The wind is howling through the canyon as the sun starts dropping behind the rocks. It is Friday night, the first night of our two-night, three-day backpacking trip, and my tent is trying very hard to become somebody else’s problem.
My tent mate is holding one side while I fight with the other. Every time I get one corner down, the wind catches the opposite side and lifts it again. I look around and the other Scouts are not doing much better. One tent is half folded over, somebody is chasing a ground cloth, and a younger Scout is sitting on top of his tent, trying hard not to cry while keeping it from blowing away.
We did not bring stakes. Our little dome tents normally do not need them, and when you are backpacking, anything you can leave home saves weight and space. Most of the time that works great. Right now, not so much.
My name is Az. I'm a 13-year-old Star Scout with Troop 789. I can feel myself getting more frustrated as the sun keeps dropping. We still need to get camp set up, cook dinner, clean up, and somehow not lose half our gear into the canyon.
Off to the side, Mr. Don is leaning against a tree watching us. He has this look across his face, like he is remembering something from years ago. I hope this one is a doozy, because the wind is winning the battle right now.
After a few more minutes he tells everyone to put their packs and gear on top of the tents, then calls us over.
“When I was about your age,” he starts, “I was on a backpacking trip. No stakes, save the weight and space, you know the drill. Then the wind picked up and suddenly our tents did not care what the plan was.
“Our tents blew around every which way, and one even tried to launch itself off the edge of a cliff. One of my leaders, a crazy bug-eating military pilot, walked over and showed us another way.”
Mr. Don picks up a stick and slides it through the loop at the bottom of the tent, with the stick lying flat on the ground. From there we simply pile rocks on top of it. Poof, instant tent peg. No extra weight or space needed.
“That’s it?” I ask, half amused and half not believing this is actually going to work.
“That’s it. Now go try it. Let’s get those tents up. Oh, and maybe use some rocks to make windbreaks for the stoves too.”
We scatter around camp grabbing sticks and rocks. A few minutes later the tents are staying put, dinner is getting started, and the wind can keep doing whatever it wants.