More on Tarp Camping

C

coyotlviejo

Joined
Mar 26, 2001
Messages
313
Continuing from Hoodoo's previous thread, I very much prefer tarp camping. Consider the following: open air, starlit sky's, a warm fire outside your shelter, and a warm wife inside!
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It don't get much better than that!
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Matthew--
It is possible to create a three-sided tarp shelter that also includes a ground cloth - all in one piece. Your tarp has to be long, though.

Stake out the part that will be your floor, leaving the rest loose and extending backwards. Then pull that remainder up and forward over the floor to create your roof. Prop the center of the front up with a stick (3-4') and let the front corners dangle. Now pull those corners as far outward as possible to both sides and stake them down, thus completing your three walls. You'll notice that the front corners of your floor extend out past the walls, so you'll need to pull them inside to avoid having a rain-catch under your sleeping bag.

I usually give myself just enough ground tarp to fit my sleeping bag and gear and leave the rest as a dirt floor (in dry weather).

I mostly use this method when I'm going solo. When the wife is along we get wall-to-wall ground cloth. The larger tarp required is a small price to pay for the many benefits of having her along!
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Camine con tranquilidad, sirva con humildad, y viva en paz.
 
OK, so far so good. I'm still considering this. My next question concerning tarp camping is what to do about insects, esp. the flying kind, and most especially mosquitos, though black flys and others would also pose problems in different parts of the country. One of the advantages of a tent it would seem is that once you seal yourself in for the night, you can kill what got in while you did. After that, the tent serves as insect barrier. That area Hoodoo was in must be rife with mosquitoes.

Of course this isn't just an insect issue. Snakes, spiders, scorpions, etc. would all like to share that slightly-warmer environment under that tarp with you, but for my purposes, I'm much less concerned with such creatures as compared to the lowly mosquito who has the power to ruin my sleeping experience in the great outdoors...


 
During one trip to the backcountry of Yellowstone, my group and I nearly got eaten alive by mosquitos. Evil evil creatures. We had to use a board as a fan to keep enough of the swarms away to get into the tent. They were biting me through 3 and 4 layers of clothing. Honestly, without a sealable tent, I don't know how I would've made it back. I couldn't even stand still to cook/eat dinner.

I occasionally camp with only a tarp and a sleeping bag. It works best on crisp clear nights in the early spring and fall. Insects are pretty clever; especially when they're mosquitos. If they're a big problem, get yourself some kind of bug screen you can wear over your face/upper body. The rest should be in the sleeping bag. If its anything like my trip to yellowstone - forget the tarp and take a tent.

-- Rob

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Me fail english? That's unpossible!
 
The way I deal with this is by wearing a mosquito head net when I sleep. I have the kind with two metal hoops in it. They keep the net off my face when I sleep. One time in the Mission Mountains in Montana I forgot my headnet and unfortunately had to camp next to a subalpine swamp with tons of mosquitoes. I took my flannel shirt and hung it from my ridgeline and slept with my head inside the shirt. It didn't work too bad but the head net works a LOT better.
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As for snakes, scorpions and other crawly things, I've never had a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky. At Nordhouse there were jillions of ants crawling everywhere I sat but a slick ground cloth and sleeping bag must deter them or something 'cause they never bothered me under the tarp. I suppose you could try putting mothballs or something like that around you tarp. I dunno.

As for using the tarp as a tent floor, those tarps are expensive, and you will likely poke holes in one in short order. That's why I use a cheapo plastic ground cloth. A painter's drop cloth works pretty well and is light.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
I'm definately going to try this out. I found an old treasure in the stacks yesterday, The Camper's Bible by Bill Riviere. Its the first outdoor book I bought (after the boy scout field manual) back when I was a scout. It has several illustrations on tarping.

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I just noticed something neat in Campmor's catalog. It's called the Hikers Mosquito Net. It weighs 5 oz. It has one suspension point which you could hang inside your tarp if you use a ridgeline. There are four corner rings along the bottom which you can use to secure the net, along with a 6 inch border to tuck under your sleeping bag. This should keep the crawling nasties away. Cost is $29.99. Anyone have any experience with this? Looks like it might be perfect for tarp usage for places/times of year where/when there are heavy bug infestations.

Here's the link:
http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=226&prrfnbr=7899

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM

[This message has been edited by Hoodoo (edited 05-12-2001).]
 
That's pretty cool looking. A very good idea.

Shouldn't it be possible to build one yourself? How much does a light mosquito netting cost? It would probably be possible to sew a means of holding it up, and instead of a border, just use an extra foot or so of the netting.

The only thing I can think of is - how terrible it would be to hike 30 or 40 miles in carrying an extra pound or two of mosquito netting, and to find out there are no mosquitos in the area. Ouch.

-- Rob
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by baraqyal:
The only thing I can think of is - how terrible it would be to hike 30 or 40 miles in carrying an extra pound or two of mosquito netting, and to find out there are no mosquitos in the area. Ouch.

-- Rob</font>
Click to expand...

Rob, it's 5 oz, which really ain't bad.

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Hoodoo

I get some pleasure from finding a relentlessly peaceful use for a combative looking knife.
JKM
 
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