Time to Sleep (Part 2)

   Now that we've covered the types of places you're likely to find sleep, lets look at portable shelter. You don't necessarily need to carry this stuff, but you'll be a lot better off if you do. There are plenty of options, but the main choices are tent, tarp or "bivy sack".
   Small backpacking tents, and 2-person tents are easy to find, and usually not too expensive. They're more private, better at keeping bugs and smaller animals out, warmer, and great at keeping the elements out (when treated right). On the other hand, they're the most complicated to set up, more visible, often heavier, and (unlike tarps) can't be used for anything else.
   I prefer to travel with a tarp. You can get an 8' x 10' brown heavy-duty tarp for $10-$15 pretty much anywhere. If you go with tarp, you should try to carry a bit of thin rope, like clothesline, to tie it up with. You can tie it up in a few different ways to form a shelter, as long as there are things to tie it to. You can lay it on the ground or the floor of a squatted building to keep your sleeping bag from getting grimy. If all else fails, you can wrap it around your sleeping bag to keep the rain off (moisture from your body will condense inside and make everything damp though.) It can easily be strapped onto the outside of your pack without getting in the way too much. All you really need to fix it is duct tape.
   Bivy sacks and bivy shelters are another, less common, category. A bivy sack is a water-repellent sack with a hood that you put your sleeping bag in. It's still permeable to water vapor, so it won't get clammy inside like the tarp would. A bivy shelter is somewhere in between a bivy sack and a small tent. They tend to be totally enclosed, and have a small tent-pole hoop to support it like a tiny tent. Both are very good, though a bit pricey. The sack leaves your face exposed, so it's usually used with a smaller tarp. They can usually be rolled up with your sleeping bag inside, to make carrying and set-up easier. These choices offer the lowest silhouette; you can easily set them up behind low bushes without being noticed.
   If you can get a bivy sack and small tarp, go for it; otherwise, I swear by the $10 tarp. Tents are a bit more workable if you're camping in the woods alongside railroad tracks or in the middle of nowhere, where their larger silhouette and often lighter colors aren't a big worry due to lack of people.