I've rarely, if ever, used a footprint under my tent.

However, lately I find that I often take a footprint (groundcloth) with me. I still don't put it under my tent, except in the rare day-long rain that turns everything to mud, but I find it handy enough to have that I take it anyhow.

I've used it once or twice in the rain, with my fly and tent poles, to make a nice snug shelter for lunch.

Also, in the east-central woods where I hike, we're encouraged by the various land managers to use "established backcountry campsites," where the impact price has already been paid, to prevent broader impact. (Some of these sites are created by the managers - such as state parks - while others were chosen by hikers. Lots of hikers.) As a result, these are always bare dirt (bare mud, in the rain), and it's kind of nice to have a groundcloth to spread out. It keeps my clothes and chair kit cleaner, and my sweaty legs aren't resting in the dirt. I also find myself pulling it out at pack-off rest stops, maybe opening it half, to use as a sit pad.

Just curious - anyone else find themselves doing anything similar?

I take along a 4 foot by 4 foot piece of Tyvek for those purposes. Slides into an outside pack pocket and I pull it out when I need a clean surface.

Car camping - I always take a footprint.

Backpacking - only if I expect really soggy conditions under the tent.

I have never ever used a footprint.

I take a piece of painters plastic and put it under when I camp locally - tundra and rocks are sharp sometimes, and I love my $30, 2 pound tent. So I don't want to take the chance wrecking it.

I used to, now I leave it at home and choose my tent spot a little more carefully. It's been about ten years since I started to leave the footprint at home (which was just window plastic) and I've never had a problem with the bottom of my tent.

Yea, I have been. Mainly because I have been renting various tents to see what is currently out there and the footprint is included. Interestingly, I have noticed that the "4lb" tent weighs closer to 5 lbs. In other words, add about 1lb to the weight (and I do not take the tent bag or anything extra). I have to admit that I like the looks of the lightheart tents but I am not ready to cough up for one. Still looking.

sk

the lightheart solo will fit my dog and me nicely.

No footprint here--just unnecessary weight, IMHO. If you feel you absolutely, positively must have something under your tent, use a piece of thin plastic painter's drop cloth cut to an inch or two each side smaller than your tent. Or, for an ounce or so heavier, the polycro plastic sheets sold by Mountain Laurel Designs, Gossamer Gear or at your local hardwear for storm windows. These are tough enough to last a season or more.

I've never had any moisture leakage through my silnylon tent floors--even when I had a SMD Lunar Solo with the extra lightweight floor. I always "police" my tent site to remove sharp stones, sticks and pine cones. The important thing is tent site selection: don't pick a site in a depression that will become a pond during a cloudburst.

Like I said, I never use it under my tent - but I've found it handy to have around for other uses. Kind of surprised myself, since I'd never carried one before, so I just thought I'd toss it out onto the forum.

I have to admit that I have a lot to learn about tent site selection. I usually hike until I'm dead and put my tent up there (obviously NOT in a depression.) Sadly, I think the only way to learn tent site selection is pick bad ones and then say - Ug never again do xyz. =)

Like I said, around here the land managers "encourage" you to use beat-up sites; most of them are beside a creek. I usually do if I'm with a group, since those are higher impact no matter how hard they try not to be; it also simplifies water issues. When I'm alone, or with one other experienced person, I'll simply carry an extra 2 or 3 quarts of water to a better place, and camp there following low-impact guidelines (including minimizing the amount of wandering around I do.) Those sites are often on a ridge top, in a clearing with a view - much nicer. Usually, those sites are even legal.

Yes. Never put your tent in a depression. That is a good one for the words of wisdom thread. I got my first tent in 1984 or something for $30. A three person dome by who knows who. Zipped on down to Punta Baja (in Baja California) to do some graduate work. No excuses, we put this thing up, brand new, in a clay depression (no footprint by the way). The place is known for intense fog and fog drip, hence the desert in that area is pretty "green". I wake up in the morning, lay my arm down on the tent floor and it feels like I am in a water bed. I couldn't believe it. There was almost 2" of water in the depression, and the tent did not leak.

sk

It also probably helps to have a decent tent to begin with.

A friend was given an old North Face Windy Pass - he wanted to see what it would do in the rain, so out we went on new year's. I stayed warm and dry under my tarp with my quilts and hammock. His tent floor started to leak through around 4 pm, before he put his pad in. And his fly was sagging mightily.

Another way to avoid problems in rain - stake out your tent so it's nice and taut, to avoid puddling on the fly, or sagging, etc. He would have improved things by doing a better job guying out the tent. He didn't use a ground cloth, either, tho I'm dubious about how much that would have helped.

My friend slept in it and stayed dry - by adding layers to his pad to get him up off the floor. There were puddles alongside. Rain was pretty constant all night.

I took a tent too, a new one, Sierra Designs, to test my seam sealing acumen. My gripe wasn't with waterproofness - didn't leak a bit. But the water puddles on the top of the fly near the seam unless you stake out the back center loop, and they didn't give me enough stakes to do that. Fortunately I brought a whole bunch with me to guy out my massive tarp with eight tie outs as well as the tent. Pulling out the loop a couple inches changed the profile of the fly and let the water run free.

