The Philmont dining fly or crew tarp is a 12′ by 12′ nylon tarp rigged for simple, easy setup.
Hiking sticks or trekking poles can be used as poles, eight stakes and three paracord lines are all else that’s required.
A 40′ paracord ridge line is rigged underneath the ridge of the tarp and a loop of the line is threaded through the end grommets. A small stick is secured on each end of the ridge with a lark’s head knot, a clove hitch is taken around the pole, and the end of the ridge line is secured with taut line hitches. Rather than stressing and tearing out the grommets the stick will break in a high wind.
Two 25′ long side lines are laced through the grommets as shown in the infographic. This arrangement allows the tarp to shed water readily . The side lines should be left in the tarp to make setup quick and easy.
Philmont Scout Ranch is located near the town of Cimarron, New Mexico, covering approximately 137,500 acres of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of northern New Mexico. The ranch, formerly the property of oil baron Waite Phillips and now that of the Boy Scouts of America, is a National High Adventure Base in which crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking expeditions and other outdoor activities.
The Philmont Dining Fly Infographic is available as a PDF document formatted to print on 8 1/2 x 11 paper.
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Question: wondering what the advantages are of using a lark’s head through the grommets on the ridge line instead of just a simple loop?
The lark’s head holds the stick, a loop would not. You can also tie the lark’s head in any location on the line without having to use the ends.
Clarke, another excellent infographic. I found it most appropriate that I saw your new infographic on my email when I was at Sunday’s Philmont Crew Fundamentals training run by our council’s High Adventure Committee of the National Capital Area Council (NCAC).