Camping is an excellent way of relaxing and replenishing the energy that you spent throughout the week. Camping at a site like in the woods, by a river, or on a mountain, whichever your choice is, is a pleasing way of spending the weekend.
But setting up the tent is always a hustle. So, how do you pitch a tent without any hustle? Well, It is not a fast process, to be honest, but it is not tedious either. Start by choosing and preparing the land.
Then unwrap the footprint, stake it with the ground tightly. Prepare the poles and feed them through the channels on the outside of the inner tent layer.
Feed the pole ends through the grommets, and you are nearly done. All that is left to do is to install the outer rainproof layer.
Easy, right? Yeah, not really.
If it were this easy, you wouldn’t have to come here. Bear with me; I will take you through the steps and explain everything properly; what problems you may face and how to counter them. So, here’s how it is done –
6 Steps For Pitching A Tent
You may have a good quality tent like Neso Grande Tent but if you do not know the technique to pitch the tent your joy of camping will not take much time to turn into sorrow.
Step 1 – The Groundwork
The first and foremost step of this process is to choose and prepare the ground where you will erect your tent. The ground is important because it is the only local element that you will be actively affected by during the whole camping time.
Choose a relatively flat surface for the tent. Make sure that it is dry and there are no tree branches hanging right above the spot. Because if there are, it will be annoying later on in many ways.
Remove any stones, pebbles, sticks, or any other hard material from the spot. Make it relatively clean and tidy.
Step 2 – The Footprint
The footprint of a tent is the part that directly comes in contact with the ground. It acts as the floor of the structure. In addition to that, it lays the ground for the other parts to build on top of.
Not all the tents include a footprint in the package. If you do not have one, you can always buy one.
If you pay attention, you can identify the front side of the tent just by looking at the general structure. So, plan before placing it which way you want the door to be. Generally, you want to choose a direction that is not in line with the wind.
Another thing to keep a note of is the top side. Usually, one side of the footprint is shiny or marked to be the top side.
Notice, we did not use any stakes yet. The footprint, or the ground tarp, is just positioned, not fixed with the ground. This will help later on.
Step 3 – Preparations
If the inner layer of your tent or, the body of the tent is separate from the ground tarp, then bring it on top of the already positioned tarp. Be mindful of the direction so that it lines up with the tarp. I mean, in terms of door direction.
Take the poles out and assemble them. A typical tent has 2 or 4 poles. Then take the assembled poles and put them in place. Some tents have pole channels through the diagonals, or some other tents simply have clips to cling on to the poles.
If your tent has pole channels, then pass the poles through them before erecting the poles. Or if yours does not, then you can straight get to erecting them.
Step 4 – Erecting The Poles
You can find holes or grommets on the four corners of the footprint. Typically, there should be two on each corner. Insert the edges of the poles through one of the grommets on the closest corner. There should be notches near the edge of the pole where the grommet can rest.
If your tent is the one with the pole channel, then your tent should already be up and erect. But if yours is the one with hooks instead of the channels, then you should be able to pull up the tent body and start clipping the hooks with the poles.
When all the hooks are clipped, the tent should be nearly ready to use. However, some tents have additional poles to help increase the space inside. If you have some, assemble them and put them in place.
Step 5 – The Rain Fly
Now, take the rain fly and place it on top of the tent. The fly also has a door side, be mindful about that. You may find a similar kind of grommet on the corners of the rain fly as well. Stitch the end of the pole through these grommets as well.
On the other hand, if you do not find such grommets on the fly, then you will notice some sort of clip/buckle system. In this case, you will also find a responding past on the footprint. Clip them together and tighten the straps until the rain fly is stretched and not touching the inner layer anywhere.
Step 6 – Finishing
With the tent up and ready, now it is time to fix it with the ground. Take the stakes or pegs and put one through the other grommets of each of the corners. Then push them into the ground making a 45-degree angle with the ground.
It is a good idea to pull the whole setup outward slightly before pushing the stakes into the ground. This will keep the whole structure tight and sturdier.
Some people may argue with me, saying that I should have done this right after placing the footprint before erecting the tent. But I do not agree. I personally feel like erecting the tent first gives the structure more strength and integrity.
That should be all. Your tent should be up and properly functional.
Frequently Occurring Problems
That is the general idea of the process of pitching a tent. However, there are some problems that may occur, which can potentially ruin the vacation. Those are as follows –
- The Tent Or The Rainfly Tearing
If this happens, depending on the size of the tear, you can make a quick fix. If you happen to have duct tapes or other kinds of waterproof tape, you can simply tape it if the tear is not terribly big. But if it is big, then you can tape a piece of polythene to patch it for the time being.
- The Elastic Of The Pole Breaking
It feels impossible to erect the poles when the elastic breaks. I know. But the scenario is not unlikely. When it does, if you are lucky enough to have a tape on you, you can assemble the pole parts and tape them together. You can deal with it after returning home. But the tape will save the vacation.
Even if you do not have tape, you can still assemble and use the pole as normal. Just always maintain an inward pressure on the pieces so that they do not come apart. Or ask someone to help you out.
Summary
The steps I mentioned above are pretty much all there is in properly pitching a tent. The basic and simple tent that is; Some fancy ones may include extra features and procedures to execute them, but those are way too situational to mention here.
As long as you follow the mentioned steps properly, you should not face any more issues pitching a tent.
In short, choose a spot, unwrap the parts, assemble the poles, place, and clip the tent both with the footprint, and the poles, place and lock the rainfly, and staple the whole thing with the ground. That is the general gist of setting up a tent.
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