Report / Notes A very last minute decision to go on a short 5.5 mile hike and camp near a quiet lake in an area I have hiked by a few times but never camped at. The weather reports were calling for severe thunderstorms with heavy continuous rain fall from early evening, throughout the entire night and into the morning- afternoon the following day. So i was that close to calling my planned trip off. Originally I wanted to spend the full day hiking 20+ miles and sleep wherever I ended up, but as the morning came for me to leave and the weather reports turned even worse conditions, I pretty much decided to cancel my trip. But then I pondered, its been a while since I had the chance to go hiking and camping, I really needed to get out there and spend some kind of meaningful time in nature. I have all the necessary gear to be out there in any conditions. I was going solo anyway, so no one else to worry about but myself. Why not change my plans slightly and just do a shorter hike to a spot I have passed a few times and always thought it would be a nice spot to camp? I packed my bigger tarp, Borah Gear 7×9 silpoly tarp and figured I would use my MLD eVent bivy just in case the conditions got really bad out there. They did! It ended up being a beautiful day hiking in, partly sunny and mid 70s. When I reached my planned camp spot, I immediately pitched the tarp and attached my bathtub ground sheet and laid out my bivy with synthetic quilt in it. It was so nice out that I decided to pitch my tarp rather hi up so I could sit under there with plenty of room to get out of the 🌞 sun. I was also skeptical about using the ground sheet but then said to myself, well it is supposed to be windy and rain very very hard all night long, and I did carry it in, so may as well attach it and use it, it is so simple and quick to set up and break down too. Whew’ good call with that too! It got pretty nasty overnight. I had a beautiful doe pass near my camp, a beaver playing in the serene lake swimming and diving and splatting its tail, many butterflies fluttering about and just as the sunset and it began to drizzle, I was serenaded by a beautiful song bird for a solid 4- 5 minutes long non-stop loud whistling. I went to sleep so peaceful and comfortable with spectacular views of the lake and forest and with nature and animals all around. I do love sleeping under my tarp and I was so happy I decided to do this. I heard the rain pitter patter on my tarp, I love that.. and i fell asleep. Suddenly my tarp blew away.. totally gone and the wind ripped and the rain was so intense and loud!! I woke up abruptly.. oh my.. it was a dream, thankfully.. but oh my goodness.. the rain was teaming so hard I could not believe what I was seeing and hearing. The wind too was blowing and driving the rain horizontally. The exact situation one does not look forward to being in under a tarp at 2 am alone in the middle of the mountains, unprepared. I was prepared for this and expected this so part of me was excited and happy. I went back to sleep cozy in my bivy tucked in my synthetic quilt without a worry. I woke up in the morning and it was still raining pretty hard but nothing like overnight. My bivy was soaked outside and the bathtub floor was a bathtub 1/2 full of water. I was basically sleeping in a deep puddle of water. The ground outside was saturated and flooded. I was bone dry and warm and comfortable inside the bivy. It worked! The eVent bivy saved my life a few years ago during a winter snow storm when my tarp got shredded to pieces overnight.. and now I can attest that it is water proof in the heaviest rains I have ever slept outside in. The reality is I should have pitched my tarp much lower then it was, but I wanted it hi up so I could sit and be comfortable under it. Part of me also wanted to see how wet I would actually get if I did leave it pitched hi up like that. Its these conditions when I appreciate my MLD synthetic quilts.. this one happened to be the Vision quilt I was using. A few years ago I decided to sell my down quilts and only use synthetics.. since I live in the NE and sleep in a bivy, sometimes not, sometimes under a tarp, sometimes not, in snowstorm, rain storms and summer humidity.. my pack weight and kit is so dialed in that it just made sense for me and ever since I have no regrets, only comforts. The rain slowed up so I decided to break camp and head out before it got nasty again. Took me about 15 minutes to break camp and start hiking. Immediately I encountered my first of many situations. This hike was along many creeks and streams with many crossings. The torrential rains had flooded every thing.. includeding the trails. I was hiking in ankle deep COLD water about 60% of the time and all of the creeks and streams were now mostly raging whitewater and cascading water falls, a very dangerous situation when it came to crossings. I had to reroute my trails a few times to make it out safely, especially since I was solo. I was so happy I made the right decision to go! I can only stress that had i not had the experience or proper gear for these conditions I most certainly would NOT have even considered going, especially solo. I know the area i was hiking and camping in exceptionally well and am very familiar with the trails, and I did adjust my plans for short 5.5 mile hike in and out also, keep that in mind. I would not recommend this unless one is prepared and enjoys precarious situations, but I do recommend not letting bad weather stop you from enjoying nature. I don’t love recording videos and I usually go with intent not too film too much, but I do enjoy watching my memories and looking back at my trips and seeing things I may have forgotten over time, and also so family and friends can check them out too when wondering what im doing out there and why I go. So Here I post this report for anyone interested and I enjoy sharing my thoughts about my trips and the gear I use when I go out..
