20 Best Tent Stakes Backpacking (2022 Updated)

I bought eight Groundhogs to use with my Tarptent Scarp II ultralight tent during a 24-week through-hike of New Zealand’s 3000km trail, Te Araroa. Y-shaped pegs such as Groundhogs are heavier than hepherd’s crook-style pegs, which are basically just a piece of thick wire bent at one end and sharpened at the other.

However, Y-shaped pegs have the important advantage of having much greater holding power in conditions involving sand, wind and loose soil. Te Araroa’s varied terrain includes all three of those environmental factors – the first section alone involves camping on a beach.

I was very happy with the way these pegs performed. During the 155 days I was on-trail, I only had pegs come loose two or three times. This was in very loose sand or hard soil which prevented me from pounding the pegs in deep enough.

They also proved to be sturdy. I regularly pounded them into hard soil with rocks, and only managed to bend one of the pegs. You do have to be careful not to hit the reflective string when pounding in the stakes.

Negatives? They are heavier than titanium stakes. Also, they are expensive. Recommended.

I love MSR, your stoves and tents I have used for years, so much so that backpacker in Death Valley asked me if I was a salesperson for your company. As a retired civil engineer I was appalled several years ago to see that you had replaced your vee-shaped stakes, which served all of us very well, with a design designed to fail.

Dimension changes, such as the one between the driving surface of this stake and the the portion of the stake driven into the ground, are scientifically proven to be more prone to fatigue stress than your earlier design.

Please bring the old ones back. What were you thinking? Few things are worse than losing tent stakes. I hope that your company acknowledges this. Every other time I hit these stakes the head breaks off.

I am now searching for other stakes and would recommend to all buyers that they buy other brand back-ups.

I’ve seen the MSR Groundhog stakes recommended by experienced backpackers, campers and others in internet reviews. The consistent high ratings made them an easy choice. I used them the first time this weekend – they are as good, or better, than they say.

My friend and I camped next to each other. She had the usual wire stakes, which tend to bend and are harder to get solidly in the ground (I had these, too, until my Groundhogs came from Campsaver). Groundhogs have a three “blade” shaft, and a nice point to pierce the ground, and cut into any soil.

This would be an exception when in an area where bedrock is near the surface. I give them high marks for easy clean up. You can get them sufficiently clean by running your finger in the blade grooves, and wipe with any cloth.

The red anodize just looks cool, as well as makes the surface easier to clean. These stakes hold your shelter very securely. I plan to buy another set for my portable privacy shelter used for dry camping.

I purchased the Nemo Airpins because I wanted to lighten the weight of my stakes without sacrificing durability. I primarily hike in the White Mountains where the rocky soil can bend those ultralight candy-cane style titanium stakes.

I steered clear of the nail-style pegs because, while they are light, they tend to be made of two-to-three components (head, body and sometimes a separate tip) that are glued or swaged together and I did not want to mess with a stake that could fail at the joint (the ground is not a forgiving medium when jabbing into it).

My preference is the single-piece three-sided Y-Beam style aluminum stakes because you can stomp them into the ground with confidence and they come in handy as an eating utensil when your friend forgets their spork.

But, they are not as light or compact as the Airpins. The Airpins, I am happy to say, have come with me on multiple trips between NH and ME this summer and have satisfied all my needs. They are barely noticeable in my pack, they take up very little space and are light as heck.

They have held securely in the soil overnight and in the morning, when breaking camp, they are easier to clean dirt off of compared to the y-beam style stakes (which can take a while to clean off). If you are looking to lighten your pack and do not want to sacrifice durability, these lime-green stakes will delight you.

Feel very light at just 9 grams each. Not much seems to stick to them, as it does the Y shaped standard nemo pegs. As I’m using 16 pegs so they save 160 grams in total when compared the the pegs (at 19 grams each) that come standard with my ultralight nemo tent.

The tent came with 8 pegs so I wanted to buy 8 more and decided to keep the pegs the same with the overall weight savings.

I love these stakes – they are incredibly light and super strong. The shape makes them easy to anchor in pretty much any terrain. While I believe they’re meant for guylines, I have replaced all my regular stakes with them, and I could not be happer.

These are perfect snow anchors for winter camping. The ability to tie sown is so much easier. I tie my tent guy lines and press the stakes into the snow with my boots. Once the tent is set up I tension the lines and the stakes hold securely.

It’s so easy to retrieve them when packing up as well and they nestle together and are lightweight. These are my must have favourites when it comes to snow. The brilliant red finish on the stakes make them easy to locate when they are in the snow.