I don't use a ground cloth but will use my multi use sheet of silnylon (ostensibly a pack cover, never really seems to be used that way) in the vestibule as a ground cover. I've also used it, or a trash bag, or my sit pad, as a place to put my feet getting out of the hammock while I"m reaching for my shoes.

Attached is a shot of a Windy Pass, long past its prime. It's worth about a thousand words. I was amazed he actually slept in it.

I will take a footprint sometimes - when expecting to camp on rockshards of nastyness I will take a piece of tyvek. I'll also take it when hitchiking back to my car (a flag with HIKER TO CAR works real well on it..)

However most of the time I don't I'm either hanging (hammock) or I can tarp/tent it where I don't need a footprint.

I am in total agreement with you on the having the tent taut. (Sounds like the start of an alliteration). The tent you show is one that really needs to be set up right to avoid moisture issues (in my experience). Too easy to get a sagging mid section.

sk

But who am I too talk, I will take a poncho to sleep on in the desert in winter. No tent or grouncloth. If it rains I sleep setting up all nite.

We use a light painters tarp underneath our tent. Not really sure why. On longer trips it does help keep the thing a little cleaner, and may reduce condensation in the morning.

Now you've got me thinking....

I just received a footprint for my Kelty Gunnison 2.1 this Christmas and plan on taking it with next trip to try it out. The Kelty has a pretty thin floor and even though I try to clean out a spot as best as possible there's still a chance of cutting it.

Also, I think the footprint will help a lot with insulation, limiting heat loss through the ground.

Depends entirely on the conditions. I only have an actual tent maybe half the time I'm out. Tarp/hammock/bivy do the rest. When I do use a tent I will usually use a footprint. But these days my footprint is THIS.

If I choose to carry the luxury of a tent I realy don't mind an extra 1.6 ounces to keep it clean. During wet multi day trips I really don't like rolling up a tent with a muddy bottom. Even if you fold the muddy sides toward each other, eventually the dirt gets everywhere. I guess I'm kind of a clean freak even when I haven't had a shower for a week!!!

Also......the silnylon floors of my particular tents are not truly waterproof and they will become wet on the inside due to hydrostatic pressure. The waterproof nonwoven polycro material takes care of that problem.

For awhile I used a heavy duty poncho. Real heavy duty. Weighed quite a bit and didn't pack well.

Benefits: Ground cloth
Rain gear
Emergency shelter
Pack liner
Signaling (inside was yellow)

Draw backs: What if I need more than one at a time....?

I'm with Trailrunner on this issue; I don't like dirt sticking to my tent floor. I take a strip of kite Tyvek 22" wide and 60" long and put it under the tent floor where my sleeping pad will be. It keeps dirt from sticking to most of the underside of the floor and it only weighs 1.3 oz. It also provides some protection for the floor itself. I may be the exception but I have had holes poked in my tent floor in the past even though I am pretty careful about looking for sharpies. Probably the next time I'll have a hole poked in both the ground cloth and the tent floor. I'll let you know.

I use the footprint that came with my marmot tent just because I love that tent and try to keep it as clean as possible.

The footprint or groundcloth really helps in keeping the bottom of the tent clean. And its easier to fold up the dirty side, wet or dry, to keep it away from the rest of the stuff in your pack. BTW, trailrunners $4 UL groundcloth looks nice. Does anyone know how long these last?

sk

Maybe if I camped in Arizona I might, but NO - NEVER. Buy a decent tent and take care of it instead, but of course, some people camp where there is dirt and mud... Calling our volcanic dust "soil" is the accepted norm, but nobody calls it dirt.
Jim

Yeah, the dirt and mud can be annoying - but I recall the words of John Wayne, when asked if his deputies (a drunk, a kid, and a geezer) "is all you got?", replied, "It's WHAT I've got."

I also use thick painters plastic (6 or 8 mil I think) under one of my backpacking tents to protect from rocks and mud. I use a piece of Tyvek under another tent for the same purpose. hhavel, what tent do you have that is 2 pounds and only $30? I love a good deal especially if it is light!

That's why I switched to the ENO hammock. The ENO hammock is new and I only spent one night in it, but felt much better in the morning. There is still certain amount of site selection, but no worries if the ground is uneven or rocky.

Yes. I figure its a layer of protection for my tent that will help it to last longer. Folds up to almost nothing and weighs little. When its go time I can pack up the tent with a clean bottom, flip the base layer over and let air a bit then shake off the dirt, fold up and stuff somewhere.

I always bring a footprint now, one that I made out of Tyvek for a tarp setup I used to use years ago, even though I've recently been mostly hammocking. It's nice to have a quick and easy way to instantly have a clean place to sit down, do tasks, etc etc etc, even during quick breaks or lunch breaks.

When I do tent, I still put it under the tent, since I'm carrying it anyway.

Used to be I just left footprints...

I use a small piece of tyvek, 1x1.5 m, with grommets in the corners, as sitting mat, table cloth, partiel footprint, or extention of tent floor under the abside, can even be hung from tent apex as a kind of porch, or sun shade, or even rain protection for bits of laundry hanging from trees.
Or emergency poncho for toilet runs at night, when I don't bother putting on raingear...