Packing your tent

[spfleisig]

When thru hiking or section hiking the AT, when you break camp do you just stuff your tent into your pack or first put the tent back into its bag then back in the pack? Assume all things that need to stay dry are in dry bags. Do you care if the tent is kinda wet or totally saturated?

[Venchka]

One data point:
MSR 2 person HUBBA HUBBA NX.
In factory compression stuff sack.
Stuff sack in right outside pocket and under compression straps of ULA CATALYST. Carried beautifully and didn’t take up pack space or get the inside of the pack wet.
Wayne

[HooKooDooKu]

The tent is the last thing I pack and then lash it to the bottom of my pack.

[MuddyWaters]

When thru hiking or section hiking the AT, when you break camp do you just stuff your tent into your pack or first put the tent back into its bag then back in the pack? Assume all things that need to stay dry are in dry bags. Do you care if the tent is kinda wet or totally saturated?

Wet tent goes outside

Just the presence of water in your pack will make everything damp from water vapor unless sealed up airtight.

My tarp is typically the last thing in the top of my pack aside from rain gear and cook pot. But if it's wet I don't bother to stuff it in a stuff sack I just kind of roll it up and shove it in the outside pocket, air out to dry if get a chance. Of course my dry inner net would be would go inside the pack, and my tarp is maybe the size of 2 softball by itself

[BuckeyeBill]

I agree with MW about wet tents belong outside. When I used my Notch, I would pack it up in the stuff sack and would take a break and set up if had stopped raining. Since I hammock hang now, I use a rag like a shamwow to dry off my tarp as i slide it into a mesh sleeve and then it goes on the outside of the pack.

[Bubblehead]

If tent is dry, everything goes in sack inside of backpack. If footprint and fly of tent are wet, I put them in outside mesh pocket on outside of pack, and if I get a chance will stop at some point during the day for a while and dry them out, if the weather is agreeable...I have an Osprey Exos 58 back pack...

[BowGal]

I got rid of the sack my tent came in, and bought a larger stuff sack...10L I think. Way easier to stuff back in.
Like others have said, my fly and footprint always get packed in the outside pocket of my pack

[Runner2017]

If it's raining, mine goes inside my pack but it's outside of my pack liner (aka trash bag).

[bigcranky]

I got a roll top cuben stuff sack for my tent from Zpacks, so I can stick a wet tent in it and the water stays inside. Then, like runner2017, I put it inside my pack but on top of the waterproof pack liner that keeps my other stuff dry.

[Heliotrope]

Wet tent goes outside

Just the presence of water in your pack will make everything damp from water vapor unless sealed up airtight.

My tarp is typically the last thing in the top of my pack aside from rain gear and cook pot. But if it's wet I don't bother to stuff it in a stuff sack I just kind of roll it up and shove it in the outside pocket, air out to dry if get a chance. Of course my dry inner net would be would go inside the pack, and my tarp is maybe the size of 2 softball by itself

It’s nice having that dry inner net and essentially just a wet fly with tarp camping. And of course, having an outer mesh pocket that promotes ventilation of the wet gear.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Old Hiker]

When soaked, I shook it out thoroughly before stuffing it into a waterproof bag.

The bag went INSIDE my pack (evidently, I'm in the minority), simply because with MY luck and strapped to the outside, it would have fallen off 1/2 mile from the last camp and 10 miles from the next. In the rain. Or I would have poked a hole though it somehow.

Never had problems with the inside of my pack as long as the tent was in a waterproof bag.

I DID; however, attempt EVERY time at lunch to take the tent out, to air and dry out as much as possible after shaking it again.

[BlackCloud]

I always pack my tent into its stuff sack. Whether that stuff sack goes inside or outside the pack depends on the pack. For my external frame Kelty, it goes on the outside, bottom. For my internal Dana Designs bag, it goes inside.

[HooKooDooKu]

The bag went INSIDE my pack (evidently, I'm in the minority), simply because with MY luck and strapped to the outside, it would have fallen off...
I learned the hard way to clip the draw string of the tent stuff sack thru the lashing strap buckles.
Was hiking in GSMNP along the Hannah Mountain Trail on a Veteran's Day Weekend with my son. The only other person we'd seen all day was a day hiker hours ago about a mile from the trail head. I had paused to clear some fallen brush with my camp saw. Because it wasn't going to take long, I didn't bother to remove my pack. The motion of sawing back and forth wiggled the tent from under the lashing straps, fell out, and when sliding down the 50% grade hill the trail crosses. I can remember looking at the tent sliding down the hill as I audibly vocalized "please stop... please stop... please stop...". It slid about 30' down the hill. I fortunately carry some IronWire from Lawson Equipment that I was able to use to tie off to a tree and hold onto as I carefully climbed down the hill to retrieve the tent.

