plasti-taco under the stars

Last night was the first time I made a tarp-tent since my early twenties, and back then "tarp tent" meant "Too drunk to set up tent and people are already sleeping in the car, so wrap yourself up in a tarp and hope it doesn't rain too hard."

It was a lot of fun relaxing in the dark with a head lamp on, tying knots and setting up, with a footpath 500m away and planes from Vancouver Airport roaring low overhead. Not a bad way to spend a night in the city.

I kinda knew how the top roof-y tarp would turn out, but the ground tarp was a new one for me.

If I have one, I usually put out a ground tarp just to keep my sleeping bag / mattress / tent dry and clean. Another layer of softnesss as well, and it protects more expensive gear from getting torn by sticks n' rocks. (If it's dry out, you can also prop up the corners with sticks to prevent critters from crawling up to you - good trick for the desert, where you don't need a tent, but snakes like to snuggle up to your warmth at night.)

The weather has been really rainy so this time it was a necessity. But when I laid the ground tarp out flat, I realized rain would flow off the roof and right onto the ground tarp, and puddle under my thermarest. So I got into my sleeping bag and tied the edges of the ground tarp around me and my pack, so I was kind of like a self-contained plastic taco. Totally waterproof!

I have no idea if this is standard practice, or if people have better ideas, but it worked well for me. Two 6' x 8' tarps, 20m of rope, sharp knife and four tent pegs - packs way tighter than a tent and, if you already have the knife, it costs about $20.