What should I do if my tent stakes keep pulling out in high wind?
Few campsite experiences are as stressful as hearing your tent fly flap violently at 2 AM, followed by the metallic clatter of a tent stake ripping out of the ground. High wind exerts tremendous uplift and horizontal shear forces on a shelter. When the…
What is the best knot to use for tent guylines if I don’t have plastic tensioners?
Plastic guyline tensioners (runners or linelocs) are convenient—until one snaps under high wind in the High Sierra, melts near a campfire, or gets lost in the dirt. Whether you are backpacking through the Sierra Nevada, camping along the windy coast of…
Why did my tent’s rainfly rip off even though my stakes stayed firmly in the ground?
It is one of the most frustrating experiences in outdoor recreation: you pitched your tent, drove your heavy-duty stakes deep into the earth at the correct angle, and checked that every guyline was secure. Yet, when a late-night storm front swept through…
Should I keep my tent guylines tightly rigid or allow for some flexibility during a storm?
When dark weather fronts roll across your campsite—whether you are pitch-camping along the bluffs of San Francisco, braving West Texas wind squalls, riding out a mountain storm in Washington’s Cascades, or facing cold autumn gusts in Upstate New York—the…
What is the correct angle to drive a tent stake into the ground for maximum wind security?
When a midnight gust sweeps through your campsite—whether you are pitch-camping along the breezy Pacific bluffs in San Francisco, facing dust storms in West Texas, or holding down camp in Washington’s Cascade Range—your tent’s survival depends on a…
Can fiberglass tent poles survive high winds, or should I upgrade to aluminum?
When a midnight windstorm sweeps through your campsite—whether you are pitch-camping along the breezy Pacific coastline in San Francisco, battling dusty gusts in West Texas, or pitched above the treeline in Washington’s Cascade Range—few sound profiles…
How do I remove a steel stake that is jammed tightly between underground rocks?
Setting up camp or securing a canopy on rocky terrain often comes with a frustrating side effect: a heavy-duty steel stake driven straight into a subterranean “rock trap.” When two underground boulders wedge around the shaft or notch of a…
How can I pull bent aluminum stakes back into shape at the campsite?
You are miles into the backcountry, pitching your shelter before an incoming storm, and thwack—your aluminum stake hits a subterranean boulder. Instead of driving smoothly into the soil, it emerges looking like a banana. A bent aluminum stake is more…
What weight hammer should I use for driving steel stakes into sun-baked clay?
If you have ever tried pitching a tent, anchoring a canopy, or setting up landscaping structures in sun-baked clay, you know standard camping mallets are useless. Trying to drive a heavy-duty steel stake into dried-out, concrete-like clay with a 16-ounce…
How can I protect my tent floor from sharp limestone rocks under the footprint?
Pitching a tent on rough, rocky terrain is an unavoidable reality for backpackers and car campers across the United States. Whether you are setting up camp on the sharp karst topography of Texas Hill Country, navigating the granite and limestone…
