How Best to Set Up a Tent on a Rocky Mountain?

Put Down Your Footprint

The first thing you need to do is find a large, clear patch where you can set up your tent. If there are any sticks and stones or even pine needles, make sure you clear these away because you need an even surface to set up the tent properly. Once you have selected a suitable site, you can then go ahead and place your footprint on the ground.

A footprint is basically a waterproof piece of tarp that should be the same size as the bottom of your tent. This is a must-have item, especially when camping in mountainous regions with high chances of rain because the footprint helps keep the inside of your tent dry.

Now that you have your footprint on the ground, place the tent fabric over it. At this point, you need to make sure that the corners of the tent are aligned with the corners of the footprint.

Assemble The Poles

The next step is to bring out all the tent poles for assembly. These poles will be in segmented pieces, and you need to join them together. Carefully slide each small pole into another pole piece until you have a long curved pole line.

You must be extra careful during this step because you don’t want the poles to snap or bend out of shape. This is because the poles are pretty much the bones of your tent and keep it standing. In fact, the long, curved pole lines are basically the structure of your tent, so always try to buy tent poles that are made of strong materials like steel or aluminum alloys.

Now that you have your pole lines ready, you can feed the assembled pole lines through the eyelets on each of the four corners of the tent fabric.

Set Up The Tent

Once the poles are in place and threaded through the eyelets, it is time to lift the tent fabric and set up the tent properly. As you pull up the tent fabric, use the plastic hooks to attach the fabric to the poles all the way to the top. So, now the base and sides of your tent are done, and you just need to cover the top with an extra layer called the rain fly.

Attach The Rain Fly

Covering the top of your tent with a rain fly is extremely important. The rain fly is a piece of tent equipment made of waterproof material, and it stops rain from seeping in from the top of your tent. It’s like an extra layer of protection from the elements so that you can sleep warm and snug even if it’s pouring outside.

There are multiple types of rain flies that are available on the market. You can get ones that partially cover the top and the sides or rain flies that cover your whole tent. Getting full coverage rain flies is definitely recommended, especially if there’s a high chance of rainfall.

Another thing to keep in mind is that when placing the rain fly over your tent, make sure the corners align and that the opening flap of the rain fly aligns with the door of the tent so that you don’t cover up the exit.

Stake Out The Area

The biggest issue when camping out on a rocky mountain is staking your tent securely to the ground. This is the final step, but it’s really important that you get it right, especially if you don’t want your newly set up tent to be blown over by strong winds.

The trouble with rocky ground is that driving in the tent pegs can be a hassle because the ground is so hard the pegs don’t fully go in. If you apply too much force, they may even break apart. However, you need them to go all the way in, or you won’t be able to fix your tent safely in place.

The good news is that there are a few things you can do in this case. Firstly, you need to get really strong pegs that can be driven into the ground and won’t break even if there are lots of rocks in the soil.

Pro tip: If the soil is too hard, pour a bucket full of water over the area and wait a few minutes. The water will seep into the soil and soften up the ground so that the pegs will go right in. However, if the ground happens to have no soil and is just made up of rocks and stones, then pegs aren’t going to cut it unless you get super strong steel ones that can go through boulders.

In such a scenario, instead of trying to use pegs, you can just tie a bungee cord or a paracord around a small stone. Then place a much larger rock on the cord that you tied around the small stone. This will make sure that the stone and the cord do not budge, and your tent will remain in place all night.

So, there you have it - an answer to the question of how best to set up a tent on a rocky mountain? These five steps have pretty much got you covered from start to finish. And you can now easily enjoy an overnight camping trip in the mountains without worrying about your tent collapsing or falling over because now you know the best way to stake in your tent no matter how hard or rocky the terrain.