How to Pitch a Tent

Video Transcript

"Hi I'm Richard Fields. Today we are going to talk about how to pitch a tend. The first thing you are going to want to do is if this tent is new to you set it up at home. Practice with it there. You are not going to want to be out in the wilderness and find out that you don't have all the parts and have no clue how to set it up. Having done that, the first thing you will want to do whether you choose to use a ground cloth or not is to prepare the ground. You want to select a place that doesn't have any green grass or plants growing, that is just an impact thing and then you are going to want to remove all sharp sticks and rocks and things like that so that you will have a comfortable sleep and you won't damage the bottom of the tent. You want a spot that is level if all possible. If it can't be perfectly level you want to set your tent so that when you are lying in it your head is going to be at the high end. Everything is going to be a little different so the important point with whichever tent you choose is that you want the bottom to be taut and you want the tent well staked down so that the wind doesn't blow it away when you are not in it. Also when you are taking out your tent and you are laying out the tent and your ground cloth and everything else, anchor it down especially in windy conditions so you don't end up having to chase these parts around, just use any convenient rock to keep these things in place. When you stake down the bottom of your tent you want to try to make sure you don't get it distorted so that way when the whole tent is up it will tend to be more taut and will be more resistant to wind and more likely allow rain to shed off of it. Depending on the kind of tent you have you can put the stakes in before or after you put the poles up. We are going to go ahead and put these poles in and then we'll put the rain fly on to get the whole thing set up and taut. Now that you have got your tent properly set, you are ready for a good night's sleep. If the soil seems a little soft or it is very windy you might consider putting a rock on the stakes to help keep them in place. That's how to pitch a tent. Have a good time."