As a youngster I was someone who never knew they wanted to be in the scouts. Everyone has to make choices and prioritize different things – you can’t do it all. And it feels like that is why I am only now learning how to tie knots that should be in all adventurers vocabulary.
In early February I set off with my brother (car) camping for a couple nights in Withlacoochie State Forest. When you are planning a trip you can never really know what kind of weather is in store. Our trip consisted of an 80 degree day and a freezing night separated by a crazy storm through the night. I had concerns about the leaking tent, but I had more concerns about the bass-pro-china-special tent just collapsing under the 50+ gusts.
This is when all the family came out of the woodwork to text their concerns. Mothers and Wives all wanted to make sure we would be safe. That’s when the image you see on the right was texted to us.
Knowing that I would be looking to tie things down, I started doing some youtube research on knots and the like. I had plenty of paracord but not enough knowledge. So i found a couple videos that really helped me:
- How to Tie Truckers Hitch Survival Knots — Tarp Shelter
- Truckers Hitch Tip
- This one helped me the most, me thinks
The rain fly was already lashed down to the ground, but a couple extra lines on opposite sides of the tent made things nice and sturdy. At first I thought tying to trees would work best, but lashing the frame of the tent down to the ground gave the best bang for the buck.
The wind was rough coming across the site, but things held tight and we made it through the night. Honestly, we ended up being more concerned about the plethora of lightning that seemed to fill the entire sky. The push and pull on the tent created a sort of stressed member that held up great through the night.
