I've just started using a tarp/bivy combo. Make sure you have a good pack cover, and that you have the pack covered with the cover when it starts raining!
Registered: 11/23/03
Posts: 430
Loc: Kitsap Peninsula, WA
I notice you have a bivy sack under your tarp. Is it waterproof? Breathable? Homemade? If not what brand and are you happy with it? Thanks, great picture.
Registered: 11/23/03
Posts: 430
Loc: Kitsap Peninsula, WA
Great picture. Now let's see one in the rain! I used tarps as shelters when I started serious backpacking many years ago and they worked well, even here in the Pacific Northwest. I can't remember why I later traded it in on a 5 lb tent! JIM
Registered: 10/27/03
Posts: 820
Loc: north carolina
Originally Posted By Pliny
I notice you have a bivy sack under your tarp. Is it waterproof? Breathable? Homemade? If not what brand and are you happy with it? Thanks, great picture.
Breathable. Homemade. Very happy with it. Silnylon floor, Momentum 90 top, and a huge mesh area over the chest and face. 8 ounces including the stuff sack. Hat tip to my lovely wife for her sewing skills. Here's a better photo of the sack (with the seamstress inside in my winter bag):
The best tarp for camping is the Warbonnet Superfly, made by a guy named Brandon! It's primarily used for hammock camping in severe weather, but would be great for all you "ground dwellers". Here's a link: http://www.warbonnetoutdoors.net/
I can't say enough good things about this guy and his products. He made hammocks so good, Tom Hennessy tried to sue him last year. I am very pleased with my Superfly and will use it year round!
BF
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Hammockers aren't stuck up, they're just above it all.
Registered: 05/28/08
Posts: 278
Loc: Texas Hill Country
I love the photos of the different setups. Keepem coming. I have decided that a tarp is what I want for my next Grand Canyon trip. Last time we slept under the stars but had to get in the hot tent one night when it threatened to rain. Beside the weight advantages, They look open and airy. I like the looks of the GG White Lightening. Anybody have any experience with it?
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Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.... Pericles (430 B.C)
I used it a few years ago and was quite pleased with it (except that they hadn't come out with the Haven yet, so I eventually replaced it with a mesh-inner double-wall tent which was more appropriate for the bug-infested midwest summers (and springs and falls.)
I liked the design of the tarp a lot, particularly the use of webbing tie-downs along the side. I never found it necessary to use cord tie-outs on the sides (though I still needed a cord from the pole at each end, naturally.) The use of webbing eliminated the usual tangle of guylines that accompanies all the other tarps I've used - though the webbing adds an ounce or two to the total weight. The webbing pole-holders at each end were a nice touch, too.
I usually used a bivy sack with it (ID Salathe was my favorite, because of the waist-length mesh panel; I never tried a full mesh bug-bivy because I couldn't overcome my concern that someday, somehow, rain would blow in the end. It never did; I was just funny about it.) The combo, at just a few ounces over 3 pounds, was a weight-efficient alternative to a full tent until the Hubba and Seedhouse SL1 (and everything from Henry Shires) came out.
It's not the lightest silnylon tarp out there, but it's a very good plain-vanilla tarp. If you want a shaped tarp, check out the Silshelter from ID - I've used it successfully, too.
Registered: 05/28/08
Posts: 278
Loc: Texas Hill Country
Thanks for the review. On the last trip, we had zero bugs in GC except a few ants during the day. I know there are some creepy crawlies at night but we never had an issue. Tried to set up away from cliffs or rocks where they may reside and shake out everything first. If the stars are out, I will probably sleep out from under the tarp and use it for a staging area and emergency shelter in case of rain.
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Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.... Pericles (430 B.C)
Registered: 01/10/06
Posts: 679
Loc: Central Texas
Extreme weather? You bet. On several occasions, Frito and I have been comfortable and secure under our tarp while various high tech tents buckled, folded, collapsed and cartwheeled due to monsoon rains, very high winds or snow load. That includes "expedition" tents.
Registered: 12/31/07
Posts: 245
Loc: St. Louis, Missouri
Could you tell us more about what pitch you used for your tarp in extreme weather? Most of my tarping has been done in summer with a hammock so only one pitch is appropriate. But in winter I'm on the ground and I've been wondering what the best pitch would be for extreme weather (I'm thinking especially about wind).
Also mention what size of tarp you are using and whether it was a flat tarp or a "shaped" tarp.
Poncho tarp over an ultralight bivy, in late winter/early spring near Donner Pass in California. We had a mix of light snow and freezing rain overnight - I was safe and dry and happy (but wouldn't have put this up against a real winter storm; would have dug a snow trench and covered it with the poncho tarp instead).
Here's my tarp in action. Mountain Laurel Design - catenary curve with the foot down into the wind and the head wide open. (It's so nice.) I think in this picture we were on a sand bar in a creek area. It was nice to bed down, but messy on that sil nylon.
Registered: 05/28/08
Posts: 278
Loc: Texas Hill Country
I received my GG White Lightening tarp last week and gave it a test run in the front yard today. I was pleased with the easy setup and think it will serve my purpose well. My question is; do you try to fold them neatly to put them in their stuff sack or just stuff them in randomly? This one has the stuff sack sewn onto the tarp and the silnylon is pretty slick stuff. I had a heck of a time trying to keep it neat as I folded it to put it in the stuff sack and that was with two of us working on it. It kept wanting to squirt out every direction.
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Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.... Pericles (430 B.C)
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