Tourist in MSN

I also have trekking poles, but they are much longer than would fit in my panniers. If I travel light and do not have a bag on top of the rear rack, I want everything to fit in the panniers.

Initially I cut some poles from an old A frame tent that I need to dispose of some day, has not been used since the 80s. But those poles were longer than I wanted when folded.

Later I bought a new long 11mm diameter pole and some trekking pole rubber feet, that way I could cut my pole sections to the length I needed to fold them and fit in the panniers. The rubber feet are for both ends. The long pole I bought was long enough to provide several shorter poles.

I also backpack with one pole, not two, thus if I use that tent backpacking, I still need to add a pole.

I camped for decades with an old friend that had a large self supporting tent. We often pitched the tent and then did a final check on location by holding up one side and looking for twigs, rocks, etc., before we staked it out.

We also always carried a 10 X 10 tarp we would put up if it was raining, we could hang out under the tarp, cook on a stove under the tarp, store our gear under it, etc. And if it was raining in the morning we often carried the tent over to and under the tarp so that we could take down the tent out of the rain. The tent fly was of course soaked, but that kept the tent body drier when we folded up the tent. There were a few times in rain when we set up the tent under the tarp and then carried it to where we wanted it, that also kept the inside of the tent drier.