[Paddlewise] Staking tents in gravel

"Hey".  There is a family favorite Car Camping spot that my kids enjoy
in the Shenandoah Mountains here in Virginia (the Shenandoah River State
Park, a.k.a. Andy R. "Guest" State Park).  Problem is, the tent pads
that you must stay on are a gravel pad at least 1 foot deep (that's as
far as I dug looking for solid ground), surrounded by high and thick
undergrowth that is totally infested with ticks and chiggers, so you
really, really, really don't want to get off the pad, even if it were
allowed.  I can deal with the ticks, but the chiggers eat me up for
weeks.  So far, we've been lucky in that the weight of the tent contents
(sleeping bags, duffle with change of cloths, etc) have been enough to
keep the tents in place.  But eventually, I'm going to really wish I had
them staked down.



Have you guys had to camp on 1 foot thick gravel?  How did you stake the
tent?  There isn't any big rocks or heavy deadfall in the area that can
be used as a "dead man".  I can tether it to a tree so that it doesn't
blow far, but that's not really a replacement for staking it in place.
It's car camping, but you can't get your car to the actual tent site -
it's not a "hike in", but you have to carry your stuff to the sites, so
I'm not able to bring my own big rocks in the back of my truck, and so
forth.



Any suggestions? Really, really, really long stakes?  A particular kind
of stake that I haven't discovered yet?  Bring ditty bags to fill with
gravel and use that as  dead men?



Rick
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