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My Henry Shires Rainbow tarptent takes 2 trekking poles and 6 stakes to erect. Will this work Ok above treeline on the JMT in lieu of a freestanding rig? Is it all rock and sand or can I find a place where the stakes will pound in and hold?:rolleyes:
Tarptents work great on the JMT. I used an old Virga I on my hike last year. The only place I had trouble pounding the stakes into the ground was at Guitar Lake. There I had to use some big rocks to anchor the lines.
The Rainbow is freestanding when used with trekking poles. Had no problem with mine -- for all of two nights on the JMT. I was able to pitch it with stakes both times.
TwoForty
08-28-2008, 20:08
I did it fine with a non-freestanding tent. I think the drive to buy a freestanding tent is pretty silly myself. Not staking out a tent out there is pretty stupid, IMO.
Make sure you bring some paracord or some lightweight tent guylines so you can use rocks as stakes. Camp where ever you want!
fiddlehead
08-28-2008, 20:26
Yeah, when you can't pound in stakes, simply tie your line to a rock and pile other rocks on top of it.
Keep in mind that you should follow Leave No Trace and find rocks that you don't have to dislodge or at least put them back in the morning. Be cool!
Yeah, when you can't pound in stakes, simply tie your line to a rock and pile other rocks on top of it.
I did this at Evolution Lake. The tent I carried was not free standing, and at about 11,000' - flat camping spots beneath some tree cover were few and far between.
Okey Doke. Ive included a little extra parachute cord in my pack in case I need to tie up.
wandering_bob
09-01-2008, 23:29
50 feet of Tripteaz only weighs 5/8 of an ounce. Don't skimp. :-?
I used the Rainbow Tarptent for most of the PCT and CDT. When I did need it (through the JMT/Sierras for mosquitoes, and almost every night on the CDT) I almost never had trouble using the stakes. I think there might have been one or two times I had trouble. I think I only ever used trekking poles to set it up a few times; otherwise I just staked it out and saved myself the step of using the poles. I love the Rainbow. Best tent ever.
Haiku.
Helmuth.Fishmonger
02-27-2009, 14:05
many hikers use tarptents on the JMT . Few places won't let you set them up. I prefer a regular tent with proper bug screen, though. If I hiked solo, I'd go with a tarptent, but with my kids, we stick to a very light 3-person tent - it's like a mansion at the end of each day and makes life on the trail much more bearable for them.
Last year we had one camp site on glacier-polished granite that would not have been good for a tarp tent, but those are the exception, and we probably could have found something within the next 10 minutes of trail to set up a tarptent.