I like that when wearing mitts they are so easy to handle. Best stakes ever when it comes to anchoring in the snow. Thanks MSR for a well designed snow anchor.

If you can get over the absurdly expensive price of these tent pegs you will find them to be very light to carry, functional in snow/sand/soil and reliable in high/extreme wind events. It’s a shame MSR don’t supply adequate/suitable tent pegs with their alpine tents!#!.

With me, it’s all about cost and I’ve been using these for years for many uses other than securing a tent. You can remove the clips and heat them and although technically it will make the steel slightly more brittle, you can drive these down through rocky soil and they will not bend unless you use a sledge hammer on them.

Instead large rocks may change the angle of how they’re driven but they really hold better than any ground tie downs there is, so they’re also useful on large tarps and will hold a grommet down as well and really that’s what they were meant for.

Perfect for those extra large tents that tend to gather a lot of wind. The plastic can break but they’re so inexpensive that when I purchase them from Harbor Freight I can afford to buy 2 or 3 sets of them at the same time and I have found those green plastic pieces for sale alone as well.

They break when a person hits them directly with their hammer. My wife uses a small piece of hard wood to solve that problem. I don’t miss hitting the huge nail spike. They may be considered unbreakable but like all plastics, eventually they lose their resin or softness but it takes years for that to happen.

Stored properly, they seem to last forever. Those nail spikes will last forever as long as you don’t sledge hammer them and in that case, they’ll only bend until you heat them up and fast cool them like I do but again, heating them will render the steel slightly more brittle.

I bought these to in a pinch to hold down some Christmas decorations for the entrance to our neighborhood. These stakes worked well. The stakes had to be driven all the way into the ground in order for the green hook portion to hold the wire decorations.

Even through several bouts of high winds the stakes held the their ground. The problem I had was when pulling the stakes out. It was cold out and the green plastic hooks snapped off while trying to remove them.

As I said, they held well. If driven all the way into the ground, care must be taken to grab only the steel portion of the stake during removal and not the plastic or you will break it off easily.

I have used these AS tent Stakes and as Stakes to hold down a hunting blind, and I have used them to pin down chicken wire tight against the ground for a brood pen for raising peeps. It is easy to break the plastic top when removing them from tight soil or if hammered into a root, but simply slipping a big washer, or a small piece of wood with a hole drilled in it, or even a plastic milk jug lid on to the nail makes a suitable replacement for a broken original plastic top.

Overall, I rate them highly because they are good enough quality and low enough price to make them very serviceable and suitable to use in various applications. Note that they are practically useless to use in loose soil and sand, as you would probably expect.

They are steel and will develop surface rust if left in the ground for a few days. And they are too heavy for backpacking, but they’re just dandy replacements for lost stakes for the 6-person family camping tent.

Fantastic. I’m gonna buy more, for my other tent and to have some spares when they get lost. Strong, light, easy to push in or hammer. Orange color easier to find when breaking camp. And they came in a nice pouch I didn’t expect.

Kelty NoBendium Stake II is light and strong, does not bend, and stays firmly planted in tough terrain. This is by far my favorite stake for backpacking and mountaineering.

I purchased a 16 foot Noah tarp. When it arrived I was surprised to find included in the stuff sack six of these gold anodized tent stakes in a little green sack. The ad said poles and stakes not included.

Thanks for the freebie! Now for the review: I tried them out in the soft sands of Florida and the shale rock/river bottom loam of the Pennsylvania mountains with the same results. No bending, even when I hammered one of them into a subterranean hemlock tree root.

I had to use a claw hammer and a block of wood as a fulcrum to pull it out. It did not bend! Much better than the yellow plastic stakes I have been using.

These stakes have always worked really well for out at the beach here in Texas. You have to dig them out, if you use the hook on them to pull out it will bend, but they won’t come out with the winds we have down here.

They have lasted years for me.

These are metal stakes. They’re are pretty tough, but if you are driving them into hard clay soil with a hammer, keep an eye on the area right at the base of the hook, where it connects to the stake.

That’s where it will bend if you drive it too hard. Once it bends, you might get one more chance to bend it back to straight. Other than that, they work good, and the price is good.

Bought these to replace the cheap stakes that came with my 6-man tent. Should have just stayed with the ones that came with my tent. Hammered these in and off the bat, one bent at the hook eyelet. Removal is much worst.

When trying to pull them out, they’d bend and/or rip off. I ended up using a pry bar and vice grips to pull these suckers out.

I bought these because on a recent trip in Wyoming, my son and I used our Big Agnes tent in base camp, and did overnighters in our bevy sacks, on some steeply sloped ground. This year, we used 4 of the Big Agnes tent stakes to stake down the bevy sacks to keep from sliding off our ground cloths.

