Big Agnes Salt Creek 3-Person Superlight Backpacking Tent

2025-09-29T20:00:00

I use for car camping, and shorter backpack trips. At 5.3lbs it's a little heavier than my minimal 2.3lb solo backpacking text, but excellent for short trips where I plan to stay a few days. It does take up quite a bit of space in the backpack (only negative) but the extra 3 lbs for the size and comfot can't be beat. It also held up to 35 mile an hour winds and rain on an Atlantic Coast noreaster, sucked having to pack it up during that though. Also, basically a bug net with a large fly, which is perfect for warmer weather camping/stargazing. Excellent views without the fly, and super dry with it when needed. Good construction, the zippers pull well and don't get stuck. Extra storage net insite on the top in nice, but can;t hold anything too heavy, it slids out. Great side pockets though. Also, the main door flap on the fly is a little annoying if you dont have poles to hold it up, I use the sides for entrace/exit.

Jeremy

2025-09-24T20:00:00

I'm not an ultralight backpacker; I prioritize comfort and a good time. Since I don't go on extremely long hikes, I don't mind a heavier pack, so I'm all for the features. I particularly love the tent's third door. Kicking it open and waking up to a view is my favorite part. However, getting the third door up and tight can be challenging. I usually have a droop in mine when I just use my poles for support.

Fulff

2025-09-24T20:00:00

I have an old version of this tent that I bought in 2020. I've used it on countless backpacking and car camping trips. It's held up surprisingly well and is pretty comfortable for 3 people. When I go car camping, it's typically being used for just two people and it's big enough to fit a queen japanese futon, which is mega comfortable. The version I have is a bit heavier than this one, but still very manageable for backpacking. The only thing wrong with it is that the top thing connecting the two poles snapped. I asked for a new one from Big Agnes and we can't figure out how to install it.

Avery

2025-09-04T20:00:00

Absolutely AMAZING tent that does it all. Perfect fit for my wife and kiddo, exactly 70 inches wide. The three doors and awning style on the fly is super cool. I love the adjustable 3D pocket and the color is great too. When it comes to packability and design this tent shines. Lightweight but doesn't sacrifice any creature comforts for 3 people. Thanks BA!

Beardy

2025-01-24T19:00:00

Stuff sack shredded after 1st use. The stakes are mediocre. The tent set up is great. Love the door shade when we remember to bring poles. Loved the gear shelf while it worked. (It broke due to user error. )

Allie

2024-06-09T20:00:00

So easy to set up, intuitive assembly. More spacious than I thought it would be! Plenty of room for two people, gear and a large dog. My favorite part is how airy, and bright it is. Thank you!

Lulu

2024-05-12T20:00:00

I bought this tent for car-camping/base-camp trips for me and my partner. I use something lighter and smaller for backpacking. My first night with this tent, I did the bare minimum stake-out job. We had a torrential downpour for more than 5 hours overnight with winds gusting to about 25mph. Tent kept us bone dry, and didn't even shake. The tent is very spacious for 2 people, good headroom, and the 3rd door is convenient for set-up, take down, or if your vestibules are too full of gear for entry/exit. No real complaints about this tent, but a few comments: Zippers feel robust, however, I don't love the way the side door zippers are designed (but perhaps it is with an eye for durability). Definitely needs a ground cloth. 86 inch length easily fit my 6' partner, but a few extra inches of length would be welcome. Especially as I think it would make the 3rd door more usable.

A A.

2024-04-15T20:00:00

We moved up from the Fly Creek U2 to this model so I could have a bit more room and side entry doors. I've used several tents and this is my all time favorite! I've taken it car camping in the Rockies and Arizona, backpacking in WV, and bikepacking too! I absolutely love the space compared to our old two man tent, it's waterproofing is solid, it's so crazy easy to set up, and my favorite feature is the side entry doors with canopies to keep my shoes dry and the big font entry door. Its easy to get in and out of. No need to climb over anyone. It's got tons of gear stash space too! I say it every time we set it up, I LOVE THIS TENT!.

LC

2024-04-15T20:00:00

My wife and I have used this tent 3 times now on backpacking trips. The sl3 is plenty big enough for the 2 of us and our dog and still felt roomy. The side vestibules fit our packs and we use the front to enter/exit. The gear loft is great for jackets, extra blanket for the doggo, and any other things we might need in the night.

Hotdogh2o

2024-03-18T20:00:00

I camp quite often either solo or with my family. It is usually me and my young son so I wanted something midsize that would be suitable for car camping or a short hike. I decided on this tent based on reviews and I liked the design with the awning feature. We camp more in the warm months in NC but occasionally 40 degree nights so the double wall is helpful too. There is plenty of space for two wide pads or even my oversized Hest Foamy pad when I am going for extra comfort. Overall, this is a great tent for the price; however, it is not small enough for backpacking and the color does bleed as reported by other owners. The size is perfect and now I have a Durston 2p for backpacking, this for car camping with my son and a much larger Bunkhouse for when the whole family joins. BIg Agnes for the win!

