Camping with my tarp and bivy

My preferred setup:

If it’s not raining I’ll omit the tarp.  The only problem is if there’s dew or frost.

Same for me Jerry.. also if the sun is blazing I will pitch my tarp high up.. for some shade.. as I did on this trip.

I used to dabble with some tarp camping, but as a lower Michigan resident, I can no longer justify the risk of getting Lyme disease.  One of my climbing friends has it and his health is now a constant battle.  In fact, he’s flying back out to Maine in June to see a specialist.

I have a bug-bivy, but I’ve realized that my Durston XMid-1 more or less gives me the same flexibility.

On a 2015 trip to the Wind River range, we were camped at the Green River Lakes trailhead and had a big NOLS group set up camp on an adjacent site before heading toward, presumably, Titcomb Basin the following day.  3 or 4 of the girls camped under a very large flat tarp.  That must have been a cool experience that they’ll never forget!

do ticks crawl onto you when you’re sleeping?  I thought they got onto you when you walk by and brush against vegetation

Major props to Jerry for packing in that 2×10 :)

Jerry – I have no idea.  Yes, they claim that ticks hang out on the tips of plants waiting for you to walk by.  But, what if they’re hanging out on plants adjacent to your camping spot?

There was one year when we camped at a privately owned campground on a fairly popular canoe/kayaking river in western michigan.  Or assigned camping spot was a grassy area.  I found two ticks crawling on me after I had gone to bed that night.  We’d spent the day paddling, now bushwhacking, so my guess was that we got the ticks around camp, not while out in a canoe.

I got a coupla stories.  Someone should start a Tick Talk thread.