[pct-l] tent stakes

[Marion Davison]

We use an REI half dome tent, which has a mostly mesh body.  When it 
rains and we use the fly, we want to stake it well out so that it sheds 
rain far away from the tent body and doesn't flap in the wind.  The Half 
dome is freestanding, and our gear holds it down just fine, so we rarely 
use any tent stakes at all.  On the fly we put pieces of round elastic 
cord on all the tie-out points.  The cord has a loop tied in the end.  
When we are setting up the fly for rain we gather some short sticks and 
some good sized rocks.  Put a short stick through the elastic loop, lay 
the stick on the ground, set the rock on top of it.  This is way easier 
than driving stakes into the ground, IMHO. 
Every year we come home with a collection of tent stakes we have found 
lying around empty campsites.  Switchbacks dayglo paint idea would be a 
good idea to prevent us collecting your stakes. 
Marion