Gear Review: Woods Cascade Tent
About five years ago we decided it was time to get a new tent. Our current tent was one that Darrell had picked up at an auction over a decade earlier, and it wasn’t new at that point. That tent had absolutely amazed me the first time Darrell set it up. The poles of the tent were nothing like I remembered from camping trips as a kid. You didn’t have to search for all the sections for the right pole, they were already held together by elastic and just needed to be snapped together, making it possible to have the tent up in minutes. I was informed that this was how all newer tents were. However, it was having a hard time keeping the water out and the design didn’t serve our purposes as well as it could, so we went shopping.
There were a few things we looked for in our new tent:
- A full fly that would cover the tent all the way to the bottom
- Water resistance so we would stay dry in the rain
- Good ventilation since we often camped in hot weather
- Lightweight
- Room for 2 people and a couple of dogs
- Budget-friendly
We started with the typical Google searches: “best summer tent”, “best tents for camping with dogs”, “top 10 cheap tents”, etc. Much of what we found was ruled out quickly for being too expensive or not having a full fly. The full fly was proving to be difficult to find. We searched through the shelves at Walmart (because we were looking for cheap), but it was Canadian Tire that had the tent that fit our needs, the Woods Cascade Lightweight 4-Person Tent.
The Cascade has mesh walls which is perfect for good airflow. On a hot night you can pull the fly off, fall asleep while looking at the stars, and still keep the bugs off of you. Even with the fly on you can have the doors open or the vents open and have good ventilation. On our most recent camping trip we survived having only the vents open while rain poured down in 30C temps while sleeping with three dogs. It was actually comfortable.
There are two doors and two “vestibule” areas that we use for storing gear like our dry bags and footwear. The tent is super lightweight and takes up very little space in the boat, which is handy considering how much other gear we take when camping. As a 4-person tent there is plenty of room for the two of us and the dogs.
My favourite thing about the Cascade is how waterproof it is (yes, it’s technically only water-resistant). We have had this tent out in pouring rain for 2 to 3 days at a time, and it holds up so well. It always amazes us that this lightweight material stands up to that much rain. However, when you open the door in the rain you will definitely have water drip in to the tent area from the zipper. It’s not much though and has never gotten our sleeping bags wet.
As for the budget, at the time of writing it sells for $279.99 at Canadian Tire (though of course that’s subject to change). We bought ours on sale and I feel like it was closer to $215 or $225. It’s worth every penny of the full price though.
We love this tent but definitely recommend it for warmer weather. Once the temps get into the single digits you’ll want something with solid walls instead of mesh. We’ve added another Woods tent to our camping gear for cooler weather and I’ll share more about that after we’ve had a chance to get it out.
argosgirl
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Did you need to buy a separate foot print for under the tent? Have you noticed if it collects condensation at all? Thanks!
We did buy the separate foot print eventually. You don’t need it though. It just helps to keep the bottom of the tent cleaner for packing up and is nice to have at the entryways. We haven’t experienced a problem with it collecting condensation.