Tarp in the Wind River Range

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http://www.adventurealan.com/WRHR/

In the Winds I use a sil mid type shelter w/ perimeter netting. It is barely adequate some nights. It really depends on where you want to camp, high and exposed versus lower and sheltered, and your comfort and skill levels. Up above treeline the weather has the potential to be quite rugged at any time.

I did fine in my TT floorless Squall two years ago. Some rain two out of five nights, worst was last night out luckily, as I had runoff inside.
Duane

The Winds have been done with tarps and even poncho tarps but you might like the full coverage as others have mentioned.

If you want a cheap shaped tarp the Golite Shangri la 2 is a good option. Its not as light as other options but you could afford it and a cheap nylon tarp for the price of some mids.

I was in the Winds last August, and we got hit by a storm so bad we feared for our lives. The rain came so hard that the water was flowing under our tent, and there was almost no separation between the lightning and thunder.

I would bring the TrailStar or the Mid.

My first two week trip to the winds was in 1980 in June. We hiked to the Cirque of Towers and spent several days climbing. We had some rain but camped in the trees and used black plastic as a tarpshelter.

The Winds aren't any different than any other alpine environment. Over many trips I've only had bad weather on a couple of nights. I can say the same about a lot of high Colorado country.

Mike McClelland leads NOALS trips (or did…) in the Winds for weeks at a time and takes only a tarp.

Pack your fears, or not.

The Trailstar would be a great shelter for the Winds IF you incorporate bug netting or bivies. The skeeters there are serious!

Hey Shawn – I've had some of my most exciting storms in the winds, and while the weather seriously challenged lighter tents (TT Double Rainbow Taco), we were just fine. I would take the full coverage as much for the bugs as anything…and would take a good bivy bag or a tent over a tarp (but I'm not a tarp user). Up high you get nuked, down low you get eaten.

This year will mark forty years of going to the Winds. My favorite time of the year is the later part of August through the first part of October and during that time frame I have experienced some fairly warm mild conditions in early Oct and some big snow and cold temps over Labor Day, you just never know. I would check the ten day forecast just prior to going and make your choice then.

I have typically used a fairly stout tent, mostly because I like to hike and camp up high, far above tree-line but have used a BD Lighthouse or Skylight since they were introduced. I wouldn't hesitate to use a mid with bug protection but my hiking buddy likes something a little more "buttoned up" for cold winds. He carries the tent so I don't mind.

A flat tarp wouldn't work for me up high but if the weather looks good and you are an experienced tarp user, I say go for it – you can always bail to the trees if you have to seek more shelter. I would recommend some stakes with more holding power than shepards hooks for the spongy alpine tundra that is most prevalent up high. In the rocks and gravel no stakes work well and you will need more cord, big rocks, and a little ingenuity.

Mostly it's the wind that will prove to be the hardest thing to deal with but if you can pitch low and have enough coverage you should be fine.

I agree with John. If you're willing (and physically able) to adjust your route and seek out more shelter as needed, a tarp will be fine. The flexibility of being able to camp up in the tundra on marginal days might favor a mid of some sort.

When I was in the Winds a couple years back for about a week, I only had a tarp. I lucked out though and even though it rained every night, I never had any torrential storms come through when I was there. If you decide to go with just a tarp, pitch it low to the ground to try and keep some of the wind deflected.

That being said, make sure to have something to protect you from the skeeters. I'd never seen them that bad anywhere, I'm talking swarms I would bat my hand at when walking through them.

By Labor Day mosquitoes are (usually?) gone. I would not go with a tarp, unless I planned to camp in trees every night. Of three times I have been there, one time I had a full on tent and weather from 80F to 30F and snow. Another, I used a tarp on a 2 day hike to Gannett Peak in perfect weather. Last fall I used a Duomid. It (barely) held in a serious storm high up in Titcomb basin, where a tarp would be obliterated.

This one requires some trees and branches to tie off to and is not the most simple to set up, but it is the most storm proof flat tarp set up I have seen. You do need center tie out points.

You can also tie the center points off to a branch directly above you and then stake down, giving you full coverage.