12'x16' tarp, tent stakes, a string, and a walking stick

[Charlie]

that's what I recently started using for a tent. I can wrap the tent stakes with the string, fold up the tarp and fasten to pack, and carry walking stick. The walking stick makes a great prop for hitchhiking. When I'm incognito (camping in an orchard), I can set up the tarp wide and short (hot dog fold) so it's only 3' tall or so and this fits 4 people comfortable, keeping them dry, and of course it's brown and green to blend in with nature. When I'm at a legit camp spot, I can fold the tarp into hamburger fold, fasten the rivets on ground cover, fasten tarp to top of walking stick, prop up stick and tie to tent stake pulling top stick away from tent, fasten the loose flaps that's on top open side to where they hang snug to the ground. It stands tall enough to sit up in, and can fit 3 people snug with enough room for stuff.

You don't really have to have a walking stick, but I like walking sticks.

Downsides are it's open and always lets mosquitoes in. The cheap tarps are kinda fragile so you gotta take it easy on them or they fall apart, rivets fall out, what not. And the wind can pull it up like a parachute and pull the tent stake right out of the ground so use plenty of tent stakes.

to see how it's done, google image "tarp tent"

 

[ev wood]

That's what I use too, I cannot stand sleeping in tents they are like hot damp coffins.

 

[rails2rails]

Look around for garlic mustard, it's profuse in many regions,particularly in disturbed areas and flood plains. Waist high plant with small 4 petal white flowers this time of year, crushed leaves smell like garlic. Natural mosquito repellent, crush up the leaves and rub on exposed skin. The leaves are pretty tasty too, good in a wild salad. All mints repel skeeters, YMMV.

 

[Charlie]

That's what I use too, I cannot stand sleeping in tents they are like hot damp coffins.

They're hot like a sauna sometimes, I prefer that about tents later in the year. This time is nice to have a tarp, one can open a tarp on a nice sunny day and feel the breeze

 

[Charlie]

Look around for garlic mustard, it's profuse in many regions,particularly in disturbed areas and flood plains. Waist high plant with small 4 petal white flowers this time of year, crushed leaves smell like garlic. Natural mosquito repellent, crush up the leaves and rub on exposed skin. The leaves are pretty tasty too, good in a wild salad. All mints repel skeeters, YMMV.

Garlic Mustard. Sounds great, does it grow commonly in Washington and in the cascades? Around 2000ft elevation?

 

[Charlie]

Check out my pack setup. It's just a small backpack and I couldn't figure how to attach my sleeping gear until today. On my last trip, I carried my sleeping bag rolled up INSIDE the tarp (terrible idea, not easy to pack), that created leverage on my back, so I repositioned my sleeping gear, I realized I can roll the sleeping bag and stack on folded tarp, and wrap with a belt. Then I covered this in a garbage to water proof it, wrap in two belts, fasten two carabineers to two belts, and attach carabineers to lower straps to hang by my ass. Then I have plenty of room for skateboard, hoody, beach towel, helmet and padding, ukulele. I still need to attach sandals and wear skate shoes (or visa versa), and acquire a bigger garbage bag to either water proof skateboard or entire pack, and that's all on outside of pack. Inside is swim trunks, 3 pair cotton socks, wool socks, toothpaste and toothbrush, wool shirt for layering, beanie, yoyo, mini leatherman, cell phone, cell phone charger, ipod touch, ipod charger.

This is me travelling comfortably and well entertained, high speed and padded. I'll get a good workout like this.

Unfortunately, the heaviest part is the tarp and sleeping bag with three belts. what's a good alternative for more compact sleeping gear? bivy sack is out of the question, I don't like bivy's they just keep water in. I like to have a tarp for a tent and a sleeping bag. I currently have a kelty mummy bag and a 12'x16' tarp, I see myself using both of these often to full capacity (in tarp, not sleeping bag). is there lighter still waterproof tarps? and more packable sleeping bags that wouldn't be so heavy and bulky?

 

[helcat]

Tarps made from silicone nylon or sil nylon, are thin, light, pack down tiny, waterproof and pretty tough. About 1lbs for a two person tarp. You can see them in some outdoor shops. Probably cost around $50 maybe less there. Wouldn't be very difficult to take, as they pack down really small. Otherwise they have even lighter materials, like cuben fiber, but the prices get ridiculous, they're kind of delicate and shops don't stock them.

Sleeping bags you can save a bit of weight on but again, expensive and stealing a sleeping bag requires some skill and bravery. The north face synthetics are light, so are the mountain hardware laminas which seem to be falling in price. Never tried either but there's reviews about and they seem good bags and use good insulation. You can cut down the bulk with compression bags, but at the same time it's worse in the long run for your bag. If I could get any bag I'd like the North face lynx, it weighs under 2lbs, or a north face cats meow which is warmer but weighs a bit more.

I know a guy with an awesome tarp setup, he has one of those canvas tarps, like the roof from old market stalls or old military tents, it had a ton of eyelet rivets so he'd rig it up and use some plastic as a groundsheet. Canvas is such a nice material. Anyway, in the morning he'd turn the tarp over and with some trickery use the same rope to switch it into a bag, put his stuff in a trash bag then inside it and off he went. He used strips of canvas folded in two with the rope threaded through then sewn up as straps. Really cool hand made setup. The tarp was coated with wax and had a nice aged look, almost leathery. Awesome to sleep under. Nice, heavy and sturdy feeling, made a nice sound in the wind. Weighed something compared to a plastic tarp I bet.

Easiest way to cut the weight of your tarp for free would be to cut it down to size, unless you're often with other people.