The Best Camping Tarp (and How to Use One for Shelter and Ground)
A tarp is the most useful ten dollars you'll spend on camping, and the piece first-timers most often skip. It does two completely different jobs — a roof over your living area when it rains or bakes, and a barrier under your tent — and once you've camped with one, you won't go back to going without.
Our picks
Amazon Basics Waterproof Camping Tarp (7.5 x 9.5 ft)
The do-anything basic. Waterproof, tear-resistant, with reinforced edges and grommets — sling it overhead as a rain-and-sun shelter or lay it under the tent as a ground cloth. At this price there's no reason not to keep one (or two) in the car. The honest starting point for most families.
View on Amazon →Clostnature Tent Footprint / Ground Sheet
If your main goal is protecting the tent floor, this is the purpose-built version: lightweight, waterproof, and sized to tuck neatly under a tent so it won't catch rain, with a storage bag included. The one to grab if your tent didn't come with a footprint and you want the floor dry and puncture-free.
View on Amazon →Free Soldier Waterproof Portable Tarp / Awning
The overhead-shelter upgrade — a multifunction rain tarp that pitches into a proper covered area over your table or tent door and comes ready to set up rather than as a bare sheet. The pick when rain cover is the main job and you want it to actually work and look like a shelter, not a flapping square.
View on Amazon →How to choose
Two jobs, one tarp
A tarp pulls double duty, and it's worth understanding both before you buy:
- Overhead shelter. Strung up over your picnic table or tent door, a tarp gives you a dry, shaded spot to cook, eat, and wait out a shower without everyone piling into the tent. This is the one that rescues rainy trips — see camping in the rain.
- Ground cloth (footprint). Laid under your tent, it stops ground moisture wicking up through the floor and protects the tent bottom from rocks and roots. One key trick: tuck the edges under so none sticks out past the tent — an exposed edge catches rain and funnels it straight under you.
You probably don't need a fancy one
For both jobs, a basic waterproof poly tarp with grommets covers most families just fine. Pair it with some paracord and a couple of adjustable poles (or two trees) and you're set. Lightweight backpackers pay up for ultralight silnylon tarps, but for car camping weight doesn't matter — so save the money and buy a size bigger instead. Bigger tarp, more dry space.
How to pitch it
Run a ridgeline — a taut paracord line between two trees — and drape the tarp over it, or use adjustable poles at the corners if there are no trees. Always pitch it at an angle, never flat, so rain runs off one side instead of pooling in the middle (a pool of water will collapse the whole thing). Stake or guy the corners out tight. Five minutes of setup buys you a dry kitchen all weekend.
What size?
Bigger than you think. A 10x10 covers a picnic table and a couple of chairs; a 12x12 or larger gives the whole family room to gather underneath. For a ground cloth, you want it slightly smaller than your tent's footprint (or its edges tucked under) so it doesn't catch rain and channel it beneath the tent.
Common questions
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