How to Set Up a Dining Fly

A dining fly is a useful part of any campsite. It provides shelter for your equipment and the people in your unit in case it rains, and it can serve as a meeting place and hub to set up your camp around.

But how do you put one up?

All you need is a large tarp, rope (to serve as guylines), stakes and a couple of Scout staves. Here’s how you do it:

1. Lay out the tarp and attach a guyline to each corner with two half-hitches or a bowline.
2. Pound in stakes 5 feet away and at a 45-degree angle from each corner of the tarp.
3. Apply a taut-line hitch between the stakes and the tarp’s corner grommets.
4. On each side, join two Scout staves together with two round lashings for the upright poles.
5. Secure a ridge line to the upright poles with a series of half-hitches.
6. With the ends of the ridge line attached to their stakes, the tarp is raised, and tension on the guylines is adjusted.

This isn’t the only way to set up a dining fly. You can also tie the guylines around nearby trees. Just make sure to protect the trees with padding so the ropes don’t cut into the bark.