Trying out the tarp

[Onewhohikes]

I wouldn't be using it this year. Going to be a tough year out there for the HH

[dilleytech]

I went tarp last season on a hunt Below freezing at night. It was great but if I had a ultra light sub 3 pound tent I think I would go that route. Specially in early season with mosquitoes around.

[ridgefire]

Tarp workes great when weather is not supposed to be terrible.

[de0827]

I wouldn't be using it this year. Going to be a tough year out there for the HH

What makes you say that this year?  I know there are bad stretches most every year during the HH, but curious where your intel is coming from for this year?  thanks

[Shawn Ryan]

I use a combo of floorless, but enclosed, tent and a tarp--same tarp as Ridgefire (Kifaru paratarp). I used the tarp during the epic September 2013 Cascade deluge. I had pitched it in the wrong place and returned to camp to find the tarp now pitched over a puddle, but an enclosed tent would have been bad in that spot as well. Re-pitched the tarp during that downpour and was fine. Even during significant wind, once inside the tarp, the wind has not been an issue.

I use the floorless tent for the room and wood stove. I keep my quilt in a bivy bag, so it stays clean and dry. I've had racoons and mice on my head and spiders in my ear, but WTH.

The pitch in your photo would change for bad weather, but that's easy to adjust.

[outdooraddict]

oh please tell us the bobcat in the wall tent story,

I admire you tarp guys too lol,only thing is when i woke up one morning with a bobcat inside my wall tent i decided to have zippers put on the opening instead of draw cords and a sewn in floor.

[Oh Mah]

ok i'm not a very good story teller but i'll try.


It was a cold dark late October night,So cold i had to get up and tend to the camp stove at about 3am.I turned on the trusty Coleman lantern which is in the sleeping area of the wall tent separate from the kitchen area by the door flap.The door flap does not close together so there is a blanket that hangs over it to keep the heat in.So i get up to stoke the fire but i have to get the wood from the kitchen area of the tent,I move the blanket to the side and heard this rushing around in the kitchen with the light coming through the doorway i see it,a large bobcat it was eating at a loaf of bread.I scared him i'm sure as much as he scared me it took him what seemed forever to find his way out of the tent,he ran through the opening into the main tent and ran up the wall then seem to fly off the wall over with a leap landed on the bed back down to the ground ran into a corner bumping against the wall then ran out under it.After that night i swore i would have a bottom sewn onto the wall tent.


                                                          The End.

[outdooraddict]

thank you for the laugh on my sunday morning, i have heard the mice in the chip bags and a chipmunk in the food tote, but a bobcat inside the tent, my god.  Its so funny to me, because i am usually the guy getting up to stoke the fire and pee, and stumbling around eyes half open and not really paying attention to much of anything, i can only imagine my reaction to see a bobcat going crazy in the tent.  thanks for the laugh  sorry to thread jack, but anyone else have a funny "critter in the tent or camp" story

ok i'm not a very good story teller but i'll try.


It was a cold dark late October night,So cold i had to get up and tend to the camp stove at about 3am.I turned on the trusty Coleman lantern which is in the sleeping area of the wall tent separate from the kitchen area by the door flap.The door flap does not close together so there is a blanket that hangs over it to keep the heat in.So i get up to stoke the fire but i have to get the wood from the kitchen area of the tent,I move the blanket to the side and heard this rushing around in the kitchen with the light coming through the doorway i see it,a large bobcat it was eating at a loaf of bread.I scared him i'm sure as much as he scared me it took him what seemed forever to find his way out of the tent,he ran through the opening into the main tent and ran up the wall then seem to fly off the wall over with a leap landed on the bed back down to the ground ran into a corner bumping against the wall then ran out under it.After that night i swore i would have a bottom sewn onto the wall tent.


                                                          The End.

[Shoofly09]

I had a buddy leave a ring of potato chips all the way around my tent, and then he also left the bag laying on the ground just outside the tent

Holy Sh*&.   Mice kept me up all night

[gee_unit360]

Not for me... a big storm will find a way to get water inside. Nothing worse than being wet and cold...

[pd]

I had a buddy leave a ring of potato chips all the way around my tent, and then he also left the bag laying on the ground just outside the tent

Holy Sh*&.   Mice kept me up all night

Your definition of "buddy" is very interesting.   

[WaltAlpine]

I converted from a tarp to a BA UL1. Not much weight difference and it keeps the mice and mosquitoes mostly out. Oh, and i'm for sure dry in the morning.

[Tbob]

Hey dude, sorry for the super long no reply, but the tarp is a “Jimmy Tarps Skyline”

quote author=D-Rock425 link=topic=248874.msg3411375#msg3411375 date=1597850138]
What tarp do you have?
[/quote]

[Tbob]

So I’ve taken the tarp out 5 or 6 more times since I first posted. I love it.. the bugs don’t seem to bother me in there, they seem to just hang out at the top of the tarp. I’ve had a few rainy days and it’s held up great. I went with a lower A-frame type of style and me and my gear stayed perfectly dry! I’m a fan. No animal encounters for the most part while out in the tarp.. a few mice and pine martens, but nothing too bothersome.

[GWP]

Ahhhhh yes. The 'Pacific Northwest Blue Tarp Camping' thread! I think any 'older' folks on here will be very familiar with that saying!
We got to a 'certain age' where we got up in the morning and could barely move from the old bods complaining after a night on the hard ground and went travel trailer shopping shortly thereafter.
We certainly have a lot of good memories of 'tarp camping' though. I think the 'middle of the pitch black stormy night tarp collapse' is something everyone should endure! Builds character!