Corona Virus Overnighter in Blue Canyon

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

I went out to Blue Canyon near Santa Barbara for a quick overnight trip. Rain was in the forecast and I wanted to see if a Pocket Tarp is actually rain worthy. It sort of is. I still am getting the hang of setting it up and sleeping in it. At 4:35 I tell you how I fared in the rain. Basically, I sort of rolled half of my body out of the tarp in the middle of the night and got rained on. The video is a trip report with some gear stuff.

[John Q]

Piper, thanks for another great trip report.  Your video editing is so professional.  I really like how you stop to “smell the roses” when you hike instead of just thinking about mileage.  It’s something I’m trying to learn.  I also have a pocket tarp and bathtub ground sheet.  My ground sheet comes up about 6″ on all sides.  The one that you have appears to be just a flat ground sheet.  Thanks again for the report and stay safe in these uncertain times.  John

[Larry Swearingen]

Your Setup of the tarp was off. It’s all about the 3d Geometry.
It looks to me as if your pole was too short and also the whole
structure was rotated (vertically) toward the rear making the rear bottom of the tarp
too close to the ground. Also one rear guyline was at the wrong angle.
Too close to the front. it should have been angled more toward the rear.
Usually it’s best to bisect the total angle with the guyline.
I also have a discontinued Hexamid with Beak but no netting and bought
a cuben bathtub ground cloth for it. It’s only a bathtub if you hold
the bottom down and the sides up.
I’ve only used it twice in my backyard to test it and couldn’t stay
under it well. I kept finding that I had rolled/slid out from under
the shelter, or at least the bottom half sticking outside.
By the time I added a ground cloth to the tarp I only
save about 2 oz. overall. So I don’t use it.
I do have a discontinued ZPacks SolPLex that works very well
for me so that’s what I use. I bought that new in 2014.

Larry S

[jscott]

Very nice, Piper! thanks for the report.

I’m a complete klutz and so can’t be trusted with a tarp. I did have a zpacks hexamid solo that set up with one pole. I added line locs to the body of the tent and found they helped a lot in getting a better set up. That tent took a fair bit of time to ‘solve’ in terms of pitching it well and getting the bathtub floor to tub up, so to speak. I mean, I didn’t have it dialed in (if I ever did) until after about fifteen or more pitches out backpacking.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

In the morning, when I went around to sort of try to lift it higher, I discovered that the trekking pole had sunk in at least 4 inches. My other tents all put the pointy end at the top. Putting the pointy end at the bottom means it sinks in to the ground. I will have to use a piece of bark or something to keep it from doing that.

I’m determined to figure it out. I’m also determined to make peace with the rain. This experience certainly was not worse than using a Squall or Contrail or whatever the heck it was I borrowed across Washington. That thing was designed to pull the rain inside.

[john hansford]

[john hansford]

This is how I pitch my trekking pole shelters with the pole tip pointing up, to prevent the tip sinking into the ground, and to give a consistent pole height.

The pole tip has a ferrule attached : weight = 12gm.

It is attached to the apex loop with some cord to prevent it getting lost.

P.S.  love the videos

[john hansford]

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Thanks for your compliments on my video editing. I used imovie to assemble videos and photos from my phone. Pretty easy and basic.

I am afraid to put the tip up under the tarp. I think with something on or under the tip at the bottom it should work.

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