Glacier Park Chat
All this is my NON expert "opinion"....as I'm sure there some out there who can make the little "pin" type stakes work in virtually any situation. I ain't that good so I own, and use a variety of stakes depending on the situation. The size and weight of tent stakes is not a factor for me when car camping.
I thought about this as a subject after camping overnight this weekend at Many Glacier with my new "car camping" tent.
Glacier National Park, especially the East side can be very windy. Winds over 30mph are not unusual. Some campgrounds are more open than others. I've learned from experience that staking your tent out "tighter than a nun's bunn" is a good idea.
Weather and wind conditions in Glacier Park can change dramatically in a matter of hours...if not minutes! So when car camping, I stake my tent assuming the worst conditions will prevail.
I used my new car camping tent for the first time this past Friday night at Swiftcurrent camp ground. There was a just a light breeze when I arrived, but I knew that would change later...and the wind did pick up some time early Saturday AM.
I used the stakes that came with the tent for the four corners of the tent. I used my "sand-hogs" for the four corners of the fly.
Here is a picture of some of the tent stakes I own along with some line, a hammer, and my blaze orange tackle box I carry that gear in. Tape measure for perspective.
From Left to right.
Sand-hogs--12" long and 10oz. Steel rebar and flange mean once pounded in, they aren't going to move. I use these a lot because I have them
Orange stake-- Aluminum 9" long and 3oz--OK but lack a "hook". Wide and hold well in soft earth.
Unpainted steel stakes-- 9" long and about 3oz. I use these frequently. I can pound these into hardpack gravel and not worry.
The last two are "wire type" aluminum pin type stakes that are the type usually sold these days. 7" long and reasonably sturdy. Difficult to bend when pounded with a steel hammer or a handy "rock". The ones with the black arrow came with my new tent. The ones on the far right came with my Tarptent.
The problem with the slender "wire" type stakes is that in soft earth they simply won't hold well....if they hold at all.
The small wire type work OK in the backcountry with my tarptent with its low profile. Most of the sites I have camped in have fairly hard packed tent pads. And if the ground is too soft, I can always anchor my tarptent with big rocks.
Car camping tents are a different story. Many have much larger profiles and are more susceptible to wind loading...and therefore require much more substantial stakes...in my opinion.
Over the years, I've seen more than one tent have its fly blown away, or worse, because it wasn't staked down well. If you don't have your tent staked down tightly, the wind will cause it to "flap" and it will continue to loosen up the lines...and can eventually pull the stakes out of the ground....and then you have a problem.
So I like to use stakes that when I rig the lines I can put a LOT of tension on them. When your tent and fly are rigged tightly initially, then the wind will have a much more difficult time working things loose...and you cannot put the tension required on the lines if the tent stakes aren't anchored well in the soil/rock. So bigger is better sometimes when it comes to tent stakes.
And don't buy those "plastic" tent stakes. They aren't worth spit imo. And neither are the cheap aluminum stakes. They'll bend too easily if you try pounding them into hard pack. If you buy aluminum, buy the high quality rigid aircraft grade stuff. I prefer a steel hammer for pounding stakes, but a good rubber mallet will work for most people.
pocketlint
Maybe I did this because I'm bored while I wait oin the US Open coverage to begin!!
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