Backcountry Camping Knots: The Six You’ll Actually Use at Camp

It’s getting dark, the tarp’s unfolded, and the last guyline is dangling between your fingers. A shoelace knot, another one on top, a third for morale. By morning, either the whole thing has let go or you’re pulling out a knife to get your cord back. Knot nerds collect them by the dozen, and I’m in no position to judge: I collect old manuals. To set up a camp, six will do.

This guide builds on our tarp setups and comes into play at the “The campsite” step of our guide to your first backcountry camping trip. For each knot: what it does at camp, how to tie it, the common mistake, and how to untie it.

Six knots, and where they go on a tarp

On a tarp, three knots do almost all the work, the ones Scout Life, the Scouting America magazine, gives for guylines: the bowline at the grommet, the taut-line hitch at the tent stake, and two half hitches to tie a line to a ring or a post [1]. The clove hitch joins them for tying a rope to a wooden stake [2]. The last two never touch the tarp: the timber hitch drags a log, and the square lashing joins two poles.

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Three terms keep coming up in the steps. The standing partThe section of rope that stays put and runs toward the load or the other attachment. is the rest of the rope, the running endThe end of the rope, the one you tie the knot with. is the end you work with [3], and a half hitchAn overhand knot tied around the standing part, with the end coming back alongside it. is an overhand knot whose end comes back along the standing part [2].

The bowline: a fixed loop at the grommet

This is the loop that won’t slip [2]. At camp, it ties a guyline to the corner grommet of a tarp or tent [5, 1]. Under load it neither slips nor jams; once the load’s off, it unties easily [11].

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1. Pass the running end through the grommet, leaving plenty of length.
2. On the standing part, make a small loop: the strand coming from the grommet crosses over the standing part.
3. Bring the end up through the small loop, from underneath.
4. Take it behind the standing part, then back down into the small loop. It’s the old Scout image: the rabbit comes out of its hole, goes around the tree, and back down the hole [3].
5. Tighten by pulling the standing part, holding the large loop in your other hand. The end has to come out on the inside of the large loop [1].

The common mistake. Assuming it’s solid under all conditions. Animated Knots, an online knot reference, says it flat out: without a load, it can very readily work itself loose [11]. A loop hanging with nothing pulling on it, a slack guyline: that’s when to take a close look. Leave a generous running end, and on synthetic cord, secure it with a half hitch, as the Éclaireuses et Éclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association, advise [2].

To untie it. Never under load: it can’t be tied or untied while the standing part is pulling [11]. Slacken the guyline, push back the bightA curve in the rope that doesn’t cross itself. around the standing part, and the whole knot opens up.

The taut-line hitch: a guyline you adjust by hand

It forms an adjustable loop that stays put: this is Scout Life’s knot for staking out a tent or tarp [1]. Belgium’s French-speaking Scouts, Les Scouts, use it to replace a missing guyline tensioner [5]. It goes at the bottom of the guyline, around the tent stake.

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1. Pass the running end around the tent stake and bring it back toward the standing part.
2. Take a turn around the standing part and go back through the loop you’ve formed.
3. Make a second turn inside the loop, closer to the tent stake.
4. In the same direction, make a last turn around the standing part, this time outside the loop: that’s a half hitch.
5. Work out the slack, then slide the knot to tighten or loosen the guyline [1].

The common mistake. Asking more of it than it can give. This knot isn’t safe, it slips easily, warn the Belgian Scouts, who rule it out for the guylines of a mast someone has to climb [5]. It’ll do in a pinch for a tarp, nothing more. Scouting America also points out that a knot can slip when wet [12]. So recheck your guylines before you turn in, especially since nylon stretches when it’s damp, as our tarp setups guide explains.

To untie it. One move loosens it: slide it toward the tent stake to give some slack, lift the loop off the stake, then unwrap the turns in reverse order.

The clove hitch: a rope on a stake, a stick, or a post

The clove hitch is generally used to tie a rope around a wooden stake [2]. At camp, it ties a line to a stick or a post, and it starts and ends many lashings [1]. On a living tree, it never goes directly on the bark: the section on trees, farther down, explains what to do.

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1. Pass the running end over and then under the stick.
2. Make a second turn, crossing the first: an X takes shape.
3. Go around once more and tuck the end under the X.
4. Check: both strands come out between the legs of the X. If they come out on either side of the X, it’s not a clove hitch [1].
5. Pull on both strands to tighten.

On a post with a free top, it’s even simpler: make a loop, drop it over the post, then drop an identical second loop on top [13].

The common mistake. Leaving it on its own. The UK’s Scout Association rates it less secure than a round turn and two half hitches [14]. Animated Knots faults it for slipping and, on the flip side, for being able to jam, and advises distrusting it when used alone [13]. Without constant tension, it tends to work loose unless it’s secured with two half hitches [2]. Add two, not ten: stack up half hitches and you risk a knot that a heavy strain makes impossible to untie [13].

To untie it. If it hasn’t been under heavy strain, it comes undone as easily as it goes on [5]: first remove the half hitches securing it, then push back the turns and slide them off the stick.

