Head end vs. Foot End of hammock?

So I'm wondering if you guys bother to "mark" or designate a foot end and head end of your hammock? I have just because I have a sensitive nose and don't care to smell my own feet in the middle of the night if by some chance I was laying on last night's foot end with my head.

So do you bother to keep them designated? If so, How are you keeping track of the foot/head end?

I was using different colored beads on my whoopies but they have since broken off etc. I can also tell by the adjustable end of my structural ridgeline is over the foot end, but I've been experimenting w/o the ridgeline lately and its brought up some confusion. I've since tagged all of the hammocks with some home made zipper pulls out of small cordage tied in a cobra weave. I use orange for the foot ends, and OD green for head end. The pulls serve a dual purpose to keep the loop from pulling into itself as well.

http://hot-rock.com/oOo/1/Hammock/whoopie_tags.jpg

I figured Orange in nature = DANGER, and my feet after a few miles = DANGER... easy to remember right?

So what are you doing if anything?

I don't. I also don't notice that the hammock material retains smells at all. Of course, I'm not a bear, and so maybe that's a good reason not to eat in it, but I've certainly never noticed any feet smell.

When I'm sleeping in it, I do always have feet at one end, and I know which end because of where the zipper for the bug net is. If I'm not using the bug net I can theoretically also know which end is which by the color of the whoopie sling, but in practice I don't care.

On my travelers I do not have a designated head/foot end. Its what every way I pull it out of the bag and hang it from the trees. I figure I smell so bad by the second or third day of the hike any ways that my feet probably smell sweet compared to the rest of me. :scared:
Hiker Funk
LRR

I wouldn't want to be around when you take your boots off.

For me, the foot end is the one I raise a little bit higher than the head end.

They get the worst when I wear my Vibram fivefingers... talk about funk...

And I too have never noticed any stank in the hammock, I guess its just a precaution..

I use snake skins and I always have the head end eat the other end. Synthetic socks make my feet reek.

I use Red tape or string on some part of the suspension at the Head end. Red = Head. Rhymes which works for me.
-Mark

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Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

I wouldn't want to be around when you take your boots off. ....

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Ha! That's the exact thought that came to my mind when I read this!

I've got a double end stuff sack that I keep my DIY Jerry5 hammock in. It actually has a head and foot end. To make it easy on my half century plus gray matter ... I use a round (get it?) line lock on the head end and a tubular shaped one on the foot end.

My Blackbird has red string on the left, green on the right, and white on the head. These are the standard marine/aviation colors for marking vessels.

My purpose is to ensure the zipper on the Blackbird faces the direction I want--the first time I set it up.

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Originally Posted by SlowBro

I use Red tape or string on some part of the suspension at the Head end. Red = Head. Rhymes which works for me.
-Mark

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I do the same. Red whoopee sling on the head end "red head" silver on foot end. I do mine not due to smell but so I'll know what side to is what as far as the zipper is concerned.

Since I've got a zippered Hennessy, I like to know which way is which. I simply tie a little piece of orange string to the suspension on the head end. I'm planning on turning the stock Hennessy bag into a bishop bag, so that will eliminate the need, since I plan to have the foot end of the suspension out the bottom of the bishop bag.

I use blue and orange
On some I have blue whoopies on the head and orange on the foot end..
Some have a blue carabiner for the head and orange for the foot.
I also just lable my Dutch Clips with a sharpie head or foot
And on the bishop bag I put colored wire ties on the head end so even if it is dark I can feel the wire tie and tell if it's the head end...

Nice idea with the tactile as well as the visible, but don't you have a flashlight? :laugh:

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Originally Posted by bindibadgi

Nice idea with the tactile as well as the visible, but don't you have a flashlight? :laugh:

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What's a flashlight?:scared:

Yes I have designated the head and foot end of my DIY GEH, the rest of my hammocks are already designated for me (CJH NX-200 & WBBB 1.7DL). I do this because I could tell the difference when I tried to get comfortable in my GEH. I also put differently colored whoopies on each end and made a spliced, to match the whoopies, ARL for the hammock.

On my traveler I set it up how it comes out, and where or who I want to be facing determines what end I use.

The Blackbird I always stuff foot to head in the bishop bag, and them put my tree straps (in a Ziploc baggy) at the head end. That way I know which way the zipper is going to face every time I set it up.

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Originally Posted by JasonJones

They get the worst when I wear my Vibram fivefingers... talk about funk...

And I too have never noticed any stank in the hammock, I guess its just a precaution..

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Use antiperspirant on your feet, seriously, it helps.
:thumbup:

i use different colored straps on my hammocks so i can get my foot end higher

I had beads on my whoopies but they cracked. I love the cobra weave zipper pull idea. Simple, cheap, and far more resilient.

Black bishop bag, always at the head end.

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Originally Posted by Aardvark

Black bishop bag, always at the head end.

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Ten-Four on that! Me too.
Shug....Head-Stink