Hello all,
I am currently on an extended trip in Patagonia and have been camping nearly constantly, pitching my tent in the full spectrum of soil conditions. I personally advocate carrying a range of stake types to adapt to varying ground conditions. I will admit that I am probably carrying way more stakes than I ever would back home (13), due to the anticipation of pitching my TT Rainbow in some seriously heavy winds. On this trip I have 6 vargo titanium sheperd´s hook stakes, 2 MSR groundhogs, and 5 easton tubular stakes, the ones that come with the tarptents. Personally I am not a huge fan of the easton stakes as I have had them fail in the past, but I mostly brought them because they were what I had and they hold decently well in looser soil.
Far and away, the most used stakes on this trip have been the titanium sheperd´s hooks. I have not been gentle with them at all, and have only managed to ever so slightly bend one of them. With regards to rocky soil, I have found that the sheperd´s hook is often better than a tubular or y stake because its slim profile makes it easier to find a spot it will slide through the rocks. A buddy of mine who is travelling with me brought all MSR groundhogs and he is often struggling to get his stakes in the ground while the sheperds hooks are a breeze to put in.
MSR groundhogs are BOMBER, as most of you probably know, and I think you would be hard pressed to break one of these, although they may be a bit heavy for some of the hardcores out there. As I have said, they can be difficult to drive in in some rocky or compact soils, but they will take a lot of hammering and once they get in they hold very well. I have been happy to have the groundhogs and easton tubular stakes for sandy campsites where the thin sheperds hook won´t hold at all. For camping back home, I think I would probably bring mostly titanium sheperds hooks with a couple groundhogs thrown in for help in certain soil conditions.
Well, that´s my opinion on the topic, hope it adds something to the discussion. BTW I was skeptical about bringing the rainbow down here but so far I have had it set up in gusts to 50mph coming from all directions with some deflection, but no strength issues. Henry did hook me up with one of the slightly heavier poles (that I believe come with the new scarp, this was before it came out) so I´m not sure how much of a difference that makes.
Cheers from Los Antiguos, Argentina, waiting for the bus…
Seth