CLR

2023-07-04T20:00:00

overall a great tent, nice design, ideal for 2 people, love the front "windoor" as well. HOWEVER, when we took it for 10 days on the boundary waters, we discovered its "bug pocket". on the font header there exists a pocket on the outside of the tent, designed to hold the front rainfly flap (door). Not only is it completely unneccessary as there are hooks/loops to hold this but it becomes a health issue as a perfect bug pocket catching and holding literally hundreds of mosquitos. if however the panel were on the inside it would be a very useful pocket, with no bug issues. rating should be a 3.5 but not an option

Buggy W.

2023-05-27T20:00:00

I love this tent. Lots of storage, great size, and all around amazing design. Pretty easy to set up and break down after doing it the first time. I always get compliments on it, and it feels like it will hold up pretty well. Only issue I've had is that the color bleeds. The first one I purchased, the orange had bled onto the grey, and it was like that when I initially received and inspected it. I sent it back and BA sent me another one quickly, but it had the same issue. I kept it because it's really not a big deal to me, just colors.

Piet

2023-04-15T20:00:00

My wife and our 80lb German Shepherd Dog loved this tent while we had it for its overall size, capabilities, and durability. The overhead bin compartments were amazing, along with all the extra in and outside pockets. Headroom was awesome, along with venting capabilities for different weather. We canoe back country camp in Ontario, Canada and had no issues with its weight or weather conditions in our region with this tent. We went through a minor hurricane storm that took down several trees around our tent and were able to hide out inside the tent (luckily away from toppling trees) and stayed dry. We were very impressed with our two years in this tent and what it provided us. We bought the floor matt option for it for our dog, who loved the access in and out of the three doors. A couple of minor items: -We did have a manufacturing defect in that the tent didn't come with one of the door loops to hook and hold it open. Big Agnes did refund us a credit and offered to send it for repairs but we opted out of it. -I'm 6'3 so this is the max you would want for height as the total length of the tent is tight. Sad to have lost this tent in our house fire.

Liam B.

2022-09-22T20:00:00

Love the third door - it adds spaciousness, airiness and shade. Gear lofts are very convenient. Perfect for two, squishy for 3. Footprint + fly is a nice shade/rain option too. Minor complaint - tent peg bent on first use, expected better quality. But all in all - i love it!!

Little A.

2022-05-17T20:00:00

Might be a little early for a complete review having just used this once. We bought this as a replacement to the Copper Spur UL3 which Big Agnes no longer makes. The fabric feels a little tougher than the ultralight tents which is a plus for me. The third door is awesome, it's so nice to get a real breeze and wake up looking at the trees. It feels spacious for two people with plenty of room to sit up inside. The only negative thus far is that there are stains on the fabric. When we set it up for the first time we noticed odd yellowish stains on the front grey door. Not a deal breaker but also not what you would expect from a brand new tent. All in all though I'd recommend.

JMS

2022-04-05T20:00:00

For me this was a intended as. Car camping tent that me and my GF could put two 25 in wide pads in and have plenty of space left over. At the three person size two people will not cause condensation build up inside when the ventilation hole on top and the two shakes on the ends are staked out. The huge awning door make setting up all our gear tremendously easy as opposed to using the traditional vestibule doors for this. At first glance the tent seems durable, but I've only spent a half dozen nights in it so far. The vestibules are plenty large for all your gear. The tent has an abundance of pockets which is nice. One huge pocket runs the whole width of the tent inside and is excellent for drying damp gear or just storing coats and jackets and such. I honestly don't understand why it wasn't listed as a selling point, it's my favorite tent pocket I've ever seen. There is also one shallow pocket on the head end of the tent that runs the whole width of the tent body, but it is only about 5 inches deep and on the outside of the tent body, so I'm genuinely very confused why it's there and what the intended purpose is. I'm also 6'3" and fit well in this tent. I lay lengthwise and sit up with no issues. Being a free standing tent I can just pick up and shake any dirt out of the tent body, which is wonderful. Packing this tent into it's provided bag is very easy, folding all the parts of it to the correct size in a nice manor happens intuitively each time. Color coded front and back makes setting up a breeze. The stakes are a disappointment though. Just simple roundstock hook stakes. Not very light or durable, and I wish there were two more so the awning and the ventilation at the foot end could be staked out and one to spare it's always a plus.

