[pct-l] Tarps + tarptent = Duomid

[Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com]

When I was considering a tarp, I would read stuff like this and think  
oh my, I'll never figure it out. It's so complex. But I had an 8x10  
flat tarp and was determined. Here's how I made it simpler:
1. Set up the flat tarp in the back yard. Try different  
configurations until you find one or two you like the best.
2. Learn one knot that you can use to tie the lines to the tarp, and  
one knot for attaching the lines to your trekking poles when you set  
them up. Then tie the lines to the tarp and leave them there. Now the  
only knot you have to fuss with on the trail is the one to your  
trekking poles.
3. Get some of those little plastic thingies for tightening the lines  
for the stake ends of the lines. Put those on and leave them on. Now  
setting up your tarp is as easy as setting up a tent. Does this make  
me a boyscout who can tie as many knots as a sailor? No, but who cares.

As for the spring-loaded net, I used one of those (A16 Bug Bivy), but  
mosquitoes and ants came inside pretty easily. So I decided that  
tarps are good for where there are few bugs.

On Dec 5, 2009, at 10:17 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
> I suspect the tarp option can be boiled down to three simple factors:
>
> 1)  Are you skilled enough to pitch a flat piece of waterproof fabric
> under these conditions:
>     a) Do you know how to choose a good campsite (i.e. out of the
> weather, away from widow makers, clear of rain runoff, etc)?
>     b) Do you have a strategy for dealing with the bugs (individual  
> bug
> shelters are widely available and weigh next to nothing)?
>     c) Will what you do be able to handle extreme weather (snow,
> horizontal wind/rain)?
>
> 2) Can you tie a knot?
>     a) You may consider the Bowline, the Trucker's Hitch, Figure Eight
> on a Bight and the Half Hitch as essential.  The Clove Hitch, the  
> Square
> Knot and the Fisherman's Knot would also be useful.
>
> 3) Is your system complete?
>     a)Your tarp is one thing, but do you have the ground cloth, do you
> have the requisite stake strategy, do you have the appropriate guy
> lines, etc...
>
> A tarp is a lot of fun and it is very versatile.  And herein lies the
> most important piece of advice you will ever receive in the tarp/tent
> debate.  You rarely need shelter.  My spring loaded bug shelter allows
> me to sleep on a rock or by the lake and I never have to concern  
> myself
> with pitching a tent and going to all of that trouble of throwing up a
> tarp because all that I'm worried about at night is not the rain or  
> the
> snow- it's the mosquitoes.  If your tent is your bug shelter then you
> are forced to pitch her almost every night.  On the other hand with my
> bug shelter, tarp combo I mostly never sling my tarp up unless weather
> is imminent, which saves me both the set up and the take down time.