Midnight raid?

I'm a lone hammocker. In late September I was hanging out near the Bay of Beaver north of Duluth. I had gotten to my spot after an 8 hour drive while the sun was setting. Got my HH up and crawled in...no tarp. After a couple of hours of pitch darkness, I began hearing some noise beyond my head several feet away...mice, small coon, whatever. I yelled at them. It got quiet - back to sleep. All of a sudden something crashed onto my pack hanging on the hammock suspension just beyond my head. What the f___! That animal is attacking my bag! ...and why is my netting on my face? Then a ton of tree debris falls on me...yikes more animals attacking!!! I then fall the two inches out of my hammock as the tree falls into the V crotch of another DEAD pine. Sigh...what a dope as I rehang the head end to another, better DEAD pine, hoping I missed the poison ivy in my bare feet! This happened to me....:rolleyes:

Question: Does talking to dead trees help prove the fact that hammockers are actully crazy or just help tip the scale in that direction? :) :)

I would not admit that I have talked to noises in the night... nope, not me, ... never..... shhhhhhh. What was that?

Glad all worked out and you did not get hurt.

Oh man! Lucky you didn't get squished. Glad you lived to hang another day.

yeah - its quite the ride when that tree you tied to starts coming down - I'm 0 for 2 so far - both trees missed me although one came mighty close

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Originally Posted by Cannibal

Oh man! Lucky you didn't get squished. Glad you lived to hang another day.

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I love it!!! Is that an oxymoron? "Live to hang another day" :^ )

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Originally Posted by qpens

I love it!!! Is that an oxymoron? "Live to hang another day" :^ )

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Creative writing; who'd of thought.:D

side note for eyewall... if i'm not mistaken, there's another hammocker named ralph that lives in your state.
i don't remember seeing him on HF but he's active on the hammockcamping yahoo group.

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Originally Posted by 4D's

Question: Does talking to dead trees help prove the fact that hammockers are actully crazy or just help tip the scale in that direction? :) :)

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I don't think talking to any dead thing bodes well.

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Originally Posted by slowhike

side note for eyewall... if i'm not mistaken, there's another hammocker named ralph that lives in your state.
i don't remember seeing him on HF but he's active on the hammockcamping yahoo group.

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Slowhike, if you're talking about Oborn he lives in Idaho.

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Originally Posted by schrochem

Slowhike, if you're talking about Oborn he lives in Idaho.

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yep i was... & yeah that's right, now i remember, the potato state:p

O,O
How often does this actually happen?!

And I glad both of you were okay

It only happens when you hang on the wrong trees. Once I hung on a tree that was fine for just me, but wasn't enough for me and my son...it bent over and my butt scraped the ground. Didn't break, though - I pushed it back up and it was ok next time I went to that site.

Anyway - it doesn't happen if you tie off to good trees.

or support that tree with a line to a tree or root behind it.

basically as people indicated I hung from the wrong trees in both cases

1.) first time it was a forked maple somewhat near an AT shelter - I forgot to check the crotch of the tree for damage from breaking firewood - the inside part of the tree was dead as a result and that is where the tree broke

2.) second time I was hanging from a tree in sandy soil when a thunder storm rolled through - between the water lubricating the soil and the high wind and the pull from the hammock the tree came down - now days if I'm in sandy soil I pick trees at least a foot in diameter instead of the 6 incher I picked that time

I was stealth hanging off the trail on a little ridge above. The tree looked sturdy enough, but it gave way at the root system and leaned over. Learned a good lesson about hanging after dark, especially in soil full of pine needles!