I have a super light tent that packs really small and it’s great. However, I keep wanting to try a tarp, mostly because I love the night sky and want to have as little between it and me as possible. So, two questions:

1) I don’t fancy a bivvy bag- that’s ok, right?

2) My biggest worry are biting insects. But it’s October so I’m guessing there won’t be any?!?

DD 3×3 tarps are £37, so buying one to try won’t feel too extravagant

No need for a bivvy bag if your tarp is big enough and you’ve pitched it to avoid any wind-blown rain. A bivvy bag (even a non-waterproof one) will add several degrees of warmth though, particularly in reducing any wind-chill.

I only use any sort of bug net when it’s warm enough for the midge etc, though I did end up pulling 24 ticks out of me after a couple of nights bivvying in May this year….

As you’ve highlighted, this isn’t a weight issue, it’s an experience thing.

Practice a few pitches in your garden, maybe using poles off something you already have. Add a few dyneema guylines and mini line-loks and you should be set. I’ve experimented using bike wheels and so on to save carrying poles. I’ll try to post a few photos later, or just explore my blog to see if anything takes your fancy.

https://www.blog.scotroutes.com/

Slugs, spiders, snails…. oh and don’t forget the odd Brown bear (cola gummy bear).

I’ll try to post a few photos later, or just explore my blog to see if anything takes your fancy.

I was about to ask for photos of tarp set ups for inspiration!

Is the dew a problem in the morning?

Not normally, but obviously depends on conditions. I awoke one morning in a coastal haar and everything was soaked.

One pole at the “head” end and the bars of the bike supporting the foot end.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2fCoiL6]P1050632[/url] by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

This is a very airy pitch with good visibility to both sides. Not much good in driving rain though as neither side is down to the ground.

Flying V

[url=https://flic.kr/p/24sFKXD]P1040917[/url] by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Again – good views but feet stick out from under the tarp a long way so no good when raining.

Wheels.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2cB2vZE]April – Feshie[/url] by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

Saves carrying poles. Can be a good pitch if the wind and rain is coming from one direction. I’m using a thin bivvy bag in that photo – but then it was sub-zero overnight! Makes a bit of a low pitch so can’t really sit up any in it.

One wheel/One pole

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dMAr4d]DSC_0011[/url] by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/2dMAr17]DSC_0013[/url] by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

I’ve bought a larger tarp (a DCF one) seen in the last photos. Give more coverage but can also sag and flap a bit more if you don’t get it pitched well.

has the advantage of being higher at one end for more headroom

Amazing! Thanks for the photos and the info. I saw the two wheels set up on your blog, it looks nice and easy to put together

Just found this…

I’d imagine you’d want a groundsheet if you haven’t got a bivi bag.

Or a large tarp doubled over?

I have a super light tent that packs really small and it’s great. However, I keep wanting to try a tarp, mostly because I love the night sky and want to have as little between it and me as possible.

There’s the same canvas between you and a night sky in a tent as a tarp. Difference is there’s a lot more between you and the ground in a tent!

We used them loads in the cadets. If you doubled up, you could actually build some quite intricate structures. Para-cord and bungees to create the anchor points with trees/branches or rocks, sometimes using a dune, cliff face or drystone wall as one side of the structure.

Personally I preferred tents. By the time you’ve faffed around with bungees, finding anchor points, folding and stretching the tarp properly, you could have erected a tent!

Decathlon do good tarps, including a couple of poles.

There’s the same canvas between you and a night sky in a tent as a tarp.

But you don’t have the same open view as a tarp affords. It’s not just the sky that’s worth looking at.

If you are carrying a pole or two or using your bike then you can basically use your preferred pitch every time. Guys can be pre-attached. There’s really no reason it should take longer to pitch than a tent.

I’d imagine you’d want a groundsheet if you haven’t got a bivi bag.

Not necessarily. Sleeping mat is under you anyway. A bivvy bag or groundsheet helps keep your sleeping bag dry and clean if you slip off your mat though.

I regularly use a bivi with my tarp, pretty rare that I don’t

But I’m tall so likely to be near the edges. If it’s dry I’ll use bivi bag only, then the view is ace!

Maybe the answer is to get a bivvy bag and no tarp!

We use tarps when canoeing. Ours tend to be huge, walk around under big…

It is that different experience outdoors.

A few practices and you get much better at pitching and working out where and how to get yourself pitched.

I find that you get really good at site selection – a shrinking art form as everyone now just bungs a tent on some vaguely flat ground.

I do have an old tent ground sheet cut up as a bigger than my mat protector, weighs not a lot and keeps me drier.

I do use a bivi bag often, usually as it’s winter when we are out.

Colin’s covered (sic) most of the main points.

I’ve seen that diagram of the various pitching options but I’d say just pick one or two and know those, with slight variations, really well.

As with anything it depends what your priorities are as to what shelter is best: lightweight; low pack volume; internal space; ease of pitching; stealthiness; etc.

Standalone bivy bag: unobtrusive, quick to “pitch”, lightweight. But: can be claustrophobic; how do you keep the inside dry when it’s raining and you want to get in/out?

