Hot take: That camping spot in the Smoky Mountains changed my tent setup forever

I was at Cades Cove last month and noticed my tent was pooling water bad near the door. Looked around and saw folks camped on higher ground with their rain flies pulled tight and angled away. Realized I've been pitching my tent wrong for like 10 years - always on flat spots without thinking about runoff. That one trip cost me maybe $15 in gas to get there but saved me a ton of soggy nights. Anyone else ever have a basic setup habit that took a specific spot to fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

karen_carter1d ago

Wait you seriously went ten years without knowing how rain flies work?

thomasgonzalez1d ago

I remember I went about eight years thinking lightning bugs and fireflies were two totally different bugs, until my buddy Mike finally corrected me at a cookout... such a dumb moment. The thing that helped me was just asking someone who actually knew, like you did with @karen_carter. I sat Mike down and made him explain it real slow, and he broke down the whole life cycle thing with the larvae and the glowing. After that, it clicked and I never mixed them up again. Sometimes you just gotta corner a friend and make them teach you, you know?

violag8022h ago

Admit it, you never actually knew either until last year.