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When planning your trip, you need to know whether you should bring your own shelter or there will be shelter options available on a daily basis along the trail. If you need to bring your own shelter, there are a number of options:
Tarpaulins Pro: Lightweight. Inexpensive. Less condensation. Con: Not as weatherproof as a tent. Does not provide bug protection. May require trees to set up.
Tents Pro: Good weather protection. Good bug protection. Con: More condensation. Heavier. More expensive.
Whenever you use a tent or tarpaulin, think carefully about site placement so that you leave no trace. A tent or ground sheet on grass for more than a day will crush and yellow the grass beneath, leaving a direct sign of your presence. Stakes can damage fragile soils, and guylines and tarpaulin lines can damage trees.
Find a resilient or already highly impacted location. Try to find a relatively flat location; hollowed-out areas pool water in a storm.
If possible, identify the prevailing wind direction and set up your tarpaulin or tent accordingly. If rain is a possibility, set up so that the openings don’t face the oncoming wind.
Tarp setup can be an art. You typically use a ground sheet underneath to provide a floor and protect your sleeping bag and gear from wet ground. You need trees located an appropriate distance apart in order to set up a tarpaulin, although you can also rig a tarpaulin from overhead branches or trekking poles. There are many variations, but the most weatherproof is the basic A-frame.
A-Frame Tarpaulin Setup
Select an appropriate location in your campsite to set up your tarpaulin (see page). Have a tarpaulin line of sufficient diameter (1/4 inch or 6 millimeter braided nylon) to prevent knots from slipping.
Tree Method Secure one end of the tarpaulin line to a tree using a bowline knot (see “Bowline,”) at an appropriate height for the size of your tarp, and stretch the running end to the other tree. You can set your tarp line height so that the bottom edges of the tarp will lie several inches/centimeters above the ground sheet, allowing for ventilation, or wrap the edges of the tarp under the ground sheet for better weather protection (but less ventilation).
Wrap the running end of the tarpaulin line around the second tree and tie it off using an adjustable knot such as a tent hitch or a lorry hitch (see “Tent Hitch,” “Lorry Hitch,”). This will allow you to set and later reset the tension of your tarpaulin line. To tighten the tarpaulin line, simply slide the tautline hitch or pull on the trucker’s hitch and tie it off. The tautline hitch is preferred since it can be easily retensioned.
Place the tarpaulin over the tarpaulin line and stake out the corners of the tarpaulin at 45 degree angles. This can be done using stakes or by tying the guylines to rocks or other trees. Make sure the tarpaulin is adequately guyed out so that strong winds won’t tear it down. Or you can fold the edge of the tarpaulin underneath the ground sheet and weigh it down with rocks on the inside to create a very rainproof shelter.
Pole Method If you don’t have trees available, you can use sticks or trekking poles at either end of the tarpaulin. Stake out the four corners of the tarpaulin at 45 degree angles. Raise the pole at one end of the tarpaulin and either use two half-hitches (see page) or a simple tension wrap around the top of the pole, then run the guyline down to the ground and stake it out. Do the same on the other side. You will need to make sure both ends are staked down well and the entire line is under tension in order to properly support the tarpaulin. Some tarpaulins have side lifters that, when guyed out, prevent sagging and increase headroom under the tarpaulin.
A-Frame Tarpaulin
Tree Method A simple tarpaulin setup is to locate the entrance next to a tree and guy the center point onto the tree while guying the front corners out. The rear end can be staked out with a pole or stick for more ventilation or flattened out to reduce the number of stakes and lines needed.
Tarpaulin Tips
To prevent rainwater from running down the tarpaulinline into the tarpaulin, tie a bandanna on the line just outside the tarpaulin. It will redirect the water drips to the ground.
You can create your own grommets for guylines by placing a small stone on the inside of the tarpaulin and tying parachute cord around it from the outside. The free end of the parachute cord can then be staked out. This is useful if grommets are broken or if more support is needed for the tarpaulin.
Rain ponchos can be used as makeshift doors to prevent wind and rain from blowing in through the ends of the tarpaulin.
If there aren’t trees around, try boulders, rock outcroppings, or other objects to string up your tarpaulin.
A multitude of tents are available—everything from simple A-frames to complex geodesic domes. When selecting a tent, consider the following:
The size of your group and how many people each tent sleeps.
Freestanding tents are generally preferred over nonfreestanding tents. A freestanding tent has a pole arrangement that maintains the tent’s functional shape without the need for guylines. However, in windy conditions nothing is really freestanding, so all tents come with guylines and you should be prepared to stake the tent down and stake the sides out.
Single-wall Tent versus Double-wall Tent. Most tents use a rain fly—an outer waterproof layer that is separated from a breathable layer beneath. This double-wall system allows moisture inside the tent to pass through the breathable layer and then escape, reducing condensation in the tent while the waterproof layer overhead keeps rain out. It also helps provide better insulation by increasing the layers of still air. There are also single-walled tents. Some are completely waterproof and rely on ventilation systems to reduce condensation inside the tent. Others are made of waterproof–breathable material. A single-wall tent will be lighter than a comparable double-wall tent. Single-wall nonbreathable tents are prone to interior condensation.
Examine the floor space of the tent and the usable internal volume. Dome-style or arch-style tents typically have greater usable overhead space than A-frame tents.
What season(s) the tents are designed for. Summer tents are double-walled tents with much of the inner breathable layer being mosquito netting. They are lightweight and allow for lots of ventilation in hot weather. Three-season tents do well in three-season conditions but are not sturdy enough to take heavy snow loads. Convertible tents
