My buddy's $40 tarp setup made me question my whole tent habit

Last month a friend from my hiking group in Oregon showed me his overnight setup using just a flat tarp and a ground sheet. He spent maybe 40 bucks total and it weighed less than my tent's footprint alone. At first I thought he was being cheap, but then we got dumped on with rain for two hours and he stayed totally dry under a simple A-frame pitch. The thing that really hit me was when he said he'd been doing this for 6 years and never felt the need for poles or zippers. Now I'm wondering if I've been carrying 3 extra pounds for no real reason. Has anyone else made the switch from a tent to a tarp and actually stuck with it? What was the steepest learning curve for you?

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nathan_bailey22d ago

Wait, does the A-frame still work when the wind shifts mid-storm?