Creating a shelter with the High Peak Tarp

If you’ve been reading our camping guide then you’ll know that we recommend you should always take a tarp or two (see this guide to creating a tarp shelter).

With a tarp, you can create a shelter that keeps the rain off, and usually an ideal place to site your camp’s kitchen.

If you don’t fancy getting all the bits and setting up your tarp shelter, there are many tarp kits available to make the job easier.

After several years, some of our tarp poles needed replacing, and the tarps were starting to look a bit worn. I started looking for a tarp kit to replace all the bits in one go and came across the High Peak range of tarps.

The High Peak Tarp Kit

The High Peak tarps come in different sizes. I bought the High Peak Tarp 2 from Amazon (you can find it here).

The High Peak Tarp 2 Packed

The High Peak Tarp 2 is a 4m x 4m tarp, and so it’s quite large, despite arriving in this small carry case.

The contents of the High Peak Tarp Kit

Inside the kit, you get the tarp, two poles, and pegs. Guy lines are already secured to the tarp.

The tarp itself is lightweight polyester and has a hydrostatic head of 1000mm.

The guy line points are re-enforced, and it appears to be good quality.

Using the Tarp Kit

Having a tarp that measures 4m x 4m creates quite a large shelter.

I thought that would be a good size to accommodate a large kitchen area plus enough space for sitting if it was raining.

Normally with a tarp of that size, I would run a line between the two poles (a bit like a washing line) and drape the tarp over the top. This stops large taps sagging in the middle.  However, with just using the kit contents there are no spare guy lines for configuring your shelter in this way, so if you buy a tarp as large as this, expect it to sag a bit.

We found that to get the best use out of it was to add a further 3 (sometimes 4) poles.

Fortunately, we have two new poles for a canopy that came with our Outwell Hornet XL, as well as some poles from our previous tarp setup.

As you can see from the pictures below, this creates a good set-up for a camp kitchen.

Camp kitchen set-up under Tarp

Tips on Pitching the High Peak Tarp

The High Peak Tarp can be pitched in a number of configurations. The simplest approach is to locate the re-enforced eyelet that has two guy lines running from it. You will find one on two opposite sides of the tarp.

It’s these eyelets with the double guy lines where you insert the spike on the poles.

You then run the guy lines to in opposing directions, and you’ve got most of the tarp up.

Sound’s simple (and is).

The only thing is, we’ve now got an inflatable Outwell tent that goes up in a couple of minutes. If you don’t have helpers, setting up the tarp can take considerably longer than putting up the large family tent 😉

Tarp Performance

We’ve taken the High Peak Tarp 2 on a couple of camping trips, each lasting a few days, and we’ve been very pleased with it.

It has survived both wind and rain, and not tore nor leaked.

I did take it down when a storm got up (tent pegs had started to fly), and it’s worked great.

Tip: You don’t always need to put it away if a storm gets up. The wind may pass, and you’ll want to get the tarp up again. Instead, you can lay the poles flat on the ground, then peg the tarp to the ground through its eyelets, avoiding gaps where the wind can get underneath the tarp.

This is what we did, and the tarp remained in place as weather protection for the kitchen underneath.  Of course, it will depend on your particular weather conditions.

When the weather passes, take out the additional pegs you put through the eyelets, and re-insert the poles.