Two half hitches: tying off a line

They tie a rope to a ring, a post, or a grommet [1, 15]. At camp, they finish tying off a line and secure another knot, like the clove hitch. With a round turnThe rope taken fully around an object, without tying a knot. around the support first, they’re more secure, and that turn takes the strain while you finish [15, 16]. As soon as a line is pulling hard, use this version.

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1. Pass the end around the post or through the grommet.
2. Bring it over the standing part, around it, and through the loop you’ve formed: that’s one half hitch.
3. Take another turn around the standing part, outside the loop, in the same direction.
4. Tighten, then slide the knot up against the post or grommet [1].

The common mistake. Changing direction between the two. They have to turn the same way around the standing part [1, 15]: that’s how they form a clove hitch around it [15].

To untie them. Slacken the rope, loosen the last half hitch, then the first, and pull the end out of the ring or grommet: with no tension, they put up no resistance.

The timber hitch: dragging a log, tying to a piece of wood

This is the knot for dragging a log along the ground: it holds as long as you pull, and it comes off easily afterward [1]. It also ties a rope to a piece of wood, as long as that rope stays more or less taut, and it starts a lashing [5]. The UK’s Scout Association classes it as a temporary knot [14].

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1. Pass the end around the log.
2. Take it around the standing part.
3. Wrap the end around itself: two or three times for the Belgian Scouts [5], at least three for Scout Life [1, 17].
4. Pull: the turns lock against the wood.

For a long piece, place the knot near the middle and add a half hitch near the end, which acts as a guide as you pull [14, 17].

The common mistake. Giving it slack. Give it slack, shake the rope, and it comes undone, write the Belgian Scouts [5]. So it only works on a rope that stays taut, never on a guyline flapping in the wind.

To untie it. There’s almost nothing to do. Ashley, author of the great American book of knots, quoted by Animated Knots, notes that it practically falls apart as soon as the pull stops [17]. Ease off, tug the end, done.

The square lashing: joining two poles

This isn’t a knot but a join: a rope holding two crossed pieces together, usually at right angles [5]. It’s a Scout camp skill, for a frame or a table [18]. It stays temporary: ropes slacken, especially with moisture, and you have to re-tension them regularly [5].

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1. Start with a timber hitch on the load-bearing pole, below the pole it carries [5, 19]. A clove hitch works too [2].
2. Make three or four wrapping turns around both poles, even and side by side, tensioning the rope on every turn [5].
3. Make three frapping turnsTurns taken between the two poles, around the wrapping turns, to tighten them. between the poles, pulling as hard as you can on each turn [19].
4. Finish with a clove hitch around one of the poles [5, 19].

The common mistake. Overlapping turns: some then take all the load, while others do no work [5]. Another trap is finishing with a square knot: the Belgian Scouts advise against it, because it tightens poorly and works loose [5], even though other Scout booklets use it [2].

To untie it. Undo the final clove hitch and unwrap the rope in reverse order. Then put the wood back where you found it.

On a backcountry trip, lashing stays the exception. Leave No Trace Canada puts it this way: avoid building structures, making furniture, or digging trenches [20]. Save it for a campground that allows it, with dead wood that has fallen to the ground, never with green wood cut for the occasion: that’s the spirit of the “Leave What You Find” principle, in our Leave No Trace guide. And a camp lashing never supports anyone’s weight.

Which cord for these knots: 3 or 4 mm

Edelrid, the German rope maker, presents its 3 mm cord as a possible guyline for camping and tents [21]. Here are three spec sheets, as examples. And don’t forget to count it: the tarp in our gear checklist is weighed without its cords.

2 kN is on the order of 440 lb (200 kg) of pull, but that’s a breaking load, not a working load. Decathlon’s instructions for its 4 to 8 mm cords warn that a knot cuts the initial strength in half, and that cord loses strength when wet or frozen [22]. They also tell you to check the sheath regularly and to avoid any contact with sharp edges.

Trees: a wide strap, not bare cord

Leave No Trace wrote its guidelines for hammocks [4]. They don’t mention tarps, but we apply them to any line tied to a tree. On a living tree, use a flat webbing strap at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, wrapped just once around the trunk, and nothing thinner, which damages the bark and the living tissue underneath. No knots on the trunk, no nails or screws [4].

So the knot ties to the strap, not to the bark: the clove hitch and timber hitch keep their place on a stake, a post, or a log. Pick a living tree at least 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter, preferably with hard bark, never a dead tree, and look up to spot dead branches [4]. Our tarp setups guide covers all of this, including checking with the land manager.

The summary sheet to print

It all fits in this table. The “Print this guide” button, at the top of the article, puts the page on paper with the table and the diagram; the photos stay on screen.

Worth watching

In under a minute, TheTautLine ties the taut-line hitch for staking out a tent or tarp: a handy companion to the written steps, because this knot makes more sense in motion.

The video is hosted by YouTube (Google): nothing loads until you play it, and Google may then set cookies.

Guillaume Hoarau

Camping, backpacking, bushcraft and hiking

Guillaume Hoarau writes for Outfarer about camping, backpacking, bushcraft, and hiking. A survival-skills buff and a collector of vintage field manuals, he loves clear explanations, lists that actually help and other people’s stories, which he tells well.

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