Dunes Long Trail - OnLine#5 - Tarp or Tent, Quilt or Bag

Tarp and Quilt are my preferences. Sometimes in some pretty cold or windy places.

Lets review.

The last Dunes Long Trail Hour #4 covered why sleeping where-ever you are when it gets dark supports lots of miles and eschews the bears and other critters that expect you at a regular camping site.

Before that in #3 how to use the whole day to hike at a reasonable pace and make lots of miles.

#1 was a Dunes Long Trail update and #2 using your phones GPS to keep track of where you are.

OK so you found a nice spot near dark after 15 or 20 or even 25 miles of walking. You are exhausted and really just want to get warm and fall asleep. Your tarp is light weight and small enough to fit in a good sized exterior pocket of your pack next to your plastic ground cloth. You put your pack under a tree if it's raining and quickly deploy your tarp onto trees, or fallen dried branches or even walking sticks if you use those. You then bring your pack back under the tarp. You pull out the ground cloth and pull your quilt over you. You can do that fully clothed if your windbreaker is dry or doff it and warm up quickly under the quilt.

I'm definitely biased after years of doing it that way. Complicated or even simple tents take longer and bags require more clothing removal to squeeze into. In a rain time is of the essence.

We will be talking about these things on our discussion on Monday April 22 at 6:30pm at -> https://meet.jit.si/Dunes_Long_Trail_AT