Michael

2020-10-02T20:00:00

I needed a way to convince my non athletic partner to go backpacking with me so I purchased the Salt Creek SL3 (three person to give us more room). We were a fan of the forward facing door that allows you to see the surrounding scenery. We took it to the Grayson Highlands and were able to look out at the mountains and wild ponies from a safe distance. It is a bit heavy for backpacking but it works for shorter trips. Only improvement I would recommend is that the third door does not have a mesh to stop bugs from getting in.

Drop S.

2020-09-13T20:00:00

Three doors might seem excessive at first... I thought so, but these concerns were quickly squelched the morning after my first night in the Salt Creek waking up to see the beautiful sunrise on the mountain range in front of me through the garage-style door with functional awning. So easy to get in and out of and allows for wonderful vistas.

MackMasch

2020-08-23T20:00:00

Very spacious for 2 people, great looking and easy to setup. Have not had any issues with leakage. Stuff sacks are a tight fit.

Marcelo

2020-08-17T20:00:00

If there's a brand that I trust more than Big Agnes I can't think of it. They're tents are top notch, and even more importantly they back up every thing they make with a great warranty and top-notch customer support. Fantastic tent, fantastic company - don't buy anything else!

Jason

2020-08-12T20:00:00

love the 3rd door and ability to create a "tarp" area, roomy interior, love the loft, good venting, lightweight for backpacking/canoe camping cons- pin hole in fly (brand new!), got wet in a major downpour and the issue was the splash up from rain and back flow on the upper vent. suggest: make the bathtub on the non-vestibule sides bigger, extend it up to the mesh, instead of mesh on the sides of the front door, use waterproof material as during a very light sprinkle, some drops got in. During the major downpour - the lower mesh pockets got super wet, increase the waterproofing around the corners so any splash up doesn't come in. add at least 4 more tent pegs for stake outs. We seriously debated returning it and going back to MSR Mutha Hubba, but the design is hard to give up. Fix the bathtub and waterproof on corners and upper vent and we'd be happy to recommend it to anyone who'll listen.

LolaMac

2020-07-24T20:00:00

I've been looking for a new 3 person tent for a very long time. Once I found the Salt Creek it didn't take long to make up my mind. Construction seems very good. It's very easy to setup. Weight is exactly as claimed. Just spent 2 nights in Jasper National Park it rained pretty hard and this tent performed perfectly. It's so spacious and has plenty of storage inside. My one and only small gripe is that the main pole is a little annoying to pack up and get back in its bag. Overall an amazing tent.

Josh W.

2020-06-05T20:00:00

I originally bought this because of the three door option as I have a very... special dog who doesn't understand the concept of tents, much less the concept of tent doors, so every tent I've had he simply tries to barge through the nearest wall. It's funny the first thousand times, but the carnage and wear an 80 pound dog can render on a tent from this is costly. I quickly fell in in love with this tent because when he goes for it, I can just open that door real quick. Sorcery! He's also a bed hog so the three doors make it easier to extricate myself from whatever ghastly contortion he's made me conform to when leaving the tent. The SL3 is also really roomy which is perfect for the two of us + his bed + his huge personality and need for maximum comfort and space. My deltas on the tent are all about the middle door - I wish it could be folded into the top of the tent rather than the bottom, and that the fly awning could somehow attach to the fly setup rather than needing its own guy line attachment... but just having the third door is amazing and these things don't ultimately matter. The trekking/ski pole thing makes me feel unspeakably cool in camp. Major gearhead points. And then I bought a second one for guests. I'm obsessed. It's great to buy local, but it's absolutely rad that BA is both local and makes great gear!

nrr

2020-04-29T20:00:00

My first BA tent. (I have a sleeping pad to) Just received the tent. Set it up on the grass in front of my house. First time set up, took me about 15 minutes by myself without reading the instructions. When I was researching the tent I thought it would be more difficult to set up. But super easy, and of the 6 tents I currently own (yes, I'm a gear hound) This by far has the easiest, best fitting rainfly. I love the awning, as well as the thoughtful layout, such as the giant pocket inside the tent. There's also a long pocket on the outside of the tent above the largest door. Being a lightweight tent it has lightweight material. The rainfly seems pretty solid as does the body of the tent. That being said I've never used a footprint before BUT will be using one for this tent. If you plan on bringing dogs I suggest making sure their nails are short! My only concerns- The plastic "flicklock" (I'm not sure what they're called) and the plastic "ball joint" will need to be babied and don't look like they are field repairable. Who wants to have to send the tent in for repairs if they can fix it themselves? Being a former US Marine I need my gear "Marine Proof! LOLOL!!! If these could be repaired in the field I'd give it 5 stars for sure! Other than these 2 issues I can't wait to get this out on the trail soon. Solid!

Hbldenali