Too heavy?

I thought the whole point of going ultralight was cutting back on weight? Why are you buying a bag just to carry a couple rocks? Doesn’t that add more weight?

I mean, it’s only $30 and I do always find a couple pretty rocks when I go on walks in the local park but I don’t want the extra weight of a canvas bag—maybe it’s worth getting?

Recent thread claimed:

no one cares about your baseweight outside of the internet

Well, that’s not true because I do. I want need people on the trail to know how low my baseweight is. So who makes these?!

Gram preferred, Oz is fine too.

I've been at the top of the ultralite backpacking game for a few years now and i'm noticing a trend amongst inexperienced backpackers. Sometimes it feels like they don't recognize us as the "cool kids". They don't act like we have halos over our heads and they act as if they have the right to experience nature just as much as we do. It's almost as if they have instilled a silly sense of worth, from the countless hours of inefficient planning and insufficient knowledge gathering that they do. Almost competing in a race they'll never win to instill some sense of worth that they are not able to gather in their regular lives.
My perspective: hate on noobs!
Most noobs will stay that way their whole lives. They will never grow except possibly to achieve a mere taste of our splendor. They probably had a hiker dad/uncle who taught them how to backpack wrong. The feeling of backpacking must be reserved for the elite, not for noobs. Even if we feel like they make some good gear choices, we should try to discourage them from even trying. This will eventually create a spiral of increasing hatred of self, and as they interact more with us, they will give up hope of achieving greatness before wasting their time and ours.

TL/DR; hate on noobs, they'll never be like us.

Thought's...opinions...want to know if this feeling isn't just a figment of my imagination.

Look, I know this isn't the place for serious posts but I need to get this off my chest.

It started innocently enough. I had a long week and just wanted to hear the gentle crinkle of Dyneema, smell that faint chemical whisper of overengineering, and bask in the smug superiority of my sub-7 base weight even if I wasn’t in the Sierra. So I pitched my tent... in the backyard.

I KNOW. I KNOW.

The grass was wet. Not like soaked, just normal lawn wetness. Dew. A little muddy patch near the hose that I didn’t see. And I thought: “What harm could one night do?”

Brothers and Sisters.... there's grass inside now. Blades of it. In the corner sticking to the seam tape like they paid rent. One even got near the zipper. I’m not even joking. I had to hold back tears.

And of course, my wife’s boyfriend (let’s call him Derek because that’s his name) saw. He doesn’t care about ultralight. He still uses a freakin’ Coleman. A GREEN Coleman. He’s not even mad about the Dyneema. He just knows it makes me twitch when he calls it "that crinkly Saran Wrap thing." Yesterday he walked past and said, "Hey man, your plastic bag tent’s got some lawn in it. You gonna vacuum it out or mow it?"

I laughed, like a coward. Like someone who’s trying to act like it’s fine. But it’s not fine.

It’s tainted. I ran a full wipe-down with filtered water (two passes through my BeFree), patted it down with a paper towel, and left it in the sun at a 27-degree angle for optimal drying. But the shame remains.

Anyway. Just wanted to say: don't be like me. Don’t chase comfort. Don’t use your sacred gear for backyard glamping. Derek is still laughing.

I think I need a new tent.

Or a new family.

Probably both.

A little heavy, but small price to pay for comfort!

so i recently got my third protrail Li, this one like the first two - brand new and in original packaging. The first one I got in 2019, the second in 2020, and took a while to save up my allowance but my third is finally here in the year of our lord durston 2026.

i'm worried that the 2019 baby needs time to breathe? like, i have to go out for fresh air every few days, but does the tent need to be released to prevent any type of dyneema off gassing? also concerned that the folds in the tent may damage it long term. do i need to unroll and hang it occaisionally?

would love any advice, and will share my spreadsheet for cycling schedules once complete. thanks

I don’t mind the crinkle. I might bring earplugs depending on my base weight 🦄

A system like this, foretold by visionaries, could inject the memory of the PCT into my head. It looks like there might be a couple of drawbacks but none so bad as getting my Bivy all soiled up, right?

Sorry if this has been asked before. I also need a tent.