Tarp setup for general camp use (not sleeping)?

I do almost exactly like this guy rigs his. As a matter of fact I used to rig it differently until I saw how simple this setup is. I highly recommend this technique.



I hope this helps you figure things out.

Rumi

I use a hex cut tarp in porch mode. This means I can have one side close to the ground (or staked directly to the ground if it is raining & blowing hard), while the other side is higher. The ridge line sets the height.

We do it like Jazzmom, few trees in many of our haunts. For shade I don’t use silnylon, too translucent. I do have three silnylon tarps with sewn loops and will use them for rainy days. For general hiking for two people we take a thicker coated nylon tarp. We have two sizes of those. They came with grommets but they have held up well. The pictured tarp below is about 30 years old and has been beat all around the country. Still going. It is a minimal 5x7. We have 8x10 also.

You spoke of wanting an inexpensive tarp that works well. Look at the poly tarps. They are heavy for anything but car camping but are water proof and durable. 20 bucks might get you a good one where coated nylon and silnylon are much more expensive but far less weight and bulk.

Learn several setups for various conditions and locals. Also learn your knots. There are various resources for that. Knots 3D is a great iOS app. Why Knot is a good book. Having some Adjustable Grip hitches tied into your guy lines ahead of time will expedite nailing down a fast, secure shelter.

One of our setups on a drizzly day so we could have a meal and hot drink;

Thanks for this thread. Several trips this Spring, I only hiked a few miles in so I could get out early on Sunday to beat the weather or get home early enough for other obligations etc. I'd set up camp early in the day and do some day hiking from camp and spend the rest of the day reading and looking at trees and hanging out with the squirrels. I found myself chasing shade a lot and was thinking I needed to figure out a good tarp setup for day use. Most everything I need for a good start is on this thread.

Just ordered a 10x8 flat tarp from Paria Outdoors. Thanks for the responses everyone, can’t wait to play around with different ways of setting it up!

In the past few weeks, I had opportunity to experiment with sun shade tarp setups. Just dropping back in to say thanks to the folks who posted on this thread.

With the pandemic going, my planned out of state trips didn't happen. Instead, I've done a couple of trips close to home in a national forest that is still open and close enough that I can go from home to trailhead and back with no stops.

I've looked at these trips more as backcountry camping trips than hiking trips. I'm taking this time to develop skills I should have learned long ago. Part of it was getting more familiar with hiking off trail--perfect for social distancing-- and I also wanted to get to a campsite earlier to have more time to enjoy being out of the house (that is now also my workplace). When you get to camp at 11 a.m. before full leafout, you need a place for shade. With info I got from this thread, I built my first shade tarp.




In a light, but steady breeze, it held up great all day. Back side had stakes on the ends and center. On the front, I flipped my Lekis and put the tips through end grommets and staked those out. With the breeze, I needed a center line to reduce flapping and tied off to a tree that wasn't in the ideal spot, but worked. I used zeke shock cord loops on either end of the ridge and just tied off to those instead of running across the full ridge line.

For my first attempts, I was happy with it. This thread taught me most everything I needed to know to do it.

i thought this kind of helpful:  youtu.be/XudtqDiyG5U