[Gambit McCrae]

When thru hiking or section hiking the AT, when you break camp do you just stuff your tent into your pack or first put the tent back into its bag then back in the pack? Assume all things that need to stay dry are in dry bags. Do you care if the tent is kinda wet or totally saturated?

Tent goes in last, and with opening to stuff sac facing downward stuffed in front mesh of pack

[Leo L.]

I learned the hard way to clip the draw string of the tent stuff sack thru the lashing strap buckles.
...
Highly recommended to always be double-safe.
I have two smally biners attatched to the top end of the compression straps of my backpack, and whatever I'll tie to the outside by means of said straps, gets additionally fixed by the biners.

[Huntmog]

Tent always go into a sack, I Into pack. I want absolutely nothing on the outside of my pack. Both for away purposes, load distribution and aesthetics. I use a 30L in summer and a 38 on longer/4 season trips and stuff that thing into smaller stuff sacks. With some intelligence, I can get a 2 person tent into a stuff sack i have for a down vest. If its wet, yeah throw it in to outer pocket for few hours of hiking but tents drive super quick, but why would you want to keep it always attached to the outside?

[ldsailor]

I always put my tent in its bag to protect it as much as possible, and then attach it to the outside of my pack. That way I can get at the tent quick at the next campsite. Setting up a tent without having to rummage through a backpack, especially when it's raining, is the only way to go.

[Bansko]

Wet tents never went inside my pack. As soon as the rain stopped I'd usually stop and let my tent air out.

[Deadeye]

I got rid of the sack my tent came in, and bought a larger stuff sack...10L I think. Way easier to stuff back in.
Like others have said, my fly and footprint always get packed in the outside pocket of my pack

Ditto. This way, you're packing a soft item that will fit around things and vice versa, instead of a big hard tube.

[Davem]

I put footprint outside pack, tent in stuff sack inside. Zpack solplex.

[Odd Man Out]

I have a TT Notch. It geys packed last. I roll it up, put it in its bag, and pack in the outer pouch on the back of the pack. Same routine if wer, dry, or damp.

[Another Kevin]

Where the wet tent goes depends on the season, but if it's inside the pack, it's inside its stuff sack and outside the trash compactor bag that I use as a pack liner. I'd rather have it in the shovel pocket or bungeed onto the pack, but if I've got other gear racked there, then inside it goes.

My Notch lets me take down the inner tent with the fly still pitched, and in a heavy downpour I'll do just that, and put just the inner tent in the pack, with fly (and footprint if I'm using one) outside.

The silnylon fly doesn't usually get that wet, give it a good shake and it sheds most of the water.

[Longboysfan]

Tent goes into the bag it came in.
Then into plastic bag inside the pack.

[LittleRock]

Tent gets strapped to the outside of my pack, opposite from my therm-a-rest. No big deal if they get wet.

On the other hand, sleeping bag goes in the very bottom in a waterproof sack. BIG deal if that gets wet.

[Burrhead]

I stuff my tent in the pack last because that's normally the first thing I deal with when I get to camp. I cut a trash compactor bag down to a smaller size to keep it separate when it gets wet. When I switched from an external frame to internal in 1995 this is what the salesman recommended and i haven't seen any reason to change it.

[nate.2346]

Similar to others, I try to lash it to the outside to let it dry or easily access it to spread it out during a snack break.

[Dogwood]

If it's not raining when packing up I dry out shelter by laying out a tent(for me it's primarily a tarp which dries faster than tents) and wiping it down. When possible at around 10-11 a.m if it's not wet I'll lay wet stuff out further if it needs to it. Wet tarps are stored in an outside shovel pocket. When tarps are wet they dont usually get stuffed into a stuff sack. If it's an anticipated very wet weather outing I'll have a pack liner and pack cover and maybe even a few WP or highly WR stuff sacks. A wet tarp stored in the shovel pocket under a properly fitted pack cover can have my tarp and other things dry by the end of a all day walking in the rain all day. It's one reason why I still use pack covers.

[Storm27m]

I stuff mine into a sightly oversized stuff sack (not dry sack). Compresses easier for packing. Dry tent goes inside the pack. Wet tent goes in the outside gear pocket.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk