MLD grace solo in .74 Cuben fiber (DCF) 8000+miles 7+ years (Review+discussion)

I posted this somewhere else, but I cut my ultralight teeth on BPL with Ryan Jordan’s and other members SUL & UL philosophies. I have spent a lot of time with this tarp and it’s taught me a lot about comfort, site selection, and in general, how to be safe and dry in the backcountry in various conditions.

I have been fortunate enough to use just this one tarp for my triple crown, and also many many other smaller hikes. For this review I would go like to go over some of general tarp usage thoughts, some pictures of it in use, and maybe some other general thoughts.

Why the Grace Solo? What is the Grace solo? It’s an “A-frame” Catenary cut “trapezoidal” tarp, It’s basically a 7×9, but tapers to 5 feet on the bottom end. It also has what they call a “catenary cut,” on the top and sides, which cuts a little weight, but also helps keep it taught when pitched (In theory, I feel like cat cuts make more sense with “stretchier” fabrics) In my opinion it’s an excellent one person shelter. Just barely small enough to stay dry without a bivy,(with proper site selection) but just barely. It’s extremely light weight and extremely well made.

I bought this tarp for my PCT thru hike in 2014, I bought it in November 2013, the only thing I asked for was no trekking pole grommets on the ridge-line tie-outs. It was not the first tarp I looked at for that hike, In fact I tried a Zpacks Hexamid, (now the hexamid pocket tarp) and didn’t like using the Carbon pole it came with. It was very dependent on the exact height of said pole, plus it’s just another thing to worry about.

I disliked trekking poles, (still do) and didn’t wanna carry a flimsy carbon pole that might break, so i sent it back and bought the grace solo instead.

First setup pic
It came with linelock 3’s and some heavy 3mm guy-line. The linelock 3’s with the guy-line were heavy as hell. I think it was over 4oz?
That’s over 50% of the tarp weight in guy-line, and guy-line hardware, no thanks.
So I cut my own guy-lines. I used 1.3mm Zpacks Z-Cord for the four corners at 5ft length, and the two middle tie outs are 2.5ft. This leaves a little extra on the roll if a tie out wears out. (which took a thru hike and several years.) For the Ridgeline, I used roughly 11 feet (each end) of 1.75mm “lash it.” This stuff is just awesome. I have never replaced the Ridgeline after all these years, and it has wrapped around many trees and splintery sticks and it’s no more worse for wear.

I used a pretty simple method with pitching, I use a truckers hitch for the ridge-line on a tree, Or I’ll clove hitch it to a stick, someones trekking pole, random bush, umbrella, etc… I just tie a permanent figure eight loop in the Z-cord guyline,(on both ends) put the stake through the loop, apply some lateral pressure when placing a stake, and….thats it. Sometimes I’ll do a little half hitch in the guyline if i need it to be shorter, (rocks or roots in the way) and just put the stake through that way. If it is windy or the ground sucks, then i just use a log or rock on top of the stake. I would only do this with “dyneema” though, as in my experience silnylon gets pretty flappy especially overnight or when it’s wet, but for me this system is simple, light, and most of all worked great, oh and did I mention this tarp weighs 6.4oz with the new guy-lines??

So I thought I would share some pictures, I honestly cowboy whenever possible, because that’s part of the experience that I personally enjoy, but it’s always in the pack ready to go. To this day I’ve never had a hole or had to patch anything. It still keeps the rain out, I keep saying I’ll replace, but it wont die!!

PCT Tarp Pictures

Gear list here
Our year wasn’t super crazy in 2014. Got snowed on Mt. San Jacinto (17 degrees that night apparently, one of, if not the coldest the whole hike) got dumped on a few times, in fact the first night at Lake Morena we had a crazy storm and I saw some ruined shelters (even a ruined Grace duo!)…But mine help up fine. It got pretty chilly up north, and it was wet.
Lots of cowboy camping on the southern half, but it kept me warm and dry when I needed it.

AT Tarp Pictures

Gear list here
Used it a bit on this hike. I finished pretty late due to my mom passing away,(June 4th Nobo, uh, what?) but it held up to ice, sleet, snow, wind, I did use a Bivy (MLD bug bivy) on this hike because Lyme ain’t no joke, but otherwise I’ll never use ’em.

CDT Tarp Pictures

Gear list here
Years later and I thought about replacing the tarp for this hike but it just kept working! It took snow ice and rain, honestly didn’t get a ton of use until later in the hike. Got lucky with weather for a while. On this hike I also roomed with my homie under his two person MYOG Rayway, and it was a palace compared to my tarp, you can see it in some of the pictures.

CT Tarp Pictures

(My current list here, which is pretty similar to the one I used on this hike)

Still kickin’! Had a couple nights above treeline with some tricky pitches, but generally worked out great. I would advise against using shaped A-frame shaped tarps in other “fancy” pitches, they just don’t work that well.

So what can I say after using a tarp all this time? It’s awesome! I enjoy having that extra connection with nature when I camp, I can see everything around me, and when I cowboy I’m not burdened with a heavy shelter weight. Make no mistake tents definitely have their place, but for me, I do not like going into nature and then zipping myself out of it in some brightly colored tent.

With that said, what are the downsides? Well there are three major ones I consider, but I have found a few ways to mitigate some of them.
1.) Bug and creepy crawly protection: This a big one and probably the most common counter answer to tarp usage, what I have found is for the most part, creepy crawly’s leave you alone. if you hike until it gets dark, it usually gets colder, and cold blooded critters need sleep too. This goes along with the second point down below, and I have heard some horror stories, trust me, however I haven’t had any life altering bug/snake/centipede/bear experiences while sleeping. As for bugs, I usually just wear my baseball cap plus a bugnet, and if they’re really bad, maybe some earplugs and Benadryl. Except for some specific scenarios, usually the bugs went away at night(except some specific scenarios) and I could take my headnet off. If you camp next to a lake, there are gunna be mosquitos y’know? They let me know in the morning when it was time to start walkin’.

2.) Site selection, site selection, site selection!! This I would say is the most important lesson to using a tarp. You cannot just camp wherever like our three season tent fam, I’m sorry, but it just isn’t be the same.

You have to be a little more meticulous about where you camp and where you want to setup. I feel like this is a worthy payoff for shedding all that tent weight, but you can’t be lazy, especially if the weather looks bad. I didn’t carry poles, so if you’re heading above treeline or camping in the desert make sure you can figure out how to pitch your shelter. Spending that extra time on finding a good spot or finding a better area is paramount, or else you’ll just be sad and wet (ask me how I know)

3.) Pitching a tarp. This takes some experience. Having numb fingers and trying to remember knots is recipe for disaster, know your shit before you go. There are a ton of ways to do this tarp thing, but I’ve mostly stuck with the A-frame.

This tarp specifically doesn’t lend well to other pitches, but A-frame is easy to setup and can be pretty bomb proof, especially if you paid attention to number 2. Usually I pitched it pretty low, Not a lot of room to sit-up but optimum splash and rain protection. Not great for hanging out, good for sleeping tho.

Moving forward would I buy another grace solo? the .74 (or i guess higher to midweight DCF) is exceptionally stout, I’ve seen alot of .51 DCF tarps and the weight is delicious, but I think the .75~ DCF strikes a good balance between weight and durability.

I’ve thought about it, and the weight penalty for a rectangle 7×9 is not that drastic and at $270 before shipping, the MLD is a pricy bit of kit. It has however, held up great all these years and the only item that’s stayed with me from my first to last hike.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

-R