Tarp: lightweight; flexible in pitching options; doesn’t look like a tent. But: needs a lightweight bivy bag in midgy conditions.

Tent: pitching is straightforward; most protection from the elements. But: heaviest and bulkiest option; needs a space to pitch that matches the tent’s footprint.

Here’s a shot of my tarp setup along with an SMD Gatewood “shaped” tarp.

Another shot of my tarp setup. It’s a Trekkertent Cuben Fibre tarp 2.5m x 1.5m in size and weighs 140g with lines attached. The carbon fibre pole is from Stuart at Bearbones and together with carbon fibre pegs comes in at 110g. The rear “pole” is formed by the bike’s handlebars. I use a lightweight Borah Gear bivy bag with it that weighs 170g. So a total weight of 420g

Generally you don’t need to pitch a tarp so that its edges are at ground level, in fact having a gap of 100-200mm maybe more at one side allows good ventilation to reduce the risk of condensation (there are some conditions where condensation will occur no matter what you do) without allowing rain to encroach under the sides.

I find it’s quite easy to adjust the pitch to suit the prevailing conditions so I’ll tuck the tail end down if I’m in an exposed location and it’s windy or pitch higher if it’s still and I want good ventilation or more room.

I first tried tarps using an Alpkit Rig3.5 with poles made from some old tent poles and now much prefer them to using a tent (which we also occasionally use when bikepacking).

Shermer, I thinkI still have a lightweight tarp that I don’t use any more, gimme a shout if ye you want it for the price of postage mate, I won’t be using it again.

I’ll have a look and confirm.

Tarp camping is wonderful, because you are fully engaged with the outdoors, not sealed off from it. Its fantastic to wake up and watch the world come to life around you. However, not if its eating you, so I actually tend to do more in autumn/winter than summer.

A few other points.

Low headroom protects from the weather best, but is more likely to attract condensation that can drip.
A bit of lightweight Polycro or similar can be used as a groundsheet.
Practice set ups, especially bike ones, so you can do them in a hurry when the weather turns. Setting up tarps is not, generally, quicker than tents.
It you use a bike set up, try not to use one where the mud-covered drive train is 6 inches from your face for the 16 hours of darkness you get in winter…
By the time you count poles and maybe a sheet to sleep on, tarps aren’t necessarily the lightest set up. My little 6 Moon Designs Lunar Solo tent weighs less than my smaller tarp, plus pegs, guy lines and the Polycro sheet.
Set up correctly, you can get really sturdy, well protected shapes that will resist all but the very worst weather.

The other major advantage, to me, is that in more sheltered areas, you can set up a high “lean to” type space that is not only comfortable to sleep under but also makes for a fantastic, relaxed, sitting area during the evening, looking out over the wilds, whilst still protected from the elements. Something that is hard to do with a tent you can carry easily. This turns camping in less than perfect conditions into a relaxed and enjoyable experience rather than a “bored staring at the inside of a tent” experience.

For this reason, as a group we always have a few tarps for “living rooms” even when using tents for warmth/weather protection. Then again, we do normally have 16′ canoes to carry it all in.

This thread has inspired me to take the tarp tonight, not the tent.

Shermer, I thinkI still have a lightweight tarp that I don’t use any more, gimme a shout if ye you want it for the price of postage mate, I won’t be using it again.

I’ll have a look and confirm.

You have mail! 🙂

@malgrey – weight does really depend on what you compare, I’ve a tarp that even with lightweight bivy bags works out at the same weight as our tent. The SMD Gatewood is basically the Lunar Solo without the bathtub floor and netting and weighs 280g (they updated it with lighter fabric) which is the same weight as the Alpkit Rig3.5 plain tarp. Whichever you use, something around 750g per person will get you good comfort, 500g per person will be lightweight and usable, below that and you are either making sacrifices or you have to splash the cash for serious kit.

Personally I’ve never bothered with anything for a groundsheet so for me there’s no weight penalty there but a bit of polycro is only a few tens of grammes. One point not noted is that tarps generally need to be taught and there’s no structure as in tents to help with this so all the strain goes on the pegs meaning you can’t skimp on these so you are better with something like MSR Groundhogs at 16g each than titanium skewers at 6g. That’s just one of those compromises you need to make.

As you say, in the right location it’s the versatility of tarps that wins out, with a tent you can only really pitch it according to how it’s been designed to be pitched.

We did the Capital Trail this May. We bivvied on the edge of the Pentlands and when I woke up there was a pair of roe deer about ten metres from me that I could just watch without disturbing them. If I’d been in a tent then the sound of the zip opening would have scared them off – I wouldn’t have known to open the zip quietly because I wouldn’t have been able to see them them until getting out of both inner and outer.

P.S. I misread your post and thought that you’d sixteen canoes to carry the kit in, then saw it was sixteen foot long canoes!

Thanks for all the info! I’m also finding this ‘how-to’ vid really useful

Have a look on Bearbones – https://bearbonesbikepacking.blogspot.com/ there’s a few ideas on pitching plain tarps and reviews of shaped tarps.

