[pct-l] Tarptent users

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, Ryan,



Is a ground cloth essential or dead weight?  I see it as neither:  I just
see a convenience.  Whenever I want to further reduce my apx. 8 lb. base
weight I do leave the cloth home.  I use relatively narrow 29”-30” wide
ground cloths which are only a bit wider than my 17” wide, ¾-length foam
sleeping pad.  With a ¾-length pad if I don’t use a cloth I then put my pack
or a “dunk bag” i.e. a plastic garbage bag, under my feet to keep the ground
damp off the sleeping bag.  I don’t toss and turn much and can keep my
sleeping bag on a 17” pad.  If someone is a wild sleeper they would probably
get the bag on the ground without a ground cloth.  I once camped on Mission
Creek with a guy that spread out a full 8” x 10” ground cloth.  OK for him –
not for me.



Once I added an 8-inch “fringe” of ground cloth material to the edges of the
sleeping pad thereby saving about half the ground cloth weight.  It worked
OK, but since I accordion-fold the pad things got a bit complicated for a
minimal weight savings.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Sun, Mar 21, 2010 at 10:56 AM, ryan clark <ryanoxie at mac.com> wrote:

> ground cloth essential or dead weight? particularly in the sierras.
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>