Review: North Face Wawona 6 person tent

 My ancient Kelty Eureka tent dates from 1995, and it's had patches all over from various accidents, and the tent poles were no longer capped correctly so tended to snag. We used it quite a bit and there wasn open question as to whether it was still waterproof, though most likely more waterproof than the Mountainsmith Upland 6 that I'd bought and returned for being completely wet during an unusual downpour.

The Wawona 6 is insanely expensive, only affordable when severely discounted (I managed to get it for $251 including shipping and taxes), and when I unpacked it and set it up for the first time during the Haypress Trip I was impressed. The poles were color coded and easily snapped together by the kids, and went into the sleeves with minimal snags. The basic 5 pole tent set up in a jiffy even for first time use and had no obvious places of frustration.

The rainfly + vestibule, however, is a little tricker --- the back of the rainfly isn't easily well marked, so you'll put it on wrong the first time. How far to push out the vestibule and stake it down really demands 2 adults --- the two kids were of no help and in the end we ended up setting it up just a bit wrong --- the vestibule looked right, but in reality if we had to we wouldn't have been able to zip up both doors without restaking the vestibule. The tent probably should also have come with more stakes given the price.

In use, the tent is roomy, and could definitely fit 6 adults but is comfortable with 4 people if you don't like stowing your gear outside. There are lots of accessory/storage pockets inside, though the center lantern hanging is too high up for a kid to reach (a first world problem!). I'm particularly impressed by the way the entrance of the tent has a negative slope. It really ensures that you can sleep at the entrance with the door of the tent leaning away your face --- an ideal position for preventing condensation from waking you up or for water falling into your face if it were to rain in the night.

Tents are long lasting equipment --- unless you use them a lot (or even if in my case you do use them quite a bit) they go for decades especially in California conditions. This one is a keeper. Probably the last car camping tent that I'll own. Recommended.