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Camp Shelter & Fire

A camp that stands up to wind, rain and sparks

Tarps, canopy sidewalls, tent footprints, stakes and guylines for wind, screen houses, and fire pit and ember mats. Fire picks follow the Forest Service's campfire rules, and canopies and heaters are checked against CPSC recalls.

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A 7-step path for beginners

  1. Two people at a camp table under a two-tone tan tarp pitched on poles between willow trees, bags and a picnic blanket on the grass
    01

    Rig a tarp

    Poly, silnylon, silpoly and DCF, and pitches for wind and rain.

    Read
  2. Red plastic tent stake in green grass with two taut white guylines running from it up to a tent, another tent blurred in the background
    02

    Hold it down in wind

    Stakes by ground type, and guylines with tensioners.

    Read
  3. Blue and white dome tent pitched on a gravel tent pad at a wooded campsite, folding camp chairs and a picnic table to the left
    03

    Protect the tent floor

    Footprints sized just under the floor.

    Read
  4. Gray pop-up canopy at a campsite with gray sidewalls on two sides, camp chairs and a folding table with a stove on a green floor mat underneath
    04

    Wall in a canopy

    Sidewalls, weights and each maker's wind limit.

    Read
  5. Wood fire burning in a round metal fire pit on a mown lawn, four dark Adirondack chairs around it and a wide river below the trees
    05

    Keep sparks off the ground

    Fire pit and ember mats, and why no mat beats a fire ban.

    Read
  6. Inside a yellow tent, a lantern hangs from the crossed poles, with green trees and a red roof seen through the mesh panels
    06

    Escape the bugs at camp

    Screen houses and screen tents for the table.

    Read
  7. Orange dome tent glowing from a light inside, pitched on deep snow among spruce and birch trees under a blue evening sky
    07

    Heat a tent safely

    Why the CDC says no heater in a tent, and what a CO alarm adds.

    Read

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