At the end of the first leg of this year’s Fjällräven Classic USA, tired and sweaty, I, like hundreds of other backpackers around me, slowly pulled my tent from my pack and started the process of building my temporary home for the night. Amidst a sea of dome shaped tents in a rainbow of colors, I broke out my Sierra Designs Divine Light 2 FL — a lightweight, 3-season tent that has become a staple on my outdoor adventures lately. A new addition to Sierra Design’s line-up of tents, the Divine Light is exactly that: incredibly light (weighing in a 3 pounds 15 ounces) and packs up into an easy to carry 14.5 inch by 6.5 inch bag. This tent’s compact designs unfolds into a well-thought out space that is efficient and incredibly cozy when pulling an overnighter in the great outdoors.
Pros: The Divine Light is loaded with excellent features, like a covered gear storage space at the head of the tent that easily fits two fully loaded packs and keeps dirty and smelly hiking boots in a dry but airy space. It also sports three doors, one conveniently placed on each side, and one that connects the gear storage space to the interior of the tent. But perhaps one of the best features of this tent is the awning. The material that covers the gear storage space can easily be propped up with trekking poles or completely rolled up to create an open, unobstructed view of whatever mountains you’ve worked so hard to lose yourself in.
Cons: For as many awesome pros as this tent has, they can easily be overshadowed by pesky condensation on the interior of the tent in cooler temperatures (usually sub 40-degree temps). Although the tent includes 360-degrees of ventilation, several mornings in the Divine Light have begun with droplets of water rhythmically falling on my head.
Where We Took It: Camping throughout the Rocky Mountains, Joshua Tree National Park, and up and down the West Coast.
