Tarp Campers!

I used an 8x10 tarp on my last trip (9/21/2008). Bugs weren't an issue since it rained and snowed that night.

I made sort of an A-framed tent out of it so that a portion of the tarp was covering me, and stayed pretty dry.

As far as being concerned over larger animals: Its nice to know that you arn't confined in a tent and you have several exit points.


Jason
 
You can build a warming reflective fire directing it inside the tarp drying or warming yourself - you can't do that in a tent. I've slept quite comfortably in sub zero temps with howling 25 plus MPH winds during a blizzard in a tarp shelter and slept part of the night on top of my sleeping bag because I was so hot from the fire.

Wood is stacked both at your head and feet to keep it dry and accessible. In the middle of the night I can can reach up over my head and toss another log on the fire without having to get up out of bed. In an earlier thread I posted several of the designs I use for the various seasons. Do a search on tarp shelters and you should be able to find them.
 
I have used a 9x12 tarp for years. It aslows me meany options in set up and configuration. skeeters are the biggest problem in most areas up here and you can do a lot to beat them by being careful where you pitch camp. If I am into carrying the weight ands want greater comfort, then I take my clark north american jungle hammock. Anymore I only take the tarp as my main shelter when wanting to really travel ultralight.
Most of the stories ya hear are oft told exagerrations of incidents which rarely happen and choosing a decent place to camp takes care of most of those problems.
 
CShepherd said:
Looking into getting a tarp. What size do you recommend to build a decent shelter for 1-2 persons? 8x10, 10x10, or smaller?

One thing I'm looking at is keeping one in my get home bag. My walk home is pretty long (27 miles) so I would need to take a break in there somewhere. The tarp shelter sounds good for that scenario.

In addition, i'm putting together some family hiking stuff and am seriously considering one for that kit. It would give us a temporary shelter in case a rain blew in. What size would you recommend for that?

Thanks,

Charlie
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Really depends on what it is made from. Some tarps at 10'*10 are pretty darn heavy. By contrast Silnylon is so amazingly light even a 10*10 offers little weight penalty. In fact, I'd happily go the weight of 13*13 or 16*16 and still not feel impinged upon. I just don't find weight a factor with that stuff. I don't make them that massive just because that's way too much roof for me. A shade smaller than 10*10 works out well for my basic 2 person ones [but those two people need to be intimate or have a professional attitude]. That works out fine for me 'cos 6m of 1.5m Silnyon makes something just peachy. Go much smaller than that though and you're going to be right up in face of the other person constantly, and that aint necessarily a pleasure. I use webbing loops rather than peg eyelets. That extends it even more in good weather when you want a bit of all round visibility or to welcome a bit of breeze through, but also allows me to peg it tight to the floor when the weather is grim / or skeeters. I guess the moral to the story is that with Silnylon there is such a black and white difference between it and other materials bigger is going to be better 'till the point of absurdity.
 
When training for desert operations in 29 Palms, California we slept out in the desert all the time. We used an air mattress (known as a rubber b@#$h) and stretched out our ponchos over stacked ammo crates or off of trucks, mainly to protect us from the sun. When you would get up in the morning there were hundreds of tracks around you that were not there when you went to sleep. Lizards and mice. In the morning you would sometimes find a mouse curled up next to you. I only heard once of a person who had a snake encounter. This was in the whole battalion and was never verified.
 
I've slept out in the open lots of times but I prefer to be in a tent. I always wonder if I'll have a rattlesnake crawl into the bag with me when I'm in the open. If it's cool enough the snakes aren't out then I'm fine with it.

I know it's a rare occurrence but it can happen. I remember an old post by Hollowdweller....
I have a friend who was bitten twice by copperheads. He didn't go to the doctor and said he stayed drunk for the first 12 hours to kill the pain. He had massive swelling but his skin didn't break open. One of the times was sleeping under a tarp and it crawled up next to him sleeing
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Hey black hills I like that quote from Eleanor ya post there. Do ya know that after the war she proposed that all of us Marines be permanently put out on an Island somewhere because she deemed us too dangerous to return to society. seems to be the prevailing attitude of the elitist snobs even today.
 
I've been out in a tarp quite a few times when living on the east coast and never had a problem.

The one time I've tarped it here in Tx. I noticed that the ants find you just delightful. I moved my camp twice before I realized that the scouts would find me and within a half an hour, they would be all over me.

I never asked what they wanted and I decided that next time, I'm skipping the honey facial mask while camping, see if that helps.

That was a joke, no honey mask, just lots of ants.
 
Gunner...I have found that using yard guard or a camp fogger helps in keeping the lil bitin bastards at bay. Academy will carry a couple different flavors in their camping section. I also make sure to pack some seendust or other ant killer in my pack in 3 or 4 zip-locs so it doesn't get on/in my stuff. Oh...and bring some nitrile gloves to spread it out. I would hate to have it on my hands when prepping food in the woods.
 
Only critters I have a problem with are ticks. No more tarpin' for me, but in the past tarps were the way to go. You can make them very livable in a storm, but it takes practice.
 
I prefer tarps. Zero issues with condensation dripping on you all night. I do use a bug bivy year round. That's good for bugs, snakes, and mice. Go check out owareusa.com. He makes some of the best quality tarps and a super lightweight bivy with a mesh top that can be suspended to make sure the mesh doesn't brush annoyingly against your face. Etohwah outfitters also makes a great tarp and they have a great video on youtube (just type in etohwah in the search window) for an outstanding 2 minute free standing tarp setup. Best of all, these products are made right here in the U.S. of A.
 
I've tarp camped for many years. I've used ponchos, the cheap plastic tarps you can get at walmart and the like and recently I picked up a treated nylon tarp from Campmor. It is 10 x 10 and has ties instead of gromlets. I really like it. It is light weight, verstile (especialy since it is square instead of slighly rectanglelar), and so far has been very durable and effective. A friend on the SAR team had one and after checking it out I got one. Since then two or three others on our team have bought them.

Of course up here in the northwest the only bugs we really have to put up with is skeeters and they are fairly easy to deal with.
 
I was only really planning on doing it when its cold out and the skeeters are at bay. I don't do much outdoors stuff in the Summer.

I just like the idea of sleeping next to the fire and going to sleep under the stars if its clear out.
 
Be careful using silicone impregnated nylon around open flames. The stuff can flame up in the blink of an eye. Urethane coated nylon will melt through it if the little embers hit it. In fact, I'd be paranoid about open fires near any type of cloth structure, synthetic or not. That doesn't mean people don't use fires near tarp shelters. It just means that the tarp is either high enough away on a non-windy evening or the tarp isn't set up until the fire has reduced to hot coals- in a wind sheltered spot.
 
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