"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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Have you considered plywood anchors? Maybe 1 foot square (or round), for each "stake" location. Loop some 1/4" line with appropriate length through a couple of holes in the center of each piece to connect the tent loop. Burry the plywood anchors as deep as necessary. I have no idea if this will stand up in wind, but it seems like it will. Steve Brown -----Original Message----- ......... 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........ Rick *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Been there - done that! I use a homemade system that consists of (4) 1" x 12" x 1/4" pine slats. Give 'em a quick treatment with any left over oil or deck coating you have in the garage. Drill a 1/4" hole in the center of each slat and insert a 1/4" eye bolt and lock nut through the group of four slats. Washers on the outside slats are a good idea. You now have a 'fan' made up of these four slats that can be folded for carry and extended to bury in the gravel. The eyebolt allows you to fasten a line or hook or whatever. I use four of these gizmos when I'm camping on a particluar river that has endless gravel. My tents are small but its worked in the wind so far. Pleasant waters to ya. ~Holmes *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
Earlier this month my wife and I paddled from Silver Islet at the tip of the Sibley Peninsula on Lake Superior to Rossport, Ontario. Of our eight wilderness campsites, we were able to use standard tent pegs on only one; the others were either sand, gravel, or rock. For both sand and gravel (and for snow in winter), I use long, semitubular aluminum stakes sold by REI, among others. One thing I like about them is that they nest together in a small bundle. Working them into gravel was sometimes difficult on the trip. When I couldn't get them as far in as I wanted, I piled rocks on them. We never had any problems, but then we never had much wind to speak of, either. The day we camped on rock, we put driftwood sticks through the stake loops and then piled rocks on them. This worked too, though again we had little wind. (An unpleasant discovery I made while gathering rocks at this site -- on Spain Island, for those who know it -- was that one rock was sitting on a pile of shit. When I looked around, I saw flags of fresh toilet paper behind several bushes. There was no excuse for this, as there was easy access to the woods above the clearing where I found this stuff where it was quite easy to dig cat holes in the duff.) During a trip in Georgian Bay several years ago, we took along squares of tent mesh with sewn-in snap hooks on which we piled rocks. One night when we were camped on bare rock, this system withstood a thunderstorm accompanied by winds strong enough to bend one of the poles in our Alpine meadows tent. Other times when we have camped on sand we have used deadmen. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On 17 Aug 2004 at 13:16, cholst_at_bitstream.net wrote: > The day we camped on rock, we put driftwood sticks through the stake > loops and then piled rocks on them. I have a new (well, sort of - it's a coupla years old, but I'm finally starting to use it) tent and it has some webbing in a few spots to peg down. I find that in Georgian Bay, the rocks that you use for ballast are occasionally sharp. I like the webbing instead of line to wrap around the rock, since it seems to hold up against abrasion better. One of my paddling buddies brought some light climber's webbing on last week's trip and I watched him cut it into convenient lengths and tie to various points around his tent. These he wrapped around rocks. I 've only had one line seriously abrade against a rock and it was on this trip - a tarp tiedown. It made me appreciate the value of webbing. > (An unpleasant discovery I made while gathering rocks at this site -- > on Spain Island, for those who know it -- was that one rock was > sitting on a pile of shit. When I looked around, I saw flags of fresh > toilet paper behind several bushes. There was no excuse for this, as > there was easy access to the woods above the clearing where I found > this stuff where it was quite easy to dig cat holes in the duff.) Every fall, our club (Great Lakes Sea Kayaking Association) spends a weekend on Georgian Bay and cleans up Franklin Island. We've also made several thunderboxes and placed them at popular campsites. This in an attempt to prevent the sort of mess that Chuck describes. On last week's trip, we spent a night on Franklin. The first couple of campsites we wanted were taken, but the first empty one we found was disgusting. I remember when I helped dig and place the thunderbox (TB) at this specific site a few years ago. The following year, we added wooden signs to point out where the TB was. In spite of this, there were _lots_ of piles of toilet paper and crap all over - within a few meters of the TB! At a couple of campsites, some users have decided to employ a new method for distributing shit. They make a little frame to hold a toilet seat. They use this to sit and do their business. However, every time they do their business, they move the seat to a new spot. This is out on the rock, so the stuff doesn't degrade, it just washes into the lake when it rains! Doesn't anyone know about hygiene these days? Lauramercy, when I was 12, I learned how to make a septic system in school! I know dogs that are cleaner than these people! We ended up doing two liftovers into the Little Lakes - accessable only to canoes and kayaks. These sites, unlike the sites accessed by motor boaters, were spotless (surprise). This year, I'm in charge of the cleanup. I'll tell you, it makes me question why we even bother. Every year it's the same pigsty. If those people want to live in a cesspool, why should we interfere? We can paddle off to other islands and camp. Mike *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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