1. Must be 4 season.
2. Must be able to fit in ALICE pack.
3. Must be able to accomodate my long legs (I'm 6'4").
4. MUST NOT BE TOO EXPENSIVE.

This is what I'm looking at right now:

Outdoor Research Alpine Bivy
MEC Hybrid Sleeping Bag -20C

Combined price of both is $371. This is roughly the price range I'm trying to stay within. I'm willing to go a little higher if the benefits are worth it, but not too much higher.

Let's hear your input!

And you are just getting around to telling us this NOW?!

-Blast

I've never had a major problem using them in Vermont, can't comment on Florida. :P But my bivy is little more than a bag cover, it is nothing fancy- a nylon body bag would work just as well, probably.

You have to remember ventilation, a decent sleeping bag for the temperature, and to have something between you and the ground.

Someday...

Nice hammock. I would feel like a punching bag for a bear.

looks like a very cold night to me.

I never much liked tents. Too confining. If I wanted to stay indoors I would stay home.

Down here in the SE possibly the ultimate shelter is IMHO a 8' by 10' tarp and a few pieces of mosquito netting. In rain and hail it makes a decent shelter set up as lean-to or any of a half-dozen other shapes. When the wind gets strong or there is nothing to support a conventional shelter, or your simply too tired, I simply roll up in it forming a 'burrito roll'.

I once slept through a good part of a hurricane snug in my roll on top of a sand hill and away from trees. The roll has nothing to catch the wind and rain just rolled off. My pack and bots were stuffed into a large garbage bag.

After the storm passed, it took most of six hours for the worse to clear, I hiked out through so many downed trees it was like a bomb went off. A huge area was without power and the normally small streams had jumped their banks.

I would recommend that you at least evaluate an ultralight single wall tent as an alternative to the bivy. Outdoor Research makes one, the NightHaven Pocket Shelter, that is cheaper than the bivy and provides more protection against both the elements and small critters. It is essentially floorless, but a fitted floor is available. Try MoabSports.com and their $0.01 (US) buyer's club membership for good prices. The NightHaven appears to be out of stock at the moment, but they will honor their current prices on a backorder. I have had very good luck with them. +1 on the sleeping pad - more comfort and insulation.

Is this shelter for living in or surviving in?

If its for living, I don't know of anything that compact that is 4-season.

If its for surviving, then I might suggest two large orange trash bags and a mylar emergency blanket. One bag for the top (with a hole for your face), one for the bottom, and sit on the mylar blanket w/ leaves & debris for insulation.

Unfortunately, we can't pick and choose what time of the year a disaster might happen. If you had to bug-out in the middle of a freezing winter, do you think some garbage bags and a mylar blanket would be good enough? Personally, I would like something more than that.

It's true that I can't fit the best tent in the world in a backpack, but some kind of tent is infinitely better than no tent at all, IMHO.