Tent stakes

I'm tired of using a rock - when I can find one - to drive in tent stakes! I've also used the butt end of my Victorinox leatherman-type tool, with poor results.

What does the well-equipped backpacker use these days? I've got a hammer-side on my folding camp shovel, but it's much to heavy to carry backpacking. What do ya'll use?

Andy

I use my heel. But I don't stick them in hardpan, either. The soil where I go is loose to difficult and hard, but I stick the MSR groundhog in, wiggle it around, then plant my heel and stand on it after making sure there's no underground granite to bend my stake. Hammering doesn't work well for me either.

A plastic file handle. Like this:
http://www.ranchware.co.nz/images/products/filehandle12110_1_tn.jpg

The type of pegs on my BP tent have a hooked top and they fit neatly into the file end of the handle. In soft ground the pegs can be pushed in easily using the handle and if needed for harder ground you can use the handle to hammer them in with a rock. Works for me but YMMV.

Cheers,
Michael.

lori, you are doing that backwards!!! You are supposed to use the ball of your foot - just kidding.

I wish I had good enough balance to use my heel. You may be too light to use the ball of your foot.

The foot technique works well with Easton stakes, but I could see that it might be a problem for ground hogs.

If you have to HAMMER at a stake to drive it, you're better off moving the tent stake to one side - or moving the whole tent - or tying off to a rock - or some other way of getting the same result. Hammering it in rocky soil will bend it 99 times out of 100.

I generally find a flatish, smooth rock and use it to protect the butt of my hand as I PRESS the stake into recalcitrant ground. Once it is well-started, I may step it the rest of the way in with my foot.

Good chunk of Ohio is glaciated plain = heavy clay with lots of gravel thrown in. I can't even press in a stake in my back yard. Rock hard when it's dry. Just looking for options. Thanks for the ideas.

The only stakes I haven't bent at one time or another are the thick, nail-type pegs.

Andy,

Site selection is very important. Ground that drains well will be soft enough to push in your stakes. Seriously, if you need to hammer in your stakes then maybe you should put your tent somewhere else.

I just got back from a three day trip to Mt. Whitney, staying at Trail Camp. I do not see any way you could put in a stake there without pounding on it. I did this with both my Eastons and the Ground Hogs with no ill effects. I did have to tie off three of the eight to rocks but I do not think the Contrail would have been secure enough in the high winds without being primarily staked into the ground.