[pct-l] tarp questions

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Flip-Flop,

I use a “TrailDad” poncho/tarp for shelter, and to wear in the rain
everywhere up to approximately Cascade Locks.  I have the same experience
with my line set:  If I leave the lines attached to facilitate erecting a
shelter I have to remove them before I can use the thing as a poncho.
Similarly,
if leave the lines off to facilitate wearing, it requires longer to make the
thing into a shelter.



Regardless of the potential difficulty I find it to be not much of a problem
in practice.  In an average, quick, mountain shower I don’t even bother
wearing rain gear.  I’m usually wet anyway from sweat on the top and/or
wading on the bottom, so what’s a little rain?  I only wear the poncho if
the rain is hard, sustained, and when I feel I could become hypothermic
without more protection than is provided by my water resistant windshirt.  If
I recall correctly I only worn the thing as a poncho twice through
California and Oregon, and in one of those instances it was due to a quick,
afternoon shower so I just sat on a rock with the poncho wrapped around me
and my pack and waited about 15 minutes till the rain stopped. I only did
that because I wanted a short break anyway.  The other time I did walk
wearing the floppy poncho, but only for a mile or so.  I remember the trail
was totally wet on the surface, but if I scuffed my shoe there was dry dust
about ¼” under the surface.



I really don’t like wearing a poncho but its SilNylon material is slicker
than snot, and it doesn’t readily snag on trail-side objects.  I’ve actually
had more trouble snagging Frogg Toggs, and other fitted rain gear because
the material can’t easily deflect away from a snag.   Besides, if I get a
rip, so what -- I carry duct tape.



I prefer to sleep under the stars whenever possible so I may erect the thing
as a shelter 5-6 times in the same distance.  Except for Washington, it’s
rare that I have to erect the shelter in the rain; I just do so at my
leisure when an evening looks threatening.



As a result, my usual method is to keep the line set safely tucked away in a
ditty bag in my pack, and install it as necessary for the shelter.  Among
all the other things I have to deal with the line problem just doesn’t pass
the all-important “So what?” test.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Wed, Nov 24, 2010 at 10:58 PM, scott garner <wiley10 at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hey all,
>  I made a ray way tarp for my AT thru hike in 2004. However, due to
> shelters only used it twice. I was wondering if anyone out there had any
> tips on how to keep it from becoming a tangled mess in regards to the twine
> string used to guy it out? Seems I would spend copious amounts fighting
> this. Thanks Flip Flop
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