I have a CCS 15x15 tarp and am looking for advice or a tutorial on how to set this up over the fire grate with only poles (or deadfall) as supports when there are no viable trees available.

I could probably rig something and make it work, but I would like some input on how to make it more rock solid. I envision the wind lifting a corner and the pole slipping out and dropping the tarp into the fire.

Is this too large of a tarp to be bulletproof in high winds without trees to anchor it down? The campsite that I am envisioning faces south, and wide open, with no wind break.

I'm a visual learner.. so if you have photos of your set up, that would be helpful!

Thanks!

I wouldn't recommend placing any tarp over the fire grate if you plan on having a fire in it. The sparks and cinders from the fire will burn tiny holes in it. With a quality tarp like that I keep mine well back from the fire grate.

There are some useful photos to give you ideas in this thread of a clinic by Dan Cooke. He is using trees for part of the setups but does show an end with just a pole.

Tarp Clinic by Dan Cooke

I would agree with Northwoodsman and avoid hanging the tarp over the fire for his stated reason. Without trees available I would recommend supporting it with MSR adjustable poles. I would use 5' poles at the four corners and an 8' pole for the center support. Be sure to V stake the poles out. This pic shows a tarp corner supported with an 8' pole but I always hang my tarp on a continuous ridgeline so now I just bring two or three 5' poles in case trees aren't in the right place.

Rigging up a tarp without trees is entirely possible, but it does require a bit of obsessive adjusting. First, lay the tarp out flat (or as horizontally flat as possible given the terrain) and tie down the four corners. The tarp doesn’t need to be taut, but something close. Make sure your four corners have a lot of adjustability, this is where a taut-line hitch or an adjustable tensioning knot you are comfortable with comes in handy.

Next, with the tarp tied down in the four corners and somewhat taut, take two poles. These should be the height you would normally tie the ridgeline at, so 6’ to 8’. If they are adjustable, all the better, but that is more gear to bring and I bet you could find an 8’ pole in the wild. Looking at the taut horizontal tarp, pull up an edge where you want the pole to live, and start lifting the tarp at that spot with the pole. The goal is the keep enough tautness in the tarp that it holds the pole in place once the pole is vertical and free standing. To achieve this goal, you may have to go back to the tarp corners and let out more line until the tautness is just right to hold the pole in place when vertical. Once you have one pole up, go to the other side, probably 180 degrees from the first pole, and do the same thing.

Once both poles are up, you now start adding a whole bunch of additional support lines. Add a support line on each pole that pull against each other. Think of this support line as your ridgeline that goes over the pole and then gets staked off to the ground. Pull this “ridgeline” taut and against each other over each pole.

After you have these 6 guylines (4 corners and 2 over the poles) your tarp should be set and it is up to you to adjust from there to your comfortability for sustained weather.

Finally, I have set my tarp up numerous times over a firegrate with no damage. There are a couple of guidelines I follow to minimize the threat. One, the firegrate is at the edge of the tarp, I don’t center the firegrate under the tarp. This allows for a draft to potentially (depending on the wind) to flow under the tarp and away from the firegrate, taking sparks with it. Second, the tarp is at least 5’ above the firegrate, including if a sudden gust comes up and the tarp dips down. Third, and I learned this from Dan Cooke, I don’t burn any paper products in the fire. The embers from paper products stay airborne a lot longer and are a huge reason for pinholes. Finally, my fires aren’t huge, nothing much higher than the surrounding rocks.

I found a photo that may help. It shows the “ridgeline” ropes that pull against each other and are critical. Also, the photo shows the poles in the center of the tarp, but the great thing about the CCS tarp is that you could put those poles closer to one edge instead of the middle, thus making the height above the firegrate better.

Good luck.

I don’t have a good visual for setting up a tarp with no trees but I am going to say I put my CCS tarp over fires all the time with no issues. I mean the fire is supposed to be contained within the fire grate…you aren’t supposed to have bonfires in the BWCAW…The whole reason I bring a tarp is to have fires when it rains…20 years with a 1.1 oz. Tarp over fires with no issues is a pretty good run :) maybe Dan will come on here and tell me I am an idiot :)

I echo the same thing. We absolutely love cooking over an open fire and a properly pitched tarp can accomplish this. Plus, it’s not to shabby to withstand a rain storm while feeding a fire.

When you say "no trees" do you mean in a burn area? The reason I ask is with a 100 foot ridge line of 1/4 inch dyneema I have never not been able to set up my tarp in any BWCA campsite. With dyneema it's light, doesn't stretch, and really doesn't take up a lot of space.

Here is that same 15 x 15 CCS tarp set-up in a mucky lowland probably 75 yards from the closest tree. It survived a night of thunderstorms that likely dropped 2" of rain with 20+ mph sustained winds and much higher gusts. These CCS tarps are tough!

We set it up low so maybe not appropriate for an open fire, but we did cook under here for several days/nights with the MSR stove.

I do not have photos of pole tarp sets. Just some at home experiments. One thing though use 2 guy-lines per pole for stability.


This set and the next are not meant for a camp but to move around and try different sets so the guy-lines are attached to the poles too low to allow height changing.



Far as the 15 foot size, the set can be made smaller with a large tarp (fold and tuck), but not bigger than the tarp size.

butthead

Northwoodsman: "I wouldn't recommend placing any tarp over the fire grate if you plan on having a fire in it. The sparks and cinders from the fire will burn tiny holes in it. With a quality tarp like that I keep mine well back from the fire grate."

We found a solution to this several years ago when it sleeted and snowed on us. We stacked rocks on the fire grate, making it into an oven. Then we hung a tarp over the fire grate, and four reflecting blankets for walls. It was 30 to 35 degrees outside, but inside our shelter we were in t shirts. Best of all, it took very little wood to keep the "oven" going, and we were able to keep the wood dry all week.

Thank you for the ideas and photos everyone! Interesting approach Minnesotan, I wouldn't have thought of staking out before lifting the peak!

Maybe Dan can chime in here? I cannot seem to figure out the knot he uses from the tarp to pole, to guy line, or the reasoning it is done in this fashion?

I have no issues having a tarp over the fire grate. This is the only reason that I bring a tarp, so we can enjoy a fire during the rain. We keep the flames low, and only the leading edge of the tarp is over the fire.