Re: [at-l] tarps

["David F. Addleton" <dfa@wimlaw.com>]

> But, aside from the (possible) 2-person Nomad and a Stephenson tent (a
> little out of my price range right now), the best choice for 2 people
> seems to be a tarp.  OK, bugs I suppose I can get used to, 

I use this thin cotton fabric to cover my face area while sleeping in a
hammock. You could spray it before hanging it to drive off bugs, but I've
not bothered with spray.  A breeze will work wonders keeping bugs away. I
hang my wet shirt away from where I sleep, and in the morning it's often
covered with bugs, but I don't seem to attract many ... with one exception:
on my Suwanee River paddling trip last year I turned in my sleep, leaving
my upper right arm against the insect netting. I didn't notice it that
morning, but by night fall I did: my upper right arm in the back was
covered with bug bites.

> but what
> about rain?  I've done some reading about tarps (Jardine, etc), but
> nowhere has anyone addressed the matter of rain running underneath the
> tarp.  How do you keep your sleeping bag dry when, (a) you're on a
> slight incline with rain running down the hill, or (b) in an
> "established" campsite along with more dirt than grass?  

Since I use the hammock, I don't usually worry about the ground. I've slept
over a creek, once. I have taken people who prefer the ground to a hammock
and use a tarp for shelter. They look for a ridge-like area which, when
raining, sheds the water away from the dry-ground under the tarp. A large
rock or tree up-hill from the ridge sends water around the tarpped area,
usually. Keeping the tarp near the up-hill rock or tree barrier also helps.

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