For the most part, our 20 years of camping haven’t required an extra screen tent.  As we headed up to Colorado’s 10,000 foot heights, however, we thought back to the incredible hoards of blood sucking mosquitos we found while backpacking on Mt. Margaret in Denali NP.

Wanting to keep the mosquitos at bay, while not using up our limited cargo space or carrying extra weight, we set about finding something light, compact and easy.  We don’t plan on needing this tent often–maybe when the biting black flies are in season in August Michigan, or deep forest trips,  as well as these high altitude trips.  Really it’s just the dusk hours that create the need–when those little biters are just too voracious for any repellant.

One thing we do like about this tent is that the screen weave is not so tight that it restricts air flow nor does it distort the view.  Because of this, I wonder if it would work well for the no-seeums that show up at dusk on Floridian beaches??  That, we will still need to check.

So, what did we buy??  The SportCraft easy pop-up screen tent.  It was just over $100 when I bought it.

https://www.amazon.com/SportCraft-Screen-Floor-Canopy-Shelter/dp/B0114N0SOY

It literally goes up with a flick of the wrist and then collapses back down in about 10 seconds.  Easy peasy–but watch the YouTube video a couple times before you attempt folding it back into its carrying case in the wild.  Once you do get the hang of folding these things, it really is simple.

It’s approximately 7′ square so we can easily fit two chairs, two dogs and a little tray table and stand fully upright.  It folds down to about a 32″ circle x 2″ in its little carrying case.  I haven’t weighed it but it’s only a few pounds.  This allows it to sit upright against the side window of our Chevy Traverse SUV–making it easy to grab in an insect emergency.  This tent does have a floor so we were well protected from insects–a fact our two dogs really seemed to appreciate.

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Note: Amazon no longer shows these tents available but you will find them if you Google Pop Up Screen Tent