Steps to setting up my Tarp / Lean-to

I decided to utilize my Gorilla Pod and my Canon Powershot to take a series of photos showing the set-up steps for my 8x10 Tarp / Lean-to arrangement.

First, some info and qualifications:

• this is a standard Walmart $10 8x10 utility tarp.
• this is obviously not a tent, not an "enclosure" and will not protect you sufficiently from high wind and rain.
• I only set this up / use this arrangement if I'm relatively confident the weather won't be really wet and rainy.... with that said, I have slept through a couple of drizzly nights with this arrangement but it would obviously not keep you dry in a real "gully washer".

Second, I did a couple of extra steps here at Village Creek State Park because I know how things are in the woods in the South even in winter.... there are chiggers.... those little mite sized boogers that go straight for the tenderest places and make you scratch till you bleed....

As far as the actual steps for set-up, here goes -

First, survey your campsite and the current and expected wind direction.  What you want is to set up your tarp such that the "wedge" will be protecting you from the wind and you have 2 trees or limbs that are slightly wider apart than the width of the tarp to attach the top half of the tarp to... to create the wedge.  Ideally, you want the "open" side of the wedge to be protected by brush or cover so that if the wind does switch around on you, you are protected by the trees and the brush vs the tarp.  Obviously, I've already set up the tarp here, but this pic is to illustrate location selection. Here's the site I selected for my tarp / lean-to at Village Creek State Park. In this case, the wind was coming from left to right so the "wedge" is protecting me.

Second - and again, I'm only doing this because of the potential for chiggers.....Spray your ankles with insect repellent - I'm using Deep Woods Off.  I have done this for years when I go hiking in the Southern Woods and find it highly effective at preventing chiggers from getting that first step.... usually they start with the closest body part to the ground which is usually your feet and ankles.... notice also I've got my warm up pants cuffed.... I've talked about this before as a way to prevent your pants legs from snagging and tripping you while hiking but it also helps minimize the "point of entry" for our little itching friends....fiends!

Third - Spray the ground where the footprint of the tarp will be.... normally I just spray around the boundary of the tarp once I have it set up.... but again, this is the Deep South and I want to do everything I can to minimize chigger exposure.... don't know how effective spraying Off on the ground is.... but it makes me feel better doing it, so that's step 3.

Step 4 is to lay the tarp out flat and install stakes at the 4 corners of the floor section of the tarp.  Be sure and stretch the tarp tight with the tent stakes and put the stakes in at an angle with the pointed tips of the stakes slanting toward the inside of the floor section of the tarp.

Attach the bungee cords to the  upper section of the tarp and stretch and attach the bungees around the trees or limbs selected in Step 1.  I also add "middle" bungees to take the "sag" out of the tarp.

And there's the finished product with my Thermarest Sleeping Mat and Pillow and Coleman Exponent Sleeping Bag installed.

It's a good compromise between "sleeping under the stars" with NO PROTECTION and sleeping in a tent where you feel CLOSED IN!

To each his own, where I can use it , I prefer my tarp to a tent!