My $20 tarp stake broke and it changed how I pitch camp
I used to hammer in cheap aluminum stakes at an angle, figured that was just how everyone did it. Then one windy night near Lake Tahoe, a stake bent sideways and my tarp nearly wrapped around a pine tree. My buddy who works search and rescue showed me you should drive stakes straight down, almost vertical, and use the loop on the tarp to pull tension sideways. That simple switch stopped my rain fly from flapping in 30 mph gusts on a trip last month. Anyone else learned a basic pitch fix way later than they should have?