Tarps and Tarpcraft

Site selection

There are two aspects to site selection: general (i.e., choosing the overall area where you’ll camp) and specific (i.e., choosing the exact 12-foot-by-8-foot patch of ground where you’ll pitch your tarp). For info about “general” site selection, see “Camping Softly” section.

Specific criteria for a tarp site

1. Look up: avoid camping near or under dead trees or deadfall branches.

2. Look down: avoid dished ground, or ground in a drainage area (both of which could create a “bathtub” if it rains). Also avoid very steep ground (you’ll slide out from under your tarp in the middle of the night) or rocky or uneven ground. Best-case scenario: flat ground that slopes gently away on all sides. Slightly sloping ground is usually OK.

3. Look around: excellent tarp sites have two strong trees that are about 10 to 14 feet apart. Trees aren’t necessary - you can pitch a tarp using poles or sticks - but they do make things faster and easier. Bonuses: additional nearby trees or exposed roots to tie corners to.


Principles of tarp pitching

1. Establish the height of the ridgeline first, and keep it tight.

   1. High ridgeline + high sides = lots of ventilation, lots of headroom, lots of coverage, but little protection from wind and rain and little shedding ability.

   2. High ridgeline + low sides = lots of headroom, good protection from rain, great shedding ability, and decent ventilation, but little coverage and very shaky in the wind.

   3. Low ridgeline + low sides = lots of coverage and good protection from wind and rain, but little headroom, minimal ventilation, and little shedding ability.

2. When staking out the corners, the p-cord should be at a 45-degree angle from the corner (technically, 135 degrees from each edge).

3. Nylon stretches when it gets wet, which means if you set up your tarp loosely and it rains, your tarp will be REALLY loose. So pitch it tight.

4. Pro tip: if you pitch your tarp ridgeline from sticks instead of trees, intentionally angle the bottom of the sticks in towards the tarp. This, in effect, makes them shorter. If it starts raining during the night and the tarp sags due to wetness, just push the bases of the sticks away from the tarp. This straightens them, raising the ridgeline slightly and thereby tightening the entire tarp.

5. If it’s really windy, pitch the tarp sideways to the wind, with the windward edge staked straight into the ground.


Teaching tarp set up

1. Consider making a “tarpana” - a bandana that you’ve attached six rubber bands to (girth hitch the rubber bands around small pebbles in the sides/corner of the bandana). With your tarpana as a scale model of a tarp (and a few sticks as trees/stakes), you can quickly show how pitching the tarp high, or low, or loose, or with not-45-degree corner angles changes the tarp’s effectiveness.

2. Good knots to teach:

   1. For attaching p-cord to the tarp: two half-hitches, girth hitch, bowline

   2. For attaching the ridgeline to trees: taut line hitch, trucker’s hitch

   3. For attaching the corner p-cord to stakes: taut line hitch, clove hitch

3. Divide students into small groups, provide each group with a tarp (plus p-cord and stakes), and give them 20 - 30 minutes to each set up a tarp.

4. Once time is up, visit each tarp to evaluate it. Consider bringing along a full water bottle to pour on each tarp to test it.