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Rally site ground conditions

mosrrt

Member
This is a tenting question. Driving those tent stakes into the ground at times can be a problem. If ground conditions are hard, I will bring spikes and a hammer. :thumb
Thanks
 
Sounds more like a 'comment' than a question, but raises a good point.

While I've not heard of any ground issues reference Bloomsburg, a prudent camper brings his/her own hammer (rocks make a poor substitute for pounding in stakes, and usually end up doing damage to either the tent fabric or your fingernails!) and long stakes.

Remember to pound those stakes in with heads angled away from the tent, rather than straight down.

Happy Camping - see you in Bloomsburg! :wave
 
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My observation from the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds is that the ground is pretty hard when it is dry. I was measuring vending spaces and it took some effort to drive the pointed tip of my measuring tape into the ground.

Spikes and a pounding implement would be a good idea.
 
My observation from the Bloomsburg Fairgrounds is that the ground is pretty hard when it is dry. I was measuring vending spaces and it took some effort to drive the pointed tip of my measuring tape into the ground.

Spikes and a pounding implement would be a good idea.

The ground is flat and the soil is mixture of hard clay and modified gravel if you dig down a few inches. Usually Pennsylvania river valleys are rockless with deep top soil but the fairgrounds made the soil harder to take care of amusement rides, food vendors and RVs. The ground is harder on the infield of the track because of past sporting events from Monster Trucks, Tractor Pulls to Major league baseball years ago.

As of yesterday the grass is thick and lush for camping regardless of area. I always bring tougher spikes and tools for our rallies.
 
I have tossed all the silly tiny tent stakes that come with tents in the trash.

First, they don't really help much when the going gets tough (high winds). I found they just pull right out of the ground anyway. If you have enough weight in the tent and you don't need stakes to keep it erected, that's one way to go.

Second, if the ground is hard, the tiny stakes usually bend into a pretzel when trying to hammer them in.

Last year's RA rally was a fine example of tough ground. It was basically a few millimeters of soil on top of broken up asphalt. My stakes had little trouble getting through all that.




I use 10" spikes and carry a couple small metal mallets to keep my tents grounded. But then again, I have plenty of storage space :p

10" spikes can be located at just about any camping section of walmart type stores.
 
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