After having some Scouts tear up my fly twice over two consective weeks by tripping over guylines on my Big Agnes tents, for those of you who hike/camp with younger kids, what are some ways you prevent kids from tearing up your tents by tripping over guylines? I stake the guylines as close to the tent as possible, but they still tear 'em up. This does not happen at night, but rather during daylight hours since my lines are reflective.

Without roping off the entire perimeter of the tent with some stakes and neon rope, razor wire or very sharp sticks, what have some of you done to prevent the pitfalls of guylines and kids? OK, I'm kidding about the razor wire and sharp sticks.

I've already gone down the education route. What are some lightweight visual options that has worked for all of you?

Thanks!

I put a log or large stick/branch near the guyline and stake as a visual reminder. This helps, but it doesn't completely eliminate trips. Despite having 4 kids ages 2-8, I haven't had any damage to the kid or the tent resulting from trips. I suspect one reason is that I use tents which are 30D silnylon rather than the thinner, polyurethane-coated fabric BA uses. The PU coating improves waterproofing, but weakens the fabric some.

Great question. I had the same problem on my last backpacking trip, but, rather than kids, it was a 60 year old lady that tripped over the same guyline twice in a span of 10 mins.

Next time I'm with a group that will be moving around my tent I'm going to put a big rock on top of each stake as a visual reminder that there is a stake there. In addition I'm considering bringing in some sort of high viz ribbon material to tie onto the middle of each guyline. This might help folks spot my guylines. The other option is to pitch my tent well away from any foot traffic thus taking my guylines out of the line of fire.

I vote for letting natural selection take care of it.

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize your concern was saving the tent, not the kids. In that case, concertina wire?

Edited by xnomanx on 10/24/2011 14:24:31 MDT.

Get a tent without guylines

Like a tipi

Looking at saving the tent :) Kids heal quickly.

Getting scouts not to trip over your guylines? Good luck with that. I just take my old bomber tent instead... *I* could land on top of that thing and not hurt it. it's a lot less stress than worrying about my shiny new tarptent. I've tried putting up logs, but then they just run into those and the logs end up on your tent. The kids know the guylines are there - if not for the fact they helped put them there or they've already tripped over them 5 times each. Nope, as soon they run, they leave all common sense behind. Good luck brother. Post the secret when/if you figure it out :)

Duct tape their feet together.

Or put your shelter up after they have gone to sleep.

In a land for away, a long long time ago, a good loud, "KNOCK IT OFF, NOW." was highly effective. Seriously, why not tell them to stop? They can play without being destructive.

We used to use those brightly colored survey flags for compass courses and general warning flags around camp. It also helped to set up tents in a row and flag the paths between them.
Be sure to ask for some input on the subject at the next troop meeting... it might help them to "buy-in" and solve this.
Good luck!

Razorwire - that should do the trick!
Hahaha

A fence of logs around the tent has worked against some animals.
I ran a cord fence around the tent one night, using sticks as posts.
Some loud and serious abuse worked a few times too. I think the parents were concerned and intervened.

I do remember one night that a FOX tripped over our guy-lines! Yeah, really! It was scavenging of course. Saw it by headlight.

Cheers

I'll bet you could rig some 'break-away' thing-a-ma-bob in your line so that if someone tripped on it, the line would break away from the stake and leave your shelter intact. Shouldn't even add that much weight. Line from tent to break-away thingamabob, line from break-away thingamabob to stake.

that should teach em a lesson ehh? sort of kidding we all know electric bear fences are too heavy. have a good heart to heart convo with them, use analogies they will understand. like you breaking my tent is like me burning your xbox. the scouts in the troop i help out with know to be careful around my gear and respect it or they will be on my bad side and they don't want that. i also camp far away from them to minimize risk

Dougles I like the breakaway idea but I have a simpler one. Just put the stakes into the ground about halfway. If a kid trips over it the stakes should give before the tent does in which case you just put the stake back. Of course neither idea works if you have high winds. I like the log idea too, have to try that sometime.

Use Hiviz cord with reflective stuff for guy lines that will reflect headlamp light, put a lantern or other light source on in the tent for some visibility, then any really obvious tripping hazards maybe worth a small button cell led or led light stick turned on and left dangling.

If your tent and rigging is lit like a Christmas tree, you can really hammer on that offending scout about the importance of situational awareness.

If it is dark and tucked away, then they have a much easier time shrugging it off and using the "its dark" excuse

"I do remember one night that a FOX tripped over our guy-lines! Yeah, really!"

I've taken a fox camping, but she didn't trip on my guy lines. {GRIN}

I had problems with myself tripping over the guys in daylight (I know, no excuse) until I replaced them with neon green masons twine.

Whenever trying to keep anyone from running into, or tripping over guy lines, I tie something bright to the line. Some of that caution tape should work and it's light (in both senses ;^) ).

A few years ago, I solo camped at L. Ellen Wilson in GNP. I arrived early in the afternoon, so I had lots of time to hang out and watch the mountains erode. A mother mountain goat and her two kids showed up, attached to me big time, and wouldn't allow me to stray more than 10' from them (but no closer than 5"). They followed me wherever I went--to the food prep area, to the open air toilet, to the lake shore to get water, everywhere. I was using a Squall 2, which has the long front guyline, and shorter side and corner guys. All night long those pesty goats circled my tent, and they seemed to trip over each guy line on every lap. They never seemed to get it figured out. I was certain that the tent wouldn't hold up to this for the whole night, but it actually did. The goats never seemed to sleep, although I managed a few hours myself. Mom was probably in love with me, so she had an excuse. But there certainly was NO "guyline tripping prevention with kids."

Sorry-that story just had to be told, given the subject line...

The guylines I use with my silshelter have reflective and glow in the dark material woven in to them and work relatively well at being visible at night. During the day they aren't as visible as I might like though. I have a friend who uses fluorescent orange guylines, visible during the day, not as much at night.

At this point though I've changed the way I stake out my shelter a bit, on the sides/corners I don't use guylines, I put the pegs straight through the loops on the shelter, the shelter then has 2 attachment points on the top, the one nearer the foot goes over a pair of hiking poles (which have their points in loops on the edge of the shelter) and then down to the peg at the middle of the foot of the shelter (sticking out probably 6 inches or less from the shelter). The head end one goes up to a tree whenever possible (most of the time) and therefore nobody trips on it (though sometimes I hit my head on it)