First real hammock camping experience...not quite there

I had my first real hammock camping experience this past weekend. I'd used a hammock previously for four nights, but had tent backup on those outings just in case. This past weekends Scout outing, I went with just the hammock and tarp. Things didn't go as expected.

The weather for the weekend was supposed to be PERFECT! Sunny during the day with highs in the upper 60's to low 70's, evenings into the low 40's. we were car camping, so I wasn't worried about weight or volume of gear. Get to camp, get things set up, put down a tent foot print under the hammock and tarp just to have a place to rest my stuff so it didn't get wet from the ground. I was in a hurry and just pulled out the foot print and staked it out. Tarp was already set up as was hammock. While we were eating dinner, we heard thunder in the distance. Looked up to see nothing but blue sky. Mmmmm...that's odd. Heard another rumble of thunder. Just as I was reaching for my phone to check the weather, my wife calls. She says there was a tornado that touched down near our house (she's fine...wasn't that close to us), and it appears that the storm is headed our way. Another rumble of thunder growls in the distance.

We get the boys to batten down the hatches. I look at my shoddily rigged tarp and decide I better take down the hammock and put it into a plastic bin. If the tarp goes, I don't want my bed getting wet! About 10 mins later, the camp site siren blows to shelter in place. Our site has a cabin, so we round up the boys and some nearby campers and get them inside. About 10 mins later, the skies open up and just DUMP rain. The really heavy stuff arrives in waves as the storm cells move quickly on their path. Storm lasts around 2.5 hours. We never get the flying monkey-type weather, but we end up with several inches of rain in a short period of time. Needless to say, the camp grounds are soaked...some sections are under water.

I go to check my stuff after the main rains have passed. The tarp held! Unfortunately, I've made a really stupid mistake. I wasn't careful setting up the footprint. It extended out beyond the tarp edge...so, water flowed from the tarp, down onto the foot print and pooled under where I was sleeping. GGGRREEAATT!!!!

By the time I get the Scouts situated and camp put back together, it's close to 1am. I re set my hammock and crawl into it. Seems I didn't have the angle adjusted properly. Dang it! Get out, re-position, and it's better, but not quite right. End up saying, screw it, I'll be fine. I don't feel like messing around with it anymore. I'm beat and just want to go to sleep. Turns out, it wasn't fine. I ended up tossing and turning for the next four hours until it was time to get up. Not a good night. Had the foot