Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board trail camp

can tent steaks be driven at trail camp.....or is it all rock?

thanks peter

It would depend on the tent site you are lucky enough to find. I was able to drive stakes but also had to use larger rocks on some of the fly guy lines. I also had to put rocks inside my tent along the wall-floor seams due to extreme wind.

Great hike in any event have a great time

I would have to agree with Fred. It just depends on where you set up. Some places are very sandy so you need to place rocks on the guy lines. I brought a little rubber mallot to drive the stacks into the ground.

Matt

Depends on the tent spot...and be careful selecting one...some drain well, some turn into lakes if it rains!

We probably got 1/2 of the stakes in. The rest we weighted down with rocks (limitless supply nearby!!) and the tent held up through two nights, one of steady rain but not too windy.

See 2001 trip report under "highpointing" on my <a href="http://www.mtritter.org">WWW page</a>.

When I hiked in July I personally preferred the camp spots at Consultation Lake. It is very close to Trail Camp but you get much more opportunity for seclusion and the marmot population isn't quite as high. I had no problem using stakes there, either. It does require a small bit of scrambling to get to some of the spots, however.

That high on the mountain you have two starting options. #1 Carry heavier stakes that will not bend easy. Then you might have a better chance getting them in. #2 Skip the stakes and use thin paracute cord to tie the end of your tent down. #3 In the past (previous posts -do a search of tent stakes) Bob R. Posted a picture of a make shift creative tarp which would work.

I was at trail camp two weeks ago. I was able to get all of my stakes in. Watch out for those nice walled in sites. We had some good rain/hail/lightning and those sites tended not to drain. We chose sites closer to the trail, but had great drainage. Bring ear plugs.

Matt