That time my tent collapsed and I learned about guy lines the hard way

Last summer at Lake Tahoe I set up my old dome tent in about 10 minutes without bothering to stake the guy lines. Wind picked up around 2 AM and that thing folded in half right on top of me. I spent the next hour trying to untangle poles with a headlamp while my dog sat on my sleeping bag looking at me like I was an idiot. Has anyone else learned a basic camping lesson after a really stupid mistake?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin4892mo ago

Same thing happened to me but in the rain at Yosemite. I had this cheap Walmart tent and thought guy lines were just for decoration or something. Woke up at 3 AM with the fly slapping me in the face and water dripping down my neck. Now I treat guy lines like they're the MOST important part of setup. I even practice staking them down before dark so I don't have to fumble around with a headlamp again. Fixed them tight at every angle and haven't had a collapse since.

skyler_mitchell1mo ago

My buddy showed me a trick where you tie a little loop in the guy line tight against the stake so it can't slip. Total game changer once I learned that.

tessa_kelly2mo ago

Read somewhere that most tent failures happen because people skip the guy lines. Definitely learned that lesson the hard way like you did.