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Been packing my tent wrong for 5 years figured it out during a downpour last weekend in the Smokies
I always just stuffed my tent into the sack any old way. Thought it was fine. Then a storm hit around 2 AM near Clingmans Dome and I couldnt get the poles sorted in the dark. Rain was soaking everything. Took me 20 minutes to set up soaked and mad. Next morning a guy next to me showed me he rolls his tent with the poles laid flat on top before rolling. Takes two extra minutes. Never going back. Anyone else have a gear habit they thought was fine until it wasnt?
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harper_owens20d ago
Soaking wet at 2 AM trying to find the rain fly in the dark is pretty much the universal sign that you've been doing it wrong, huh? Sounds like your neighbor saved you about five years of frustration with that one simple trick. I guess some lessons just have to be learned through a cold, wet, and miserable night in the Smokies.
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the_barbara20d ago
The first trip I ever took with my dad, he spent 45 minutes trying to set up a tarp in a windstorm before I just said forget it and we slept in the car lol. @harper_owens I always thought you had to be all hardcore and suffer through the rain, but after seeing that neighbor just flip the poles out from under the fly and have a dry tent in 30 seconds, I straight up changed my whole way of thinking. Now I practice setting up in my yard before every trip just so I don't have to relive that cold, wet Smokies nightmare. Its funny how one simple trick can make you feel like an idiot for years of doing it the hard way.
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