Having arrived without stakes again, I have decided to keep the stakes in the top of my pack and not depend on them being in the bag. It was fun to whittle stakes fer sure and pound em in with a rock, but some of the staking rings are pretty tiny.

So if you have multiple tents, bivys, hammocks, does each have its own stakes or do you just carry 6 stakes?

Jim

each one has its own set stakes...for exactly that reason!

Ditto

I am fortunate that I almost never need stakes. I can tie off to trees, roots, rocks, etc... The occasional time I do need a stake or 2, I push a stick into the ground. No need to whittle or pound for me. I am fortunate I know. When I travel to an unknown terrain I have a separate stake bag. This gets packed with my other "sharps".

I wonder how many tent or other staked devices you may own and whether each is in its original bag with its original stakes?

I am down to 3 or 4 backpacking tents and a mosquito screen tent. I like the Antique Easton Aluminum stakes and since I only have about 8 left, I just assigned 6 of them to the top pocket of my pack. Now all I need in the tent sak is poles.

I also have a beautiful pair of Koa wood chopsticks [in my pack] that I bought in Hawaii. I've carried them for years but never used them. They would make fine stakes but I can't bring myself to do it. Somehow the Titanium fork and spoon cover everything, but if I was taking some take-out Chinease food they would be perfect.
Jim

I just carry 6 - 8 stakes depending on what I'm bringing with me. They stay in the pack.

Jim, I'm with you. I carry the stakes separate, usually in the top of the pack. I carry six or so, depending on what shelter I am planning to use.

Some of the tents I don't use (but are occasional loaners) I have stakes with them , the ones I do I add the stakes I want to take as I pack.
So I choose the mix I take according to the ground I expect to find.
(14 tents, well over 100 stakes...)
Franco

I have two tents and well over 100 stakes. For some reason, I have a knack for seeing stakes that were driven in and then left behind by other campers. Part of my LNT drill is to take the abandoned stakes with me when I leave. When I hiked the JMT, I started with 8 stakes and finished with 14. I also choose stakes for the ground that I anticipate encountering: I have some 6" steel gutter spikes for some of the camp sites in the Grand Canyon.

I never understood how people leave stakes behind. I'm probably overly obsessive (or, as one buddy put it, "tight-***"), but I know how many stakes I put in, and I count them as I pull them out the next morning.

But I have brought home my share of others' abandoned stakes, too.