Tarps in rain with tents

[Josh J]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Just curious does anyone carry an extra tarp when backpacking in the rain? If so what size?</p>
 

[K C]

I do, but it’s rare. I made a DCF tarp that is about 9×7’ and weighs about 7 oz with guylines. Also used a MLD supertarp on the beach in AK it was a lifesaver

[Todd T]

Only if I’m base camping, which is rare unless I’m with others.  Then it’s an 8×10.  Very nice for sitting/chatting/cooking/eating as the rain falls.

[Terran Terran]

I carry a 4′ x 8′ alumanized DCF for emergencies. I’ve taken an 8′ x 10′ DCF but found that I didn’t use it much. I use my poles for the tent, so I have to improvise for the tarp. Unless its a base camp, it can be too much to put up and take down.

[Matthew / BPL]

I don’t take an extra tarp but if I did and I was visiting somewhere with trees, it might be a hexagonal hammock tarp. In that case I might be camping with a hammock rig anyways which means I’d have that tarp and it would be a nice place to hang with people to get out of the sun or rain. Social/lounging areas are one of the reasons I like hammock camping.

I have carried a 5×8 rectangle on day hikes and used it for a windbreak or shade. That might be too small for much coverage in the rain.

[David C]

I use a tarp for shoulder season/winter in the pacific northwest. Looked around and had Wildskygear make me a small dcf tarp, just big enough to sit under in the rain/snow to cook, etc. I love having it along when there’s going to be persistent rain. I’ll also for long day hikes where I want a break from the rain. It complements my a single pole shelter, I use the second pole for the tarp. It’s trapezoid, 53 inches by 84/60 inches, 2.5 oz with guy lines, about 4 oz complete with four stakes. A cheaper option I used the REI quarter dome SL tarp for a season (12 oz; 115 inches square), but that was just too large and heavy for my use.

[Josh J]

David,

any reason for the trapezoid? never seen a tarp like that

[Terran Terran]

[Jerry Adams]

that’s sort of like a Whelen lean to tent.  Designed by Whelen in 1925.

I made something like that but then when it was windy and rainy and blew into the opening it didn’t work so good.

I moved on to a pyramid tent where all edges are close to the ground for better wind and rain protection.

[Josh J]

for a solo person would a 7×9 be big enough just to  sit out the rain with out being inside the tent or make dinner, set up/take down.  I was thinking 5×8 but was thinking that might be too small

[Kevin Babione]

The size you need is really dependent on how much the rain is blowing sideways and if it’s consistent from one direction or if it’s moving around. An 8×10 tarp gets really small if you need to stake multiple sides to the ground. Make a 7×9 tarp out of something cheap (i.e. blue plastic from Home Depot) and try setting it up in your yard in different forms. It will give you an idea of what works for you and then you can look at dropping some bigger $$$ on a fancy one.

[Terran Terran]

What Kevin said. Word for word.

[Josh J]

That’s what I was thinking but wasn’t sure if anyone had some real world experience to help save time

[Kevin Babione]

If you have it with you and it’s pouring, you’ll make what you have work, no matter what size it is. Certainly, solo makes it easier to have a small tarp, but I once made my 4×9 MLD Monk Tarp work for three of us to eat lunch in a downpour.  We were all wearing our rain jackets and were facing the center of the tarp (with our backs getting hit by the rain).  Our heads were covered and we all fired up our stoves for something hot to eat/drink.  It worked.

[Paul S]

Absolutely! We bring, in addition to our tent (for sleeping) the Slingfin NFT tarp. We use it for cooking/eating, and obviously to keep the rain off of us, but also the wind too!

We find that it keeps the inside our tent dryer if we cook/hang-out in the tarp instead of the tent. The tent is for sleeping only. It’s WAY less crowded/claustrophobic under the tarp compared to being inside the tent. Plus, we don’t want our tent to smell of food due to concerns about Black Bears (we are in the PNW).

[JCH]

I have a ZPacks Triplex groundsheet that I use as a tarp when expecting significant rain, and pitch it as a porch over the doors of an XMid 2 Pro.  It provides just enough cover to get in/out of raingear before exiting/entering the tent, and I can even sit in my chair under it. It’s a luxury for sure but I quite like it for 8 oz including stakes, continuous ridgeline and guys.

[Terran Terran]

I do carry a small tarp. Its good for shade. Quick to deploy. Easier to manage, especially when wet. A small tarp is handy. Sometimes you want to stop before camp to cook or huddle down in the rain. If you want to lounge around in a downpour or blowing rain, bigger is better. As usual around here, the answer is “depends”.

[DirtNap]

If I know there’s going to be rain, I bring one. Almost never go to the Winds without one. 10×10 custom supply with added middle panel tabs. It’s come in handy so many times I can’t count. Especially with 3 to 4 folks to create a kitchen area in the weather, cooking away from the tents. A requirement for bear country travel.

 

In the desert I’ll usually just bring a tarp for my primary. We pitched it on the hot stretch in Granite Gorge between Tapeats and Deer on our Tapeats/Kanab packrafting loop in May. Heat spiked dangerously within an hour so we ate lunch and lounged until the shadows got long.

[JG H]

I scored a 7×9 DCF tarp recently that we carried with us during our trip in Yosemite a week ago. The weather was too perfect, though, and our campsite was equally amazing, so we never got to use it. We’re back on the east coast and will be in The Smokies a lot over the next few months, so I’m guessing we’ll get to use it soon enough.

We’re in our 50s and don’t enjoy hiking in the rain, so we got it to ride out afternoon showers. Kinda rolling the dice on the size, but we also use BA UL stools so we’re hoping we’d be okay under the small-ish tarp in lightweight rain apparel and off the ground.

*For you older guys and gals who might also find the trendy Chair Zero difficult to exit, the BA Skyline UL stool is a wonderful alternative. Same weight, but much easier to enter and exit for aging souls. And HikeLite on Etsy offers a DCF footprint for it, too.

[Tjaard Breeuwer]

For solo travel I don’t think it’s a good weight/performance ratio:

multi person tarps are lighter per person than solo ones, so the weight is pretty high
and, if you’re solo, why not just use the tarp or outer tent you sleep under to sit under?  (Unless you are using a tent with an arched pole) you can usually pitch it in such a way that it’s a bit higher above ground for more sitting space and ventilation, for example, to cook under.

I guess 2 reasons not to do that:

1. concern about food smell in your tent
2. A single wall (fixed floor) tent

In the case of #2, it would be worthwhile to see what the weight difference is of a single wall tent + tarp combo is vs the same tent in a full double wall design.

 

I have taken one, but it’s been for slow moving group canoe trips, or 1 time on a large group (including little kids) hiking trip with donkeys to carry much of the gear. So both situations where weight wasn’t a big deal.

I might carry one for a larger group trip, where everyone is using solo or 2 person tents, because then we could all hang out together, and the weight penalty/person would be smaller.

Or, of course for base camp trips.

[Author]

Posts