RE: [Philmont]: tent stakes- gutter spikes

I've seen every kind of tent stake come to Philmont! And on my first trek,
one Scout brought the nails that Jason mentioned, 8 inch long galvanized
steel nails (I think they are called Pole Barn nails in some parts, Deer
spikes in others).

I've seen the aluminum gutter nails hold up well and if driven at a good
angle they seem to hold, even in a windy rainstorm. My choice for my tent
are some high end ones that are made from the Easton aluminum tubing that
tens polls are made from. They have a good point and a nice spool like nob
at the upper end. The nob has a hole in it and I have threaded through it a
small piece of bright cord tied in a loop. When pulling up stakes you yank
the first one but then use it to pull up the loop on the next stakes making
it easier (you'd be surprised how hard it is to pull up a stake sometimes at
Philmont!)

The crews I have advised on also bring one of those plastic stake hammers as
a piece of crew gear. They are lightweight and are far safer and easier to
use for putting in stakes then a rock. Pulling up rocks to use as a hammer,
as mentioned, is not very LNT oriented and since most rocks are irregular in
shape and are more prone to hit the end of your stake at a bad angle and
possibly bend it and make it useless. On one trek, we used the plastic
hammer to repair a bent stay on a backpack so it had a duel purpose.

As mentioned, one should avoid nailing stakes into tree roots if possible.
However, in recent years Philmont has been putting campers farther from the
tree line in camps where that is possible, such as in openings or meadows,
so this may be less of a problem.

YOF
Chris in Houston

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Received on Sat May 10 08:42:22 2003