@whitestone

Good points, especially about the pegs. I upgraded my tarp pegs to the Alpkit y-shaped ones, and always carry more than the minimum, one of the main factors that affects the weight I guess.

So true about the wildlife watching. I sometimes lie and watch the barn owls gliding through camp at first light, or watch a fox wander past.
The downside is that I was also once woken by a chocolate labrador in my face…

We have had up to 7 canoes, full of people, tents, tarps, fireboxes, pans, custard, bacon, spuds, whisky, logs, wine etc, etc on several occasions, so 16 isn’t that far off the mark!

I must admit when I’ve used a tarp I’ve always had a bivvy bag.

There are various photos of my (and Scotroutes) set up to be found here:

I did both the last winter and summer solstice with tarp/bivvy set ups and they really do give a different experience. Summer one especially was awesome…

That said there seems to be a general consensus that the likes of a SMD lunar solo is the best of both worlds in that you can roll the flaps up but still have amble space for gear/changing and see what’s happening without being bitten by middies (or ticks neither…). PS Scotroutes, it was Easter (April) not May… 😆

I’d second Whitestone MSR groundhog pegs. I use a mixture of these and the bigger ones for sand for both tarp and lunar solo (as I’ve had pegs pulled out by the wind when pitched on loose sand or gravel).

Sorry that link didn’t work, try this one:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm4q8KAN

For info, my lightweight bivvy bag is a TiGoat Kestrel (185g) and has a built-in bug net. It’s not waterproof but will shrug off a few drips and, as I say, cuts windchill and therefore boosts the sleeping bag/quilt.

My current tarp is the mid-sized DCF one from Trekkertent (270×180 cm, 124g). Larger size offers more coverage and pitching options.

With regards to taking just a bivi, its fine as long as its not raining when you stop because it leaves nowhere to dry off and get into your sleeping bag.

If it rains in the night you can just pull the hood over or roll onto its front. Best option is a small triangle of tarp and a single pole to make a hood to keep the rain off your face.

Colin – the mid sized Trekkertent tarp is 160g, it’s the small one that’s 124g. Interesting that you say it’s prone to sagging. Didn’t realise the TiGoat was that light, in the same ballpark as my Borah Gear but quite a bit off my Borah Gear cuben fibre bivy at 130g.

@thisisnotaspoon – looks at Scotroute’s second photo – does pretty much what you describe regarding a small triangular tarp.

Generally with pegs I have a selection ranging from carbon fibre ones up to fairly hefty stakes then choose what to take depending on expected ground conditions. I’ll always have something like a Groundhog for the main guy line though.

Something I saw the other week being demonstrated by Stuart Wright from Bearbones was a Tyvek bivy bag, suitable for use under a tarp if nothing else and only $20 from Aliexpress (search for 3f UL bivy bag), packs to around the size of a small water bottle.

looks at Scotroute’s second photo – does pretty much what you describe regarding a small triangular tarp.

Yup, but you can scale that down to a triangle about 1.5mx1mx1m as a little bit of shelter to keep the rain off your face and cook under if there’s no other shelter (e.g. on a beach).

Yup, but you can scale that down to a triangle about 1.5mx1mx1m as a little bit of shelter to keep the rain off your face and cook under if there’s no other shelter (e.g. on a beach).

Yep, I’ve thought about a micro-tarp like that but that would be a 4th tarp…. 😊

Colin – the mid sized Trekkertent tarp is 160g, it’s the small one that’s 124g. Interesting that you say it’s prone to sagging.

Ah – mine is the the “olive green” coloured DCF. It’s a thinner, lighter material. That 124g is what I measured, not off the website. I can see where the confusion arises. (I wanted to avoid the normal white DCF, it being lighter was an unexpected bonus).

It.s not so much “sag”, just it’s a larger section of unsupported material. Needs more careful/taught guying than a smaller one really.

There are various photos of my (and Scotroutes) set up to be found here:

I’ve just been looking through, thanks for posting!

What make of tarp is this one?

Which tarp

That is an alpkit rig 7. It is huuuuge…

Usually take the tab siltarp 1 ( which is roughly half the size). When I got it it was the same price as the rig 3.5 is now…

Tarps

Lots of info on here, cheers guys for the thread. I just picked up a second hand Rab siltarp 1 for my bike packing adventures. Also got an Alpkit bivvy bag.
Do you all take poles then for setting up tarps when bikepacking then?

Do you all take poles then for setting up tarps when bikepacking then?

Yes, most of our bivvies are away from trees or other potential supports. The first set I had were cut down from some old tent poles to lengths that would fit on the bike. If you don’t have suitable poles but have some cash then you can get carbon fibre poles from Bearbones that fold to varying lengths – https://bearbonesbikepacking.co.uk/shop/?product_cat=shelter – the pick-and-mix set will fit in something like an Alpkit top tube bag for example.

Tarp and bivvy for me (actually usually tarp and hammock if I know for sure there will be trees around).

The bivvy isn’t always necessary but it’s a thin one that packs down tennis ball sized so no harm done in my mind. As for poles I use whatever I can find (bike, wheels, fence/trees, sticks).

That is an alpkit rig 7. It is huuuuge…

Pffff.