Spent a full hour trying to set up a tent in the dark last weekend

I pulled into the campsite near Lake Tahoe around 9pm and thought I could just wing it. My headlamp batteries were dying so I was basically working by the glow of my phone screen. The rain fly kept getting tangled and I had the poles facing the wrong way twice. It took me a solid 60 minutes to get that thing standing when it should have been a 10 minute job. I finally gave up and just threw a tarp over the whole mess and crawled in. Next time I'm either arriving earlier or practicing the setup in my backyard first. Has anyone else had a disaster trying to set up camp in the pitch black?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin8366d ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who thought setting up a tent in the dark was no big deal. Like how hard could it be, right? Then I tried doing it during a thunderstorm in the Adirondacks with a borrowed tent I'd never seen before. I had the rain fly inside out, put the poles through the wrong sleeves, and at one point just sat down in the mud with my head in my hands. That whole experience completely changed my mind. Now I always pitch my tent first thing when I arrive, even if it means cooking dinner in the dark. Your tarp idea was actually pretty smart, I might steal that for my emergency backup plan.

noah9176d ago

Wait, you sat down in the mud mid-setup? I don't blame you honestly, that's a brutal story.