Blessing of the Falling Rain
“Danu, Mother, vast and wise-
Keeper of rivers, earth, and skies.
With falling rain, your touch is near,
Blessing life throughout the year.
Triple Moon, in shifting light,
Waxing, full, and waning bright.
Through turning tides and seasons’ flow,
The Wheel will turn, and life shall grow.
Earth below, drink deep and true,
Water’s gift in silver hue.
Air that stirs the stormy tide,
Fire within, our souls abide.
With rains embrace, the roots run deep,
The earth awakens from her sleep.
With open hearts, through ebb and flow,
We walk in balance, blessed to grow.
Blessed Be”
Good old Event bivy!! and you clearly know how to pitch a tarp. good stuff.
yeah, it’s that “sleeping in a half inch of water” that will… umm discomfort (ha!) or kill you. Unlike you, I use down bags. My BAgnes sleep pad raises me up a bit, just like yours, and it’s saved me once or twice from unexpected swamping.
The soil at altitude in the Sierra Nevada is super thin. As a result, any brief thunderstorm–and there are a lot–will saturate and flood the ground. Prolonged thunderstorms happen a fair amount–rain and lightning all night long and into the next day. Finding a well positioned campsite with potential flooding in mind can be hard or impossible. But you know all this! again, kudos for your great video!
That’s happened to me before – A frame tarp with rain blowing in – I now have the edges of the tarp next to the ground all the way around – that is, a mid tent
That’s what I don’t like about a bathtub floor – I don’t want to sleep in a bathtub of water
Once it was like that – heavy rain at night. Where I put my sleeping bag was a slight depression, which became a 1/2 inch deep puddle. Fortunately, I was on a 1 inch thick pad so I stayed dry. I am now more careful not to put my sleeping bag in a depression.
Thanks everyone! I was only sleeping on my Nemo Switchback ccf pad, which was inside the bivy, and under the bivy I had a MLD thin light 1/8 pad. I have found that combination to work well for me outside deep icy winter conditions. I will never give up my tarps. I do have a Duomid XL that I love but rarely use it, along with my Gate wood Cape, another favorite of mine. However, time and time again I seem to always grab one of my tarps and bivies. I just love laying on Earth and grounding myself and absorbing the energies that she offers. Also the views!! I can see everything all around.
Am I missing something? So the bathtub functioned as a true bathtub holding gallons of water and the tarp did nothing to keep you dry. Only the bivy saved you. How is this better than a good tent?
I had it pitched very hi!! Had I pitched it lower to the ground, it would have stayed completely dry underneath. Having the eVent bivy, I intentionally left it pitched hi to see how it would handle the exposure. Its better then a tent any day/night for me. Definitely not for everyone though and I understand your fears and concerns. 90% of the time I don’t even pitch the tarp, so that right there is better then the tent. And in that situation which I intentionally put myself in, I stayed 100% completely dry, warm and comfortable, as did every piece of my gear. I don’t want this to be a tent vs tarp debate, but I will say anything short of below freezing conditions and a raging blizzard on the side of an exposed mountain top, I will take my tarp over tent 100% over and over again. If I wanted to keep my bivy and bathtub floor dry in on this night, I would have lowered the tarp and been done with it.
I watched your video while setting up for work this morning, and while finishing up this afternoon – thanks for making my day better! Looked like a beautiful walk.
