Our Weekend at All Good Festival

I set off to the All Good Festival, a weekend-long jam-band music festival in the hills of Masontown, West Virginia, to test out your picks (plus some of ours) for the best camping/music festival gear. While some of the happenings at this outdoor concert aren’t really fit to print, trust me when I say that I’ll return next year. And if you’re inspired to follow my lead—or head to a local festival on your own—here’s the gear you’ll need, tested by yours truly, plus words of wisdom from our festival-going readers.

First things first, here are your three winners for the best festival camping gear.

Readers’ Choice: Tent
Big Agnes Pine Island 4: The best way to test a tent’s claim for user-friendly set-up is to put it up at night. When you have never set it up before. And you really have to pee. And you’re trying to rush so you can have a beer and enjoy Phil Lesh and Friends on the main stage...Success! The double-hub pole design and color-coded pole ends/grommet webbing allowed us to get the tent up and the rain fly on (for added privacy) with plenty of time to catch Phil and all of his friends. Needless to say, we started roasting in the tent the minute the sun came up, but with the rain fly off—and thoughts of privacy out the window—the mostly mesh tent body allowed good air circulation. This would be a good time to mention our guilty pleasure item of the weekend: Coleman's Cool Zephyr Ceiling Fan. Thank God I have no will power and made this impulse buy at Target on the way out of town. Seriously, don’t go to a festival without it.

Readers’ Choice: Sleeping Bag
REI Travel Sack 55 ($59): Though my companion may as well have left his 20-degree bag in the car, I actually got in this ultralight sleeping bag when we went to sleep (at 4 a.m.). Granted, I got right back out of it after the sun came up, but its semi-rectangular shape allows for a full unzip mode and comforter-like feel. Perfect for tossing and turning while you’re trying to sleep next to camping neighbors who appear to be morning people. Natch.

Readers’ Choice: Rain Jacket
Marmot PreCip Jacket ($99): Though lots of you said that you’d “just get wet,” the masses that opted for a jacket voted for the tried-and-true PreCip. That said, we got drenched in a moment of unpreparedness as Widespread Panic played through a downpour. Even though this jacket didn’t get a chance to perform this particular weekend, there’s a reason why it’s a perennial favorite of both readers and editors. For a lightweight, waterproof-breathable jacket at a truly affordable price, you can’t do much better.

Lots of you told us to take a SolLight LightCap water bottle ($20). Well, we didn’t listen. But we managed with our CamelBaks and Nalgene bottles. I can see how this would come in handy at night, especially if you don’t have a headlamp (or don’t want to wear it for fear of looking as much like narks as I’m sure we did).

Other "must have" gear that we took included sleeping pads (essential for obvious reasons), headlamps (so you can find your way out of a ravine…no comment on how that happened…and back to your tent at 4. a.m. after Gov’t Mule), and the Kelty Shadehouse 12. I saw lots of other functional rigs for avoiding the sun. The point is that you need somewhere other than your tent (which will likely feel like an oven) to get out of the sun in the middle of the day. Because as Chris from Jackson, Wyoming, says, "Festivals get pretty F'n hot!"

On that note, here are more words of wisdom from you, our readers, on festival-going:
"Diner prep wastes valuable jamming time, so minimize it!" wrote Arthur from Redwood City, California. Arthur, we couldn’t agree more. Bring snacks for breakfast and lunch, but plan on buying your dinner (we suggest gyros and butterfly fries) from a vendor. Six bucks is worth not missing Keller Williams.

"Bring earplugs if you want to sleep during the late-night campfire renditions of "Me and Bobby McGee."" True wisdom. We managed to forget the earplugs, and, thus, couldn’t sleep for more than two hours at a time.

"Bring a Nalgene wide-necked pee bottle—just don't get it confused with your drinking water bottle." We hope this person wasn’t camping next to us.

Denny from Pittsburgh brings a wagon to the festival. "It carries everything: tents, coolers, kids, whatever. The hills at Marvin's Mountain Top are steep, and a wagon makes carrying it ALL GOOD." (You knew we had to slip one All Good reference in there.) This really sounds like a must for people with kids. Yes, people bring children to these things.

When asked about dealing with a slanted or lumpy campsite, Jim from Boston, offered these priceless words: "booze, because sleeping on the ground sober is for children and the lost."

And last but not least, Cole from Winchester, Kentucky, told us, "Most importantly, if there is a man selling Jerry Rolls, eat them early and often. Delicious." Well, we didn’t eat any Jerry Rolls, which probably explains why I was able to come to work and write this blog, but we’ll take your word for it, Cole.

--Kate Chandler