Non-Freestanding Tent @ Mt. Whitney?

[EndoftheTrail]

I’m planning to camp two nights at Mt. Whitney: Portal and Trail Camp — using a non-freestanding tent.

Someone tells me that the ground is impossibly hard for staking, and therefore, a freestanding tent is a must! Is this really true???

[Anonymous]

Hi Ben,
It is very rocky and compacted, for sure. That said, if you have a non-freestanding tent that otherwise really works well for you, I would say take it and tie off on suitable rocks in lieu of bending your stakes at the end of a long, hard day. You won’t have any trouble finding suitable rocks, that’s for sure. If you go that route, you might want to extend your guylines a bit if they short to allow for a couple of wraps around a rock.

[Anonymous]

Oops, I forgot one thing. I was referring to the campsites around Consultation Lake. Haven’t used the campsites at The Portal. But you should be able use a hammer there if necessary and a loop of rope to extract them. I’m assuming you have a car to leave the hammer in.

[R K]

Not a requirement but would probably make things easier for you. I just came down through the Portal after completing the high sierra trail. Had to wait at trail camp for a hour or so for my hiking partner to catch up. The camp looked fairly crowded but I did notice that there were some non freestanding shelter set up there (a golite den 2 comes to mind). I think it really depends on which site you can land. anyways, here’s a picture of the trail camp…
the camp is just to the right along the side of the lake. if you look closely you may be able to see the solar outhouse.

Roy

[EndoftheTrail]

Gentlemen – thanks for your insights. I will bring along some extra lengths of guylines.

[Al Shaver]

Ben,
Stakes work fine at the ten walk-in sites at the Portal (and probably at the other sites too – although I haven’t stayed at them). Tom’s advice will serve you well at Trail Camp. I’ll be there 8/17 with a Cave 1 tarp. I just lasso big rocks with guy lines and use taught line hitches that I keep in the lines to snug them up.

[Ken Helwig]

will be there on Aug. 21st. Bringing my Tarptent with me. I really hope that I can find some soft ground. Have me thinking about bringing extra guy line now.

[Peter King]

Just got back from Russell/Whitney, and didn’t carry or need stakes. In the areas of the Sierra I’ve been camping the surface has usually been duff, rock, or decomposed granite sand, none of which take stakes. I use 2′ loops of line in place of stakes, and almost always can find enough rocks to place one as an anchor in the loop, and others on top of the loop as needed.

[Author]

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