No stakes given

[OneClick]

I always carry stakes, but on occasion I just use sticks and have one less thing to pack up. The small things in life.

Me when I start taking the tarp down the next morning...

[KBr00ks]

I used sticks recently when I realized setting up that my stake bag was still at the last campsite...oops. But the ground was soft and the sticks worked fine.

[Rolloff]

Last week was moving stands and setting up deer camp. Old red clay farmland. I was actually pounding my MSR's in with a short piece of 2x4.

I can highly recommend these stakes

[OneClick]

Last week was moving stands and setting up deer camp. Old red clay farmland. I was actually pounding my MSR's in with a short piece of 2x4.

I can highly recommend these stakes

That's never fun, but then again it feels good cranking down tight on the lines knowing it's not going anywhere.

[HarveyM]

Set up my new to me Amok hammock last Friday in my back yard and, even though Jonas clearly says put your stakes in your pocket when you remove them in his instructional videos, I didn't for one. Took me four sweeps to find that bright blue sucker. Would have been faster to whittle stakes from the maple I was hanging under.

[OneClick]

Set up my new to me Amok hammock last Friday in my back yard and, even though Jonas clearly says put your stakes in your pocket when you remove them in his instructional videos, I didn't for one. Took me four sweeps to find that bright blue sucker. Would have been faster to whittle stakes from the maple I was hanging under.

Try the titanium Toaks stakes. IMPOSSIBLE to find in leaves. That gray somehow turns brownish and just disappears. I tied some yellow zingit to the top so I won't lose them. Or I could have just stopped throwing them into a pile, missing, and having to search.

[KBr00ks]

Oh yeah, I bought a new set of MSR Mini Groundhogs for the next trip. Can't completely abandon them. (Hope the person who found my first set is appreciating them.)

[TominMN]

...

Me when I start taking the tarp down the next morning...

That's a lot of facial growth in one night...

I like the DAC stakes but they've been a bit hard to find, not that I need any at this time. Toughest aluminum stake I've used so far.

[cmoulder]

As usual, it's location-location-location.

Around here, you're most likely going to have a hard time pounding sticks into the ground because of the rocks. So I use the Lawson Ti "HD" shepherd hooks that fit into smaller cracks and can be driven in if one has the right touch... start off tapping and gradually work up to whacking, but not really POUNDING. If you hit solid rock, nothing short of a jackhammer is going in anyway. Gotta feel around and find the cracks.

Many times those same rocks can be used as stakes so if you forget them there are options.

rock_stake_01.jpg

[PopcornFool]

As usual, it's location-location-location ... Many times those same rocks can be used as stakes so if you forget them there are options.

rock_stake_01.jpg

I love the photo! This is a great idea and I use this same stick & rock trick all the time. A lot of the places that I go backpacking in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and (particularly) Pennsylvania are really rocky, so I'll often save weight by not taking stakes at all.

I usually try to find flatter rocks though when I can. There have been several instances when I used a roundish rock like the one depicted (even a really heavy one) that just rolled right over the stick when a good gust of wind caused the tarp to suddenly jerk the guy line. Actually ... and don't ask me to explain the physics ... but I think the stick was actually pulled under the rock while the rock rolled over the top of it, sort of like the string pulling under a yo-yo. A heavy flatter rock and a fatter stick can help minimize that issue.