The quality of gear wasn't the problem. It was the humidity that was killing me. I wasn't bundled up in a sleeping bag, I was laying on top of it as a sleep pad.
The tent didn't leak, the rain fly functioned exactly as intended, there just wasn't enough ventilation. It was a sweatbox. The shoes I had on I was wearing in a creek while panning for gold. I wasn't clear on that I know. My bad. outside of the creek I either go barefoot, or wear boots or shoes whichever one is more appropriate. As far as bears go, we don't have very many around here. We do have a few but probably fewer than 2% of the population will ever see one or even see signs of them. They are truly rare here. In fact, they are so rare, I only know of a couple of people who even believe they live here and even they have never actually seen one. Even so, I did carry a .44 with me although it's mostly for plinking. I don't like to kill if I don't have to. I do like to target shoot though. Actually the biggest predator we have here that we are likely to see is a bobcat. They are so shy around here that very few people see them either. They are in abundance though. We also have racoons (which I livee trap and relocate on a regular basis) and that is where the biggest problem comes in. They are just curious and will rummage through anything. I've always put stuff up though so it's never been a problem. The biggest thing that worries me oddly enough is deer. I have had several of them walk up to me when I was obscurred by bush or something. That's something I do not want to tangle with. Most of the other stuff I can handle to some extent. I have handled dangerous animals for a long time but the biggest I have had to mess with is like rotweillers or pythons. A deer is much bigger (than the dogs anyway) and his head is covered with points! One of those could easily get the upper hand on me especially since I don't have any experience handling live ones. Animal attack is still low on my list of priorities though since contact is minimal. Snakes, scorpions, spiders, none of those bother me. I'm more likely to get bit at home in my own bedroom than I am in the woods. The biggest thing I worry about is heat and cold. The rest I can take care of with no problem at all. Temps are only a mild annoyance though. As I said, we have a really mild climate here so if it gets too cold I light a fire and if it gets too hot I jump in the creek, lake or river. It's really easy to camp here. Very friendly environment. The thing with the tent bugged me because it had cooled off enough to make the creek uncomfortably cold, but the tent was unbearably hot. The only option was to sweat it out or open the flaps and flood the tent.