Orienting your tent….or temple

I feel it is a gift from the Cosmos if I can just find a flat spot and all the tent stakes go in without having to spend 5 minutes on each one probing for a crack in the rocks under the moss, grass and duff.

Anything beyond that is pure gravy. ;^)

But usually I end up with my Feng wrapped around my Shui, pointing in whatever direction the wind and rain dictate. Usually oriented Northwest or Southwest depending upon the season…. I’m nearly always up before sunrise and frequently on the trail by then, so it isn’t critical.

It depends on where I go, and what the site can offer. Some places offer a view to the west, so I lay down with my feet to the West, and thank the day as the sun sets. Some places offer the opportunity to welcome the East, so if possible, I sleep with my feet to the East, and welcome the new day. While I pretty much always sleep with my head higher than my feet, I had noticed many years ago when my head was just slightly lower, I would have lucid dreams.

Pretty much from the beginning, most if not all religious churches/mosques/temples/etc. are built to face a cardinal direction, or toward a sacred site – as much as possible. In my understanding, even the oldest ceremonies on earth (sweat lodges) are always built with orientation to a particular cardinal direction.

I believe it is not an accident that those of us in traveling the wilderness might align ourselves to a specific direction, in order to seek it’s medicine.

Bob “But usually I end up with my Feng wrapped around my Shui, …”

Reincarnation as a sanyasin snail? Helical samadhi…

If I have my shelter setup its because its raining or going to.  I could care less about scenery or sunrise then.  I orient it best for the wind direction while taking into consideration that I’m not camping on flat ground so I’m on a slope.  Camping on flat ground in a tarp is a bad idea if you don’t like being flooded.

If the weather is nice, I’m cowboy camping.  But as others mentioned, I’m still oreinting my sleeping bag to account for any slope.  I prefer my feet higher as it helps them recover.  There is a reason when you get injured they elevate the injured limb above the heart and after hiking a full day, my feet and legs feellike they benefited from doing so by the next morning.

Ideally, head higher than feet.  If there is a risk of rain I position the door downwind to minimize how much rain gets blown into the tent when entering and exiting.  Out on the tundra I position the door facing into the wind to minimize how many black flies come into the tent when entering and exiting.  They congregate in the lee.  I learned this the hard way when I went to exit the tent to relief myself and experience an inner thigh cramp halfway out of the tent paralyzed with pain.

If possible, I try and position the tent to catch the early morning sun or capture some evening shade near the arctic circle.  Nights can be quite hot if the sun never sets.

I avoid widow makers and try and use the vegetation to my advantage to provide shade or shelter from the wind, etc..  A room with a view is nice but obviously low on my priority.

I go for high and exposed places (safety/comfort permitting), and usually a view of the sunset. I guess it’s all aesthetics for me. My actual orientation is usually determined by wind direction.

I definitely prefer a good divot to sleep in. I like the feeling of being cocooned a bit, and not having to worry about sliding or rolling to one side. So far I’ve avoided ending up in a temporary pool. Although since getting a mid I’ve learned that divots aren’t the best places to pitch, without a pretty long pole extender.

Dawn coming in the end of the tent is nice.

Jagungal Saddle, 1800 m, early summer, frost on tent, lovely day.

Cheers

Who’s Dawn?

Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her.

Iliad xix.1

Sex! Politics! Religion! Squawk!

Off with his head!

I’m not into Feng Shui for siting my tent. Instead I’m into comfort.

1. head “uphill” if there is a slight slope to the land
2. no “sidehill” siting B/C I don’t like to slide sideways all night
3. lack of big stones or roots under my tent floor
4. NOT in a depression that will gather water in a storm
5. NOT on an ant hill, poison ivy/oak, etc.

So them’s my preferences and morning and evening prayer/meditation, etc. has nothing to do with tent siting.

Yeah, if there is a good view I like to have my door facing it. Luckily even my solo tent has two doors.

“Now when Dawn in robe of saffron was hastening from the streams of Oceanus, to bring light to mortals and immortals, Thetis reached the ships with the armor that the god had given her.

+1 :-)  whenever practical / possible to let her ‘pink fingers’ thru the door…

[In response to Eric] Yet comfort itself has different dimensions, and recreation is concerned with the re-creation or restoration of the entire man or woman – recognizing both physical and metaphysical components. In my opinion, traditional techniques, such as Feng Shui, should not be taken too literally; they are more a means of making contact with the genius loci of a place, a way of gaining a more in-depth appreciation of site and circumstance.