I use a tent, so don’t have anything to add to the gear discussion – other than it was good to see how a bathtub floor sets up with a tarp. I had wondered.
@dirtbag, I made a net tent for a 6′ wide tarp last year but it’s just a bit too large, however it would fit perfectly with your 7′ X 9′ Borahgear. The end triangles are waterproof so it would block most rainspray from the open ends of your A frame tarp. Floor is 20D silpoly (RSBTR 2000 mm) and the total weight is 8.6 oz. Features a 2 zipper front entry. This would allow you to hang out in a bug free environment with decent space and would keep you dry in all but most hard blowing rains. If you want it just PM me your mailing address and full name and I’ll send it to you free of charge.
I’m not trying to rain on Dirtbag’s parade. There’s a certain attractive aesthetic to sleeping under an open tarp, and I enjoy seeing posts like this and previous posts/videos from Ryan Jordan showcasing his tarp camping adventures out in WY. I did some open-tarp camping here in Michigan before tick prevalence and Lyme disease increased substantially, including using a “Borah-Gami” Borah Gear tarp with a bug-bivy and my quilt. I still own the gear, but I found the X-Mid1 significantly less fussy, and the weight gain was negligible.
For windy/rainy conditions such as Dirtbag experienced in upstate NY, I wonder if the MLD Trailstar wouldn’t prove to be a more bomb proof tarp-like shelter.
Great write-up and video by the way. I’ve been to the Adirondacks on multiple occasions, and I’m overdue to visit again.
“I don’t like the idea of a bathtub floor myself, for one thing, water can get in and stay.”
Good point. but the whole idea of a bathtub floor is to keep water from coming in in the first place. Which is also why I like double wall tents, or single wall, that can pitch close to the ground. I’ve been in plenty of wind driven, torrential storms with various tents that matched this criteria and always came out dry the next day. Except once, when the trail situated well overhead and twenty yards away overfilled in a heavy storm and sent a sudden rivulet directly into my tent. It all happened very fast. and yes, the shallow bathtub floor of that Zpacks Hexamid solo plus from years ago did indeed collect water. I had to get out and start a new pitch all over again in the driving winds and rain and very cold temps. Not good.
@Terran Terran. The video is called “Never the Same”. Approximately 27 minutes into it. Its my smaller tarp and smaller foor.. and its a short explanation and show of it.
Weight and pack size are negligible, for me at least. If you enjoy a tent or mid, bye all means use one. If you enjoy a tarp and/or bivy, use that. There is no debating what is better or works better or more simple. Using my bivy I love that I can just lay it down wherever I am comfortable and rest/sleep with nothing else covering me and not needed to pitch anything. Or Use my tarp as a sun block if needed. Im sure tents and mids have their good/bad points too. Its like IPhone/Android debate here, or air pad/CCF pad. Truth of the matter is, use whatever YOU are most comfortable and MOST safe using and know how to use, it doesn’t matter, at the end of the day as long as you are out there and getting a solid night’s sleep in nature. I do own and use a tent at times, so I won’t sit here and pick apart tents or question why. Just use what you have. Pack your pack and get out there, if even for a short simple overnighter. Dont find the time.. MAKE the time! Dont let bad weather deter you either, that’s part of the fun. Sometimes you tend to remember the bad weather times more then that beautiful perfect sunny day where everything went absolutely perfect and as planned.
“Blessed be the earth beneath my feet,
The sky above, the air so sweet.
The waters flow, the fires glow,
In nature’s dance, life will grow.
Blessed be the roots that ground,
The leaves that whisper, soft and sound.
The flowers bright, the vines that climb,
The trees that stand the test of time.
I thank the herbs, the buds, the blooms,
The fragrant air, and the garden’s tune.
For every seed, for rain and sun,
For nature’s gifts, for lifes begun.
Mother Earth, so wild, so free,
I honor all you give to me.
With open heart, I humbly stand,
In sacred trust of earth and land.
May green things grow, both wild and free,
As I give thanks—so mote it be!”
Nice summary of so many discussions about gear. I’m a tent guy, (Henry Shires tarp tent) but I’ve often cowboy camped. Bivy’s get too much condensation in the Sierra, where I hike. I love the perspective of those who use tarps, so it’s all good!
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