Next year I will have enough Big Agnes stakes to go around.

These are strong, but my friend bent one while we were setting up because he was very aggressive pressing it into a hard rock with his foot. Don’t do that. I haven’t bent one in 20+ nights of use. Use dirt, not rocks.

i think the orange is easy to find when taking down.

I just left RMNP where I pounded these stakes into the hard ground at 12K feet. They held up to 40+ mph winds, sleet and rain. My tent didn’t move and I slept peacefully!

Excellent use for yard decor during especially the windy seasons. After my yard angel was knocked down dozens of times using weak “yard staples” I purchased these steel tent stakes. What a difference! Even with winds that keep ripping off the limbs of trees this season in everyone’s yards, the angel has withstood every wind storm.

Sturdy. I am not using for camping purpose; I use them to anchor my lighted deer figures for the holidays. I have found in the past, in this application, that after spending considerable amount of time in very cold weather the plastic clip on top may crack or break off upon removal.

Not really a flaw; to be expected when applying pressure to plastic that has been exposed to cold for a while. With the great price on Walmart. com, I just replace them every once in a while. This is the only kind I look for because they are sturdy, resist bending, and stay put!.

I loved getting my steel pins to use for securing my 5 man military srctic tent. It will be especially useful in the hard ground of winter ice. According to the specs of the manual no other stakes will do.

These are very heavy snd can be pounded into the hardest ground where others may bend like stakes which should only be placed and removed by pounding the ground and to make an opening to pull out or pouring water in with them so they freeze to the ground.

With these pins no water required.

Ordered 12 inch (steel) stakes with spiral spikes to prep for the coming hurricane and WM sent 9 inch aluminum stakes instead – totally useless for intended purpose. I can see substituting food items, but not tools ?! And now I have to return these.

You waste my time !.

Pretty good, but the tops bend off if your hit them too hard. I don’t think the quality is any worse than the ones your can buy from rei, I’m pretty sure they’re the same. They’re just aluminum, so you can’t pound too much.

But overall they work great for most applications, just not hard packed dirt or frozen soil.

The nylon loops on my tent bottom slip right off the tops of these, I guess they’d work ok for guylines and paracord but for staking down your tent they’re useless without anything to catch the tent loops.

Bought these years ago when they first came out without the plasticote and ended up adding it. Now these are my go to for my backpacking tents. Usually use these shepherd hooks to stake out tent corners and use the Alpine stakes for guy outs for the fly since those are more susceptible to pulling out.

Oh, and buy a durable cuben fiber tent stake sack so you don’t over time wear through the cheap nylon ones that come with your tent and end up getting a hole in your tent from the stake or shepard’s hook.

Ascent Stakes: I have used these mostly in rocky areas, during the last trip I stumbled through one of my tarp guy lines and out popped the stake. It was now banana shaped, I put it over my knee to straighten it, but of course it buckled the other way, still I was able to get it quite straight and back in the ground.

I don’t believe any of my aluminum stakes would have bent so easily, and for the weight increas of 3g per stake, I probably should stick with aluminum V or Y stakes for the rocky areas, or be more careful.

It’s a little hard to fault the Ascents for this because they work fine in average soil. Probably the biggest hassle is that the soil clings to them upon removal, slowing down the process of breaking camp, it’s a typical V-stake issue but worse due to the slots.

I should have given the nail pegs a try instead, with those it should be easier to find a narrow path between the rocks, they must be stiffer and should come out clean, they weigh the same as an aluminum V-stake but should be better suited for my uses.

I have climbed a lot in the Anasazi VCS (>5 years). I decided to try these shoes out for their more aggressive edging, and tighter fit in the heel. I have climbed in the gym with these guys about 6 times at this point.

I am still getting used to them, but so far, I am pleased – but not blown away. Their edging is great compared to my blown out VCSs! With the pros, I feel like my footwork is significantly less precise, but I anticipate that this will go away as I climb more with them as climbing season begins.

In the VCSs, I wore an US 8. 5 (my actual foot size is about US 10. 5). Following sizing advice by others, I went up to a 9. 0 in the VCS Pros, and I am very glad that I did. I give the same advice to others about the sizing.

Hope this helps.

These Kelty stakes are solid, lightweight and dont bend like some others. i have used these for my tent, ground cloth, staking out tarps and poles, and they have never failed! Inexpensive, reliable and long lasting.

i highly recommend them!.

