imi

Hi! I just read another thread about knives, which got me thinking.... For years I have carried a diving knife with me as an all purpose knife (I do a lot of diving aswell) which has also doubled as a hammer (the metal end usually used for tapping scuba tanks) which is great for driving in tent pegs.
The main disadvantage of this knife is that is that it is very unsuitable for chopping fruit and vegetables aswell well as being rather heavy so I have a smaller folding knife aswell...
I'm contemplating leaving the diving knife at home and wondering how you guys solve the hard ground/tent peg thang? Obviously asking other campers for a rubber mallet or finding a suitable piece of wood are sometimes options... but you guys are so ingenious and resourceful that I'm sure there are other solutions I haven't thought about out there. Thanks for any tips!

markf

My first choice is to camp on soft ground where I can push a tent stake in by hand. Second choice is to find a suitable rock (works better than wood). Third choice is this. Not as heavy as the old school rubber mallet on a wooden handle, but it works nearly as well.

valygrl

Rock.

prathmann

If I can't push them in by hand or foot I look for a suitable rock. Frequently a previous camper will have left one by the side of a picnic table or other obvious spot.

imi

Maybe just my rock technique but I've found that rocks easily damage pegs when you really have to whack em into that dry desert...

kayakdiver

rock

imi

Yeah yeah apart from ROCK then!

imi

found this interesting review of tent pegs:

https://www.backpacking-lite.co.uk/re...gs-review.html

Robert_in_ca

Take your shoe off and aim the spd cleat to strike the stake.

imi

Thanks for the link markf! Looks interesting

imi

Ah great tip! I use toeclips but if I ever go to spd's I'll remember that

mev

Rock.

Also I have a self-standing tent, so if it really won't go in, then I'll do without the tent pegs.

staehpj1

75% of the time, push in by hand.
15% of the time, use foot to push in.
9% of the time use a rock
1% of the time give up and improvise by tying to whatever was there (rocks trees etc)

This was for a coast to coast trip and did not include the many times we didn't stake the tent at all. In some places the mix would be way different.

gregw

I use my forehead or sometimes a ..........

Cyclesafe

I carry and use the Coglan's hammer. It is quite light and for me worth the weight. But I also carry two (2) Therm-A-Rests. Used to carry a Therm-A-Rest lounge chair too.

Whenever I ride with others they fight over the hammer like dogs fight over a scrap of meat.

BigBlueToe

I push them in with my hand. If I can't, it usually is because the ground is too rocky. Then I use a rock as a hammer. (Why carry a hammer - more weight - when there are always rocks available on rocky ground?) I've found that if you hit a stake lightly with many blows, you can avoid bending it. If you tap-tap-tap it, often the rock that's obstructing it will gradually move out of the way. Once a stake bends once, you can straighten it, but it's much more likely to bend again.

If I do my multiple tap method for a long time and make no progress, I move the stake an inch or two, or change the angle to avoid the rock that's obstructing. Occasionally I'll have to move the whole tent a few inches.

This is one reason to have a self-supporting tent. I don't, but my staking method has always worked so far.

reiffert

Find a suitable rock.

If you find one that can do double or triple duty, take it with you.

Other uses: Wheel chock to prevent rolling backward at stoplights, under pedal to hold bike upright while loading in the morning and unloading at night and during the day to dig around for energy bars and patchkits, place to chop vegetables or keep hot pots off the grass, place to put freshly washed socks to dry, if you're truly going minimal they can work as pillows....

And if the ground is really that hard, tie the line to it instead of using a peg.

Ranger Dan

Wow, I never considered carrying a hammer. I've always used a self-supporting tent while touring. If I needed a rain fly, I pushed the stakes in by hand or tied off to a rock, chunk of wood, my bike or whatever if the ground was too hard.

Once upon a time I spent a few months traveling in the Rockies by horseback with a tent that used pegs -- there always seemed to be a suitable rock to use at the end of the day.

Most of my trips have been solo, but if you're traveling with others I suppose the thing to do is buy something beefy, don't worry about the weight, and just slip it into your partner's pannier every morning.

Beyond that, I thought the forehead comment was a good one.

Ranger Dan

Oh, lest I forget to state the obvious -- if you're married and still traveling with the wife unit, don't worry about the stakes because putting up the tent is HER job. By the way, I would definitely leave the knife at home on those trips.

imi

Nah, but my ex-wife used to just crawl under a rock to sleep during our courting days' tours... guess there could have been a clue there somewhere...

Machka 

+1

xcapekey

I bring a small camp axe. A Wetterlings. I've found that it's great for not only splitting wood for a fire and for cooking, but also for driving in tent pegs in hard ground.

https://epicureancyclist.blogspot.com...amp-tools.html

John Nelson

The plastic hammer is really cool and works very well. If somebody has one nearby, I'll always ask to borrow it. However it doesn't work sufficiently better than a rock to carry the extra 7 ounces.

paxtonm

I once really scratched up the stock on my AK47 while bashing tent pegs into hard ground while on tour. I now use the original hammer -- a rock.

buzzman

rock (improve your technique)

for softer taps:

heel of shoe (I don't smash away at my cleats on tour if I don't have to- a broken, misshaped or loosened cleat can be a total drag on tour unless you have a spare, which I usually do, but still)


carry a hammer?- never, a hammer is one of the most primitive of tools it's basically a rock with a handle- why bother carrying that around on a bike you spent a fortune on in order to have the lighter crank set and pedals?