A related issue to tent-siting is the siting of tumuli, of which there are a great number in Korea, and in East Asia in general. In Korea, this practice still exists (to my chagrin, because these places seem to inevitably use the best locations for camping), and I doubt any self-respecting family would fail to employ a divination expert to site the burial place and orientation, notwithstanding their religious beliefs. So to of course, the numerous temples and sacred sites throughout Asia, as with the traditional West. In similar fashion, the shamanist rites I occasionally come across here are conducted at sites that have a special sense of place; and I find a similar aura pervades ancient neolithic and even paleolithic sites. It is one of the key reasons I choose to live, and travel and camp, in Asia.

For me, the purpose of such an approach to tent siting is more in the nature of the Japanese concept of satoyama – of cultivating a place where nature and people exist in harmony. A good place grows a good man or woman. In a related sense, I think the approach to and use of backpacking gear shows in many instances a sacramental sense – partly evident in the careful refinement of the physical object and its sometimes stark aesthetic beauty, and in the almost ritualistic sense in which the backpacker prepares for a hike, and then employs his or her accoutrements. The selection and orientation of a tent site can be a meaningful (and occasionally profound) act, as well as satisfying pragmatic requirements.

The Feng Shui here was excellent.

It was also the only place in the steep canyon within the last 1 km where we could put the tent up, and it was almost dark when we found. It was a miraculous large boulder with a flat horizontal top surface.

We slept well.  :)

Cheers

The previous day ended with several hours of hiking in a cold rain that continued into the night and changed over to sleet and snow in the wee hours of the following morning.

Just getting the tent pitched and getting out of the rain and into some dry clothes eclipsed all other considerations. Could not have cared less about the Feng and the Shui of it.

When one is cold and wet, esoteric concerns such as ideal astral alignment are hammered into submission by stark realities and basic needs.

But I go out into the woods and the hills primarily to hike, not to camp.

Thus speaketh modern Western man, who in Norberg-Schultz’s analysis, is always on the path – reflected in the axial nature of the Christian church and cathedral – always moving, always moving towards a goal, or to complete a mission. By contrast,  traditional man tends to situate himself at, or rather in relation to, the center, reflected in, for example, the centralized form of the Hindu or Buddhist temple (though both elements of center and path are usually present in some form or another), or for that matter the mosque. The Shinto shrine shows strong axiality, but I would argue the centralized tendency is predominant. Tent forms could be usefully analyzed in a similar manner, and in relation to culture and philosophy.

But also age plays a role in one’s relation to nature in backpacking and tenting or camping – and the terminology is not the experience. It would make a fascinating thread to explore whether BPLers hike and camp to be, or to become – to dwell within, or to pass through the experience and the environment.

‘Axial nature’ is a new one to me. I’m lost.

Cheers

The primary spatial form of the Christian church is the horizontal axis of approach to the altar, marked as the stations of the cross. Asian sacred architecture tends towards the vertical axis as being the predominant form, as in the case of the stupa/chorten, and associated centrality. I’m still trying to resolve in my own mind Shinto shrines, as the horizontal axiality can be quite strong, and emphasized by the torii (red gateways). Sorry if I’m being opaque, but architects should immediately understand what I’m on about. As regards tents/tarps, the A-frame tarp pitch shows strong (horizontal) axiality; the rectangular mid has strong centrality about the vertical axis, though also cardinal axiality, as does the Bibler Itent style dome. Moreso with square mids and domes. These basic spatial forms can be associated with the cosmological spatial form we experience, of earth below, sky above, and sun and moon rise and set in the east and west and culmination north or south, hence cardinality. I hope to survive the weekend, it should be interesting… (Vinson/Pence/KJU/nuclear test/rumored sarin/Sun Day, all within not too many miles)

Hammocks are another ball of wax.

” ‘Axial nature’ is a new one to me. I’m lost.”

Marketing perhaps…

My personal tent site priorities:

1. No widow makers overhead
2. Not in a low spot
3. Head at, or above, foot level
4. No roots or rocks to lie on
5. Minimize damage to vegetation

No thought given to “cosmological spatial form.”

To the OP:I think it’s reasonable to suggest that the ancients might have oriented their buildings to maximize the sun for warmth and light, and over time those practical considerations became codified in ceremony. But to me, that has almost no application for a tent that will be set up for maybe 10 hours, most of which will be at night. We have flashlights for light and quilts for warmth.

Scotland.

First camp site priority – not in a bog.

Will the river flood or the tide come in. (I’ve had to shift a tent in the night as the sea came up the grass closer and closer …eeeek.)

Next is it flatish. The flat bits are mostly bog…….

Then – which way is the wind going to blow the tent sides in ? – better not onto your face.

Followed by feet uphill or down ? (I prefer uphill – drains the lymph system better.  (I suffer lymphodema in one leg).

Sun to dry the tent in the morning is good. (in the summer ‘sun up’ can be as early as 3am.)

‘A view’  – is icing on the cake :-)

Compass points are not helpfull.