These are garbage, I broke 3 on first night using them. The heads broke off easily while hitting into ground with rock. Also a couple of the ties broke when pulling the remaining stakes out of the ground.

Luckily I had plenty of guyline with me. I wasted $10 but lesson learned should’ve gotten the ones everyone recommends.

Used the stakes for a backpacking trip and couldn’t be more pleased with the strength they provided while still providing some weight conservation for the journey.

Small, Light and Just Right! These are certainly shorter than the original stakes and lighter for the overall kit. So much so that adding an extra as backup was still lighter than using the original set.

I’ve had pretty good luck with them in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas soils with a moderate rocky subsurface. I had some cheaper Walmart version Outdoor Products stakes that were okay, but I’ve certainly bent way more of those than I have of these MSR versions.

Keep in mind that I believe one of the reasons for less bent/broken MSR stakes is because they’re shorter and thus don’t as much of a “lever-arm” for bending when being put in. And whether or not it’s true, I do feel that the MSR stakes are a better alloy and slightly stronger (but I could be totally wrong and it wouldn’t take much to convince me that I’m wrong).

These do NOT have the spiral shank, but if you get them in at a good 45-deg angle and far enough that the tie-off notch is just above the ground, they’ll hold very well in a West Texas gale. Removal was relatively easy (relative to how hard it was to put them in), and I did find it was easiest to thread the extra stake through the lanyard string of the stake in the ground to pull them out, don’t rely on your finger through the lanyard to retrieve them from the hard ground.

The red makes them very easy to find in the dark, as does the reflective lanyard cord. They don’t come off the show room floor with a very tight knot on the lanyard cord to start with so when you buy these, TIGHTEN or re-tie the lanyard cord – they’re almost essential for retrieval.

I prefer a single fishermen’s bend or sheet bend on mine due to the amount of material provided.

Used them a few times for guying a tarp. They bite into the ground well, drive well, and hold seriously well. Leave the attached strings on and slide a stick through it to pull it out. The material is relatively soft, would recommend a mallet for driving them however as a rock does chip the tops.

Had one scrape along a rock underground when driving, came out with a decently deep and long gouge. I’m not expecting them to last forever in my rocky terrain, probably 5 years of serious use will retire them in my situation.

All the above is great and good for me, my one gripe is about the ridges on the stake for hooking the guy line. They are sharp. After first use the paracord guylines were visibly frayed. If i want to keep using them ill need to find a way to protect my lines.

I think ill end up switching back to the classic steel angled stakes though.

These are rugged light weight stakes. I’ve used them in hard clay and loose dirt and they hold much better than the 1/8 inch round aluminum hook stakes standard with many tents. In addition they do not bend, well unless you beat them into a rock with a hammer.

Another nice feature is they come with a reflective pull cord, if you’ve ever tripped on a tant stake in the dark you will appreciate this. I used the mini stakes as well with my backpacking tent with great results.

We camp right on the beach and this year the wind was strong. These stakes are superb at holding in sand. Nothing else comes close.

I use these with my cables outfitter tent and they get the job done. I have read some of the other reviews where they are saying that they are hard to get out of the ground. I think that is what makes them good stakes they stay put if they were easy to get out they would not hold your tent down very well.

I have used them in hard rocky ground and they hold up very well for what they are. I just wish they had a 15″ model.

Just used these this weekend to tie down a freestanding canopy. They held everything down during a windy, rainy night. I wish the hooks on these were galvanized like the rest of the metal. The hooks have already started to rust.

I choose and use The Vargo Titanium Ascent Tent Stake by snow camping with my small tent. That’s very good. Reflective cord attached is also beautiful in white snow! This tent stake may bend for the peg body’s hole of weight saving.

so putting it besides snow or sandy soil, choice of a different stake is recommended.

I bought a set of six to use with my hammock and tarp setup. Sadly I’ll be looking for something different to use because on my first time using the stake one of the two I was using bent going into the sand-topsoil mix.

The weight savings isn’t worth having a stake that does me no good.

The tent spikes that came with my grandson’s tent were not very strong and when the ground was hard they were hard to pound into the ground and would bend. These tent pegs are very strong and will go into a hard dry ground.

Price is great also. Bought the last 4 in the store last summer and bought these ones as a Christmas present this year.

Thought I’d try these while walking through Dick’s looking for a camping lantern same as other Stakes sold even the ones at Harbor Freight are almost half price but the same thing tips broke on Harbor Freight and theses model s just as quickly in hard ground.

without the plastic grommet at the top of nail head unable to pull out without pry bar and locking snap pliers. Switching back to heavy. Hook type or buying titanium Stakes sold at Amazon.

