Tarps

In 2013, we used two Ray-Way tarps for our AT thru-hike, and they worked great in tandem with our hammocks. The materials come as a kit and you have to sew it together yourself. We had no problems with the tarps the entire 2000 miles. So, I expected to use Ray-Way tarps again for the Colorado Trail, and had purchased two kits a few years ago but had never gotten around to actually sewing them together. 

A year ago, after realizing that this CT trip was going to happen, I dug them out and began to put them together. Rearranging our backpacking kits, and trying to save weight for the CT, for these tarps I left off the beaks and made the length of the tarp 10', which is 6" shorter than our AT tarps. These tarps are made of 1.1oz/yd silnylon, and when done weighed 1.1 lbs for the tarp and 6 stakes combined. Which is not bad...

Tarp sewing complete, ready to attach guylines.

Ray-Way tarp

However, in the past 10 years the cottage industry for backpacking gear has exploded, especially in regard to hammocks and tarps. It is hard to keep track of all the different hammock brands anymore, there are so many. New materials have also been developed in the real world for practical uses, and some have been hijacked into the hammock universe. Amsteel blue cordage, developed for use in the maritime world, being one example. We use it in our hammock suspensions. The other is Dyneema fabric, originally designed for use in the sails of racing sailboats. It is still rather new and a little pricy, but it weighs 0.51oz/yd, as compared to 1.1oz/yd for silnylon. It is also 100% waterproof, while the silnylon is really only 99.9%. You notice the difference.

Zpacks hammock tarp

Although you could buy the Dyneema fabric and sew one yourself, as advertised a Zpacks hammock tarp weighs 7oz, is 11' long, and is over half the weight of our existing tarps. This was hard to pass up, so for the CT we will be using two of these made out of the Dyneema fabric. They weigh 0.5 lbs with the same 6 stakes as before included. To hold one, it is amazingly light, to the point where it makes me a little nervous about the durability. But I know other backpackers are using them without problems, so I guess time will tell.