Patent ID: 7146996

Claim:
An improved structure for a nominally floorless hikers' shelter having a raised, tensioned waterproof canopy supported off the ground at a front end and at a rear end, comprising: a shelter canopy having a catenary ridgeline tensioned between a higher, vertical front support and front canopy edge defining a vertical front door, and a lower, outwardly-cantilevered rear arch support and rear canopy edge defining a screened but otherwise unprotected outwardly-angled rear opening, wherein the rear arch support is tensioned by a downwardly-angled rear awning that forms a tensioned extension of the canopy through the rear arch support, the rear awning being coextensive with the canopy at the rear arch support, the rear awning extending downwardly and rearwardly at an acute angle relative to the rear arch support to a lower edge raised off the ground when the shelter canopy is raised off the ground, the rear awning being exclusive weather protection for the rear opening.