Pro tip, don’t hit the plastic part with the hammer. When driving these in, angle away from your desired anchor spot. Plastic shatters when hit with a hammer so be careful. These things are infinitely more useful than the stakes that come with the Dick’s tent I bought.

Those angled ones are trash. Buy more of these than you need.

Great for staking down holiday decorations. These are much better than the little thin stakes that come with outside holiday decorations. Nothing has moved with the wind! I bought 2 packs. going to order more, then I will throw out all the thin ones I’ve accumulated over the years.

I bought these because many reviewers of tents highly recommend getting these as the stakes that come with tents are often not as good of quality. I have not tested them in a wind storm but they stayed in the ground through a rain storm and I did not feel my tent sway in any way.

I love these heavy duty stakes, I live in AZ and my yard won’t take normal thin stakes, these are heavy enough to pound into the hard dirt. I use a 4lb sledge and they go in like butter.

These have been my go-to stakes for years now. They are strong and light, red colour helps them stand out from the ground vs non-anodized grey that blend in with rocky ground, and I love the top hook.

easy to grab and pull out and for the times when I couldn’t find a big enough rock as a hammer I had something to lean into to push into the ground. Haven’t had one bend yet. I do try to be smart about them in not pushing them through a rock, but I camp in the Rockies so very hard and rocky ground.

Stood the tests and love them!.

I use 6 of the msr hooks and 2 mini groundhogs for my tarp. This combo works very well. They may not be as light as Ti or carbon options out there, but they’re easy to get a hold of, affordable, and strong.

Very strong, resistant to bending, anodized smooth finish and sharp point make them easy to push in and also pretty good at finding a way in thru stones and gravel. Square cross section seems to have better holding power than a round stake.

Lighter than most round aluminum stakes. Seems like they have a non-stick coating ’cause they usually come out very clean.

I bought these to supplement the included stakes with my BigAgnes Copper Spur HVUL2 tent. What I most love is that they are easy to palm in, not as sharp as the standard tent pegs included. You do have to supply your own cord, and finding cord small enough to fit through the hole and getting it threaded is a bit tricky.

Those are the lightest full strength tent stakes out there but they come with a hefty price tag. They come in a set of four. They are very well built and feel solid. The head is in composite so I wouldn’t be scared to break them by using a rock to hammer them in if needed.

If weight matters more than cost this is the stakes you want. They are pierced so you can put loop of rope to pull them out of the ground, but it does not come with the stakes (contrary to some of the pictures) and is not counted in the indicated weight.

They also come without a stuff sack.

I did quite a bit of research before I finally decided to get these stakes. The number one complaint I read about them are how they easily break, even from a strong gust of wind. I found that to be not the case.

Chose a site that’s not incredibly rocky or use those rocks to support the stakes. Fight the urge to kick them into the ground, and simplify use your hand. When my hands alone don’t work, I can easily get them into the ground with gentle taps from a rock.

The aluminum core is strong enough for your backpacking if you know how to use your gear.

we bought 16 stakes in case we lost some. went camping with them for the first time, in some dry, sandy/dusty sites in colorado and almost lost a couple. more so because our toddler wandered off with them.

not to worry, we went home with all 16. pulling them out might be a challenge, but that’s not the stake’s fault. i used the curved end to pull up some stakes, which was handy. they’re sturdy enough to use a heavy rock to pound them into tough soil.

we used the blunt end of a hatchet. the first night we spent in a canyon, there were huge gusts of wind that rolled through, shaking the heck out of our tent, but it held up just fine! no stake adjustments needed.

thumbs up!.

My son absconded with my Zeta 2 sometime last summer. After I threatened to withdraw all financial and emotional support, he agreed to ship it from Olympia WA to Cincinnati OH. Do you see where this is going? As any serious ultra light through hiker would do; he reduced the total packed weight.

This might have been devestating the first night on the trail, however this girl did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday. In an effort to be way more prepared than my sister (#siblingrialry) I was determined to get my tent set up time below 4 minutes.

Yep. That is when I discover the missing stakes. Mind you, I was still able to get that 6lb Zeta up in 3 minutes 23 seconds, however the added stake insertion time was yet to be determined. I digress.

In the end the replacement stakes did their job and I was happy as a gopher in soft dirt. Until I spotted the ever so sleek orange stakes of my neighbors tent glistening in the sunlight.

Solid, inexpensive steak. I bought these as extras for our EZ-UP and they are great. We brought them to Jalama Beach, CA where the wind easily hit 30mph, and these steaks didn’t even break a sweat. They’re very hard to bend and basically perfect.