Identifying head/foot end or entrance to hammock before hanging

[weaver2469]

What exactly does CL stand for?

Using different colors is a great idea!

CL is Continuous Loop. It is the little bit of amsteel connecting the hammock to the suspension. If you have a Warbonnet Blackbird with the stock suspension, it won't have Loops on it. You will just have grey amsteel connecting your hammock to the cinch buckles or he will have run the whoopie sling directly without loops.

[oldpappy]

I tie a couple inches of white yarn on the head end of the tarp and hammock - it is easy to see at dusk when setting up.

[AdventureMyk]

Blue head CL & whoopie, red for the feet. Guess I'm backwards again.
Since I have only used single-end bags I always put the foot in first. That way head is first out to the tree and its set up how I want it with nothing touching the ground.

[TrailSlug]

I painted my head end strap Dutch hook for the head end. So painted head end, not painted foot end. I also leave that painted hook hanging slightly out of my hammock stuff sack for even better recognition of the head end.

[Caminante]

Blue head CL & whoopie, red for the feet. Guess I'm backwards again.
Since I have only used single-end bags I always put the foot in first. That way head is first out to the tree and its set up how I want it with nothing touching the ground.

I'm backwards, too. Green = good, therefore head. Red = bad, therefore feet. Especially after a long day of hiking.

Yes, CL = continuous loop. If your system doesn't include CL's, tying a piece of yarn, etc. to the head or foot end seems like a good solution. If you're using a double-ended stuff sack you could also mark the sack somehow.

FWIW, I also consider my tarps to have a head and foot end because I make my guy lines slightly longer on one side to facilitate pitching in porch mode. As I lay head left, I want the porch to be on my right side.

[kitsapcowboy]

This is a simple technique I use on sometimes, which can be "retrofit" to a hammock without swapping out or adding gear.

I usually use double-ended stuff-sacks, and I like to leave the sack covering the foot end of my hammock.

After I thread the CL through the stuff sack at the foot end, I cinch that end shut around the foot end continuous loop and secure the cinch with a slippery half-hitch on the draw cord.

The half hitch serves as my visual reminder of which end is the foot end; I open the sack from the head end and hang that end first.

[Tree Rhino]

What exactly does CL stand for?

Using different colors is a great idea!

Cl is continuous loop, the piece ot amsteel or other cordage that is often running through the channel or the whipping at the end of a hammock. My stuff sack has a label on it, and I just know that when it is right side up, the head of my hammock is on top.

[underserviced]

I've been using red carabiners at the head end. It never occurred to me to change colors of the CL - I'm excited and making loops tonight!

[Benji]

I simply tied a second knot ⅛ inch from the first knot on the drawcord for the foot end of my double ended stuff sack. One knot, head. Two knots, feet. The stuff sack never comes off the hammock, just hangs on my CL. I can tell what direction the hammock is with my eyes shut. Not that I set up using a blindfold, just seemed like the easiest way to tell. I'm all for color coding my gear, different color CL would be the next step.
Benji

[pgibson]

I have done a lot of different things over the years. Different colored carabiners, different colored whoopie slings, and even just different colored cord locks on the stuff sack is enough to mark one end over the other.