# Let’s see your tarp shelters



## iowamtb (May 17, 2014)

Let’s see some your tarp shelter configurations. I use a rolling fox diamond tarp that I bought off of Amazon and I usually carry some cheap collapsible aluminum tent poles to erect it with. But I have yet to find the perfect configuration especially for cold-weather camping.


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## richwolf (Dec 8, 2004)

I have a tarptent notch. Does that qualify??
I guess I am not savvy enough to appreciate just a tarp. By the time you add in the tarp, poles, guy lines and stakes along with at least a bivy for bug protection why not just go with a lightweight tent?
I use a bivy for minimalist or good weather bikepacking and the notch for longer stuff when the weather might go south.


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## Cleared2land (Aug 31, 2012)

Let's see your tarp shelters

Show us yours


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## iowamtb (May 17, 2014)

Ok.....here is a few I have played with in the backyard. The last pic was a set up I used last weekend with temps in the high 20s at night.

View attachment 1165635












View attachment 1165638
View attachment 1165639

View attachment 1165640


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## richwolf (Dec 8, 2004)

My Tarptent notch sets up independently as a tarp only. Have only used it once in this configuration, but it did save our bacon on a very windy and rainy night! Would have been better off in a tent though with a floor.
Stock photo from Tarptent


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## tim208 (Apr 23, 2010)

bike hunting trip


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## iowamtb (May 17, 2014)

tim208 said:


> bike hunting trip


That looks like a square or rectangular tarp?


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## richwolf (Dec 8, 2004)

tim208 said:


> bike hunting trip


How many bikes did you kill on that trip??!


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## Geraldv9 (Aug 24, 2011)

This is a homemade tarp - 1/2 pyramid tent out on the Nebraska Grasslands during a howler of an evening.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Several of my buddies use just a plain small tarp. None off them do anything fancy with it. Simply lay on it & flop it over them for any weather or dew. Seems to work just fine. We got a soaker last time out & attached 2 of them together & lashed it to trees for cover. I always carry 50# paracord. Had a fire underneath & we were all quite cozy.

As a kid I was really into building a simple sweat lodge with a tarp for winter. I'd build it off trail next to a deepish hole in a creek on a rarely used trail in a state park next to my childhood home. I really enjoyed riding out there in snowstorms having a big fire & using it through the night. Planning on moving out of the city here soon & trying to recreate something similar.


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## OwenM (Oct 17, 2012)

richwolf said:


> My Tarptent notch sets up independently as a tarp only.


Shoot, yeah, most convenient tarp in the world! Regular tarps are for putting a roof over a hammock 
Got >200 nights in mine. Have both inners and a cuben ground sheet to cover all conditions.















Need an inner for the bugs most of the year here in the South...







..but I prefer to use it without one when it's cold, or for fall trips out West-like the Sierras and Rockies^^. Has a lot more usable space like that.







Always gets so windy in SW Utah that I took the semisolid inner last time, though.







Guess you can tell I'm a creature of habit, at least where that cut down ZLite I use for a sitpad is concerned...


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

iowamtb said:


> Let's see some your tarp shelter configurations. I use a rolling fox diamond tarp that I bought off of Amazon and I usually carry some cheap collapsible aluminum tent poles to erect it with. But I have yet to find the perfect configuration especially for cold-weather camping.


 I call it a tent? What is the advantage of a tarp, esp if it is cold, wet ground or raining?


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

Way lighter & simpler. Many parts of the country where the weather is fairly consistent/predictable for months on end. I Typically only bring a hammock & small quilt from July through mid Oct here in the PNW. Packs to the size of about 2 softballs. I'll add a tarp If I'm worried about dew or rain for spring/fall.


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

OK I get lighter, good stuff. New England, bugs and rain are always around. No bugs or rain? Must be nice. really nice.


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## richwolf (Dec 8, 2004)

WHALENARD said:


> Way lighter & simpler. Many parts of the country where the weather is fairly consistent/predictable for months on end. I Typically only bring a hammock & small quilt from July through mid Oct here in the PNW. Packs to the size of about 2 softballs. I'll add a tarp If I'm worried about dew or rain for spring/fall.


That's what bivy's are for! If the weather is great and you want to sleep under the stars and it ain't buggy then you can just lay on top of it. For shakier weather a tent is the way to go and many of them are superlight and go up fast.
But hey whatever works. I just never found a tarp to work for me.
For hangers I can see the point of a tarp though.


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## richwolf (Dec 8, 2004)

leeboh said:


> OK I get lighter, good stuff. New England, bugs and rain are always around. No bugs or rain? Must be nice. really nice.


Even So Cal desert can have bugs or crawling things so their ain't no nirvana!


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

leeboh said:


> OK I get lighter, good stuff. New England, bugs and rain are always around. No bugs or rain? Must be nice. really nice.


It is man. Summer in the Cascades is pretty much Nirvana other than fires which can be avoided. 85° and sunny with no humidity everyday for 4-5 months, yet consistently cool nights. Sun rise around 4:30 & light untill about 10:30 during peak summer up here. No pesky bugs barring you avoid lakes & snow untill mid August. Huge trees, a vista, river and waterfall around every corner. Enough undeveloped forest to explore for 10 lifetimes.. Of coarse that's all counterbalanced with 7 months of rain under 4-5k.

I'm from the NE & yeah the weather is not nearly as predictable. I still use a bivy for summits, traveling and rare winter stuff.


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## OwenM (Oct 17, 2012)

So true, and I'm so jealous! I know people who've done the JMT, and even some decent chunks of their PCT thru, where they did a lot of cowboy camping and didn't even pitch their tents or tarps. I usually head West in late fall when tourist season ends, or even before, in early March, when the weather is nastier. 
Worth it to miss the crowds, though! Even at places as heavily visited as Zion, I don't see many people outside the popular front-country dayhiking destinations.


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## iowamtb (May 17, 2014)

leeboh said:


> OK I get lighter, good stuff. New England, bugs and rain are always around. No bugs or rain? Must be nice. really nice.


Bugs are why I bought my Bivy from Borah gear. For warmer weather use it will keep creepy crawlies off me.


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## tim208 (Apr 23, 2010)

iowamtb said:


> That looks like a square or rectangular tarp?


I was in for a lot of rain, so I double tarped it. the green one works really well and packs down to the size of a nalgen bottle.

How many bikes did you kill on that trip??! lots, even an elk on that trip.


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## 101 (Nov 14, 2017)

Mountainsmith Mountain Shelter LT (+ stove jack). For bikepacking, I'll just find and use sticks as tent poles.


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