Lean-to tip

[MichHiker1]

I am sure this is nothing new to most, but I wanted to share.
I just did an overnight solo at Nordhouse Dunes in Michigan.
The weather forecast was for mostly clear skies that night with sunshine the following day. High 72 and low 60.
So I figured it would be a great overnight, hanging in the sand dunes with Lake Michigan as my view, a great sunset and millions of stars to sleep under.
My plan was to just sleep under the sky, with no tarp, and depending on the bug situation, having my mosquito net unzipped and off to the side.
When I got there, to my surprise, it was windy, coming out of the north-west and I could see a decent amount of clouds off in the horizon.

I thought to myself, well, the forecast was for mostly clear through the night and sun tomorrow, so I should be just fine. Then at the last minute, I decided, well, I better have my tarp ready to go just in case.

So, I set up my 12' Kelty Noah. I set it up in an A-Frame mode. Then, I pulled the 2 front stakes (side facing Lake Michigan and the open view to the sky), kept the tie-outs attached to the stakes (with rubber bands), and folded the tarp back over the ridgeline and over itself. I then staked it out on the opposite side to make a lean-to type configuration. Now, this was a steep lean-to, and offered no rain protection.

The night went on, I saw a great sunset (with some clouds), and about Midnight, I got a really nice view of the stars. Not spectacular, but nice.

About 2 am, I woke up to what I thought were some very sparse raindrops. I could see the sky had clouded up quite a bit, and so, in the middle of the night and dark, I quickly pulled the 2 stakes up in back, flipped that 1/2 of the tarp back over, pulled the stakes out (line still attached), and anchored them in the ground. I honestly think it took less than 30 seconds.

Well, about 4 or 5 am, the rain came down for about 30 minutes at a steady pace. I was so, so happy, that I prepared in advance. If I had to completely set up the tarp in the middle of night, or even just unroll it and stake it all out, with rain and wind, it would have been a mess.

[Tumbleweed]

Good post. Done similar. Just flip it over and stake the corners. Easy peasy

[KevinMyhre]

Good tip. Just can't ever trust the weather forecast. I learned that back in my tent days leaving the rainfly off and waking up to a storm lol.

[tstark]

Another testament to the versatile and liberating experience hammock camping is. You were able to view awesome sights and listen to the rain all in the same night.

[woodstove]

IMHO It's always better to have it and not need it then to need it and not have it.
good call.
Trying to set something up in the rain, dark and in a hurry never seems to go well.

[michigandave]

Nice lesson on being prepared for whatever Mother Nature can toss at you. I've gone topless only a few times, but I always set up my ridgeline and have my tarp & stakes ready to deploy, just in case.

[ironfish77]

Always be prepared for rain. My experience has been not to trust weather forcasters. Only recently have I discovered tarpless camping. Love the openess, however I am always prepared for sudden changes.

[dscotthep]

I had pretty much the opposite experience two weeks ago. Forecast called for thunderstorms overnight, so I pitched the tarp close and low, and then went around and tweaked everything twice (I've never actually hammocked in the rain yet, so I wanted to get it right the first time...). As far as I know, not a drop of rain fell.