Warning: stop using cheap tent stakes in rocky soil

Was out at Joshua Tree last month and watched a guy snap three stakes trying to hammer them into packed dirt. I told him to try the screw-in kind but he waved me off. Next morning his tent was half collapsed from the wind and he was pissed. How many times do people need to learn this the hard way before they stop buying those 99 cent aluminum stakes?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul23319d ago

Man, that's exactly the kind of situation that drives me nuts. Why do people insist on learning the hard way when they could just ask or look up a quick tip before heading out? Did he honestly think those flimsy stakes would hold in hard packed dirt with wind gusts?

patriciamoore18d ago

Used to roll my eyes at folks like that, figured some people just don't use common sense. But then last summer I tried to set up a cheap tent in a field before a storm hit. Ground was like concrete, stakes bent like paper clips, and I spent the night chasing my tent across the campsite. Realized then that most people just grab whatever gear is on sale and figure it'll work out. Now I see a guy with flimsy stakes and a gusty forecast and I just feel bad.

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