As The Crow Flies

I bought some red reflective tape at Wallmart and wrapped very thin pieces of it around my tent stakes in hopes that when the wind blows hard in the night and rips out my tent stakes, I can find them.

The little ones are orange titanium stakes from backpackinglight.com. They weigh 6 grams or .20 of an ounce a piece. A big wind can pull them out easily. They are painted orange because if they weren’t, there would be little chance of not losing them–I know this from first hand experience. Still, orange may as well be black, at night, so I have improved them by taping the red reflective tape on them.

The bigger ones, I believe, are Kelty’s Hexagonal aluminum stakes. They weigh 14 grams or .50 of an ounce each. I like the bigger ones because the wind doesn’t pull them out as easily and because they aren’t as easy to lose. They also are stronger.

In a comprise of light weight verses function–and because it’s what I have and I don’t want to buy anymore gear–I’m going to carry 3 of the big ones and 3 of the little ones.