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Posted by Bill S on May 8, 2006 at 12:12:17 pm EDT
In reply to Tent Stakes posted by HoosierBackpacker on May 7, 2006 at 9:44:31 pm EDT

No, tent stakes are not created equal. In fact, far from equal. I would amend Ed's comment to "I use whatever is lightest that suits the place I am pitching the tent." Which means I need to know something about the place I am going.

The only set of Ti stakes I have has proven useless, since they were way too light and bend far too easily. But then, they were free, sent for evaluation as prototypes.

Anyway, it depends on the soil/rock/sand/whatever. In some soil that is fairly dense, but not too hard, wire stakes or a fairly sturdy aluminum wire-like, hook-shaped stake is just fine. A lot of SE US soil is like that (where Ed is). When we were in Mississippi and camped a lot in LA, AR, AL, GA, that worked great, except in August, the dry season, when the clay dried to brick-hard consistency. Then the light wire type would just bend and not go into the ground.

If you are pitching the tent on sand or snow, you need a fairly broad stake, like the U-cross-section aluminum. For really soft sand or for snow, the longer ones work better. But you might need the large "sand stakes" to get enough holding power, depending on the tent, wind conditions, and softness of the sand. Another possibility here is to use a "deadman" (lots of backpacking books explain the various varieties of these).

Sometimes with hardened soil, you can drive a sturdy stake into the ground, if it has a sharp point. But many of the "tent comes with a full set of stakes" types will just bend. So you might need to get something like the Black Diamond "superstakes" (very expensive for little piece of specially shaped, heat-treated aluminum alloy, but when you need it, there's no substitute).

Plastic stakes break pretty easily. I have never had them last long, and as a Scout leader, I have seen the youth break them in large quantities, just trying to get them into the ground.

If you are camping on on rock slabs or rocky ground where you might encounter rocks under a thin layer of dirt (as you find in much of the Rockies or Sierra), you may just have to find big rocks or logs to tie the guy lines to. Stakes often just don't work in those situations.

So-called "self-standing" tents still need to be staked down. If a goodly breeze comes up, dome tents and other self-supporting tents can (and do) take flight, sometimes even with your gear inside.

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• Re: Tent Stakes - Dusty Boots 18:30:02 06/08/2006

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