as a rain poncho (down to your shins so the boots get wet) and ground cloth for the tent (I regularly backpack/bicycle tour with one wrapped around the air-mattress) and two will snap together to form a tent - add a third and you have the floor.
Thomas
A friend of mine was given a super-duper prototype ultralight shelter to test by one of the big name companies which I won't identify. It was truly roomy, and the fabric was tough. As usual in such cases, to save weight, you just use your trekking poles to set it up. But what happens if you need to use those poles in the meantime? That's the catch. We were in a remote off-trail basin and had to hop creeks even a few yards from camp. He slipped and injured his foot, and sent his expensive Rollei 6X6 into the creek - and he's highly experienced. I could recite similar horror stories about the "latest and greatest" ultralight tent some friend or another was given the opportunity to be the Guinea pig for testing, which I witnessed in person.
The very first "no rainfly needed" pup tent was made by Sierra Designs, or should I say, "Sierra Half-Baked". Back then, the original store was a stone's throw from where we worked. We were up around 10,500 that Oct and a storm moved in, and my friend got downright miserable in that tent. Curiously, just a couple months ago the man who "designed" that darn thing was walking right past my house returning from a hike in the canyon behind me. He was too old and wheezy to ever go to high altitudes again, but had some wonderful Sierra stories. I reciprocated my own story, the official "review" of his invention,
forty years late.
When I was backpacking many years ago and carrying my LF camera equipment, I used a Sierra Designs Sphinx tent as recommended by Colin Fletcher. I went the ultra-light way except for the tent and my camera equipment. One night in the Adirondacks we went to bed with a clear sky, and about midnight the sky broke loose with the rain falling what seemed to be horizontally to the ground. Fortunately we had pitched the rainfly over the tent just in case. Our first choice for setting up the tent had about 6 inches of standing water in it come morning. Luckily we chose a higher place to pitch the tent. If we had been using a tarp or anything less than that Sphinx, we and the camera equipment would have been soaked come dawn. Current tents equivalent to the Sphinx out there now have to be half the weight of the Sphinx and a lot more durable. Our way of conserving weight was to really bulk up on water before starting to hike. Would plan on rehydrating at noon and in the night's campsite. Fortunately for us here in New England, streams are a common place.
The only lightwt tents I believe in are the true Bibler design - triple-layer fabric, true expedition grade. Been thru hurricane-force winds and heavy blizzards in em. But for basic Summer/early Fall use, I substitute a Big Agnes at half the wt due to my age. It's OK for fairly heavy rain or snow storms, but if wind is going to be horrific, I want at least some trees or giant boulders around. It's not as warm either. Ironically, some very simple shelters work in cold winter snow that would fail quickly in warm wet snow or steady rain. Some lightwt tent fabrics are nothing more than conventional house wrap.
I have a light weight tarp (MSR, I think). I have started to take hiking sticks just for the tent. If I am away from camp I tend to have a tripod with me, so normally don't take the hiking sticks with me. Fine for coastal weather...the below photo was taken on a wet weekend in July along Redwood Creek. Wet, but more of a constant heavy mist than rain. And fine for afternoon thunderstorms if the weather improves in time for dinner.
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
I've got a pyramid style tent (Black Diamond Megamid) that I prefer to use 99% of the time. Its fairly light and provides a lot of shelter space.
Although expensive, I've heard good things about this company: https://www.hyperlitemountaingear.co...ers-tents.html
The nice thing about that Megamid and other hyperlite you linked is that they come equipped with a free indoor shower or bathtub, or sometimes both.
I'd let a friend or two post a review, but their choice of adjectives would probably be banned. That remaining 1% of the time, as you refer to it, can seem
awfully awfully long if you have to endure it.
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