Tarp on rock

[Doug Hus]

Greetings, I find that my thinking is evoloving to tarp camping, lighter. However I have a concern about pitching it on rock. Most of my hiking and canoeing is on the Canadian shield. I do from time to time have difficulty in sinking a (tent) peg into the earth.

I'm looking for on guidance on how to pitch a tarp on a surface where you cannot always sink a peg.

Your help is greatly appreciated,
Doug

[Jerry Adams]

Attach line to large rock, rather than tent stake

Or, if the tent stake is only weakly pounded into the ground, put a large rock on top of it or between stake and tarp

Or, tie line to the middle of the stake, place stake on ground sideways, put large rock on it, I think this is called "deadman"

[Nick Larsen]

"Or, tie line to the middle of the stake, place stake on ground sideways, put large rock on it, I think this is called 'deadman'" -Jerry Adams

I would suggest this method!
However, I believe a proper dead man uses 2 rocks, and the stake goes behind them so the line passes between them. This way leads to less abrasion on you guy lines, and I have used this method many times to pitch tent flies on large granite slabs in the Sierras.

[Steven McAllister]

I have done the two rock method on a solid flat rock in gale force winds. It took big rocks to hold back the wind, but I slept through the storm without having to get out to futz with anything.

I usually have to do this only on one or two tie points as there is usually a crack, a tree or some dirt to stake to, but not that night.

I have posted this picture before:

[Brad Fisher]

Visual. A few are in the ground, but most are using the methods discussed above. I would suggest long guylines to offer flexibility.

Brad

[Ultra Magnus]

Are there any guidelines on how heavy the rocks should be to be secure on a windy night? It'd suck to wake up just it time to watch your tarp fly away into the moonlit night…

I, just yesterday, pitched a tarp for the first time out in the wild. Until now, I've only done a couple of pitches in my backyard. I as surprised that in my desert home, the dry dirt was soft enough to push the stakes in reasonably easily, but firm enough to hold onto the stakes securely. But, I did run into one spot where my stake needed to go where it'd only go in about 2" before hitting solid rock. I tried moving it around a bunch, but ended up putting a rock in front of the stake, and on top of the guyline. Held for my test, but then I took it down and finished my ride (mountain biking) and went to work.

BM

[Steven McAllister]

Re:
"Are there any guidelines on how heavy the rocks should be"

Other factors come into play. Weight is one, but the amount of friction as well.
Slick rocks can slide, rocks that grab or wedge against others help. A rock in a grove will hold better than a rock on a smooth flat surface.

You can always pitch and then tug on your shelter to confirm that it will hold.

Another factor is the type of pitch:
Is your shelter pitched in a way that it will grab a lot of wind and act like a sail?
Is there a potential for a panel to flap, causing vibration?

Tarp camping can be a learning experience that becomes easier and instinctive the more you do it.

[Ultra Magnus]

"Tarp camping can be a learning experience that becomes easier and instinctive the more you do it."

It's funny you say that… I posted my experience on bikepacking.net(http://www.bikepacking.net/forum/index.php/topic,2027.0.html) and I got a very similar comment- "Pitching a tarp can be a pain in the *** develop character, patience and wisdom.", but the "pain in the ***" part was striked out…

I'm going to keep practicing, because I refuse to actually go out on a real bikepacking/backpacking trip with one unless I'm confident in my abilities to pitch one quickly and securely under a variety of conditions. Dark, windy, maybe even in the rain (I live in the desert so that's probably unlikely unless I'm deliberately camping in the rain).

BM

[Steven McAllister]

Re:
"I live in the desert"

I grew up in Utah. Not much rain at lower elevations and bone dry, but go up to the Uinta or even the Wasatch mountains and it rains/snows almost every day. Relative humidity is high there as well.

If you live in a desert, you can always head for the hills to experience some weather.

Or you can practice different pitches and visualize different scenarios. I know it sounds goofy. By doing so, you can estimate just how much shelter you really need.

When I was young, my shelter was a big painters tarp. The more I used it, the more I found ways to pitch it and the smaller it got. I think in the end, I was carrying something about 5'x9'.
But in Utah, I rarely had to pitch it and mostly cowboy camped.

I still often use a 5×9 if the forecast isn't so bad, but now that I live in the North East, I tend to gravitate towards a mid as they tend to be easier/quicker to setup at the cost of a little more weight and less flexibility.
It always seems to rain at night around here, or at least the dew is so bad that it can soak my sleeping bag. So cowboy camping is not as common.

This is not only important for backpacking, but as you know bicycle and canoe/kayak trips as well.

[Ken Thompson]

Clelland's article here has the answers.

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ditch_your_stakes.html

[Doug Hus]

excellent, thank you

Doug

[Brendan Kehde]

Try it out and see if it works for you. You have to get creative, it's more work. Some people like figuring it out and moving rocks around and are willing to work for the weight savings.

I currently have decided to carry more weight in that area for ease of use. You trade one stress for another.

[Franco Darioli]

Questions like this make me appreciate the Moment.
Insert the pole shove a large rock inside the end triangle and you have a wind /rain/bug proof set up.
of course it is heavier…

(Highly biased comment)

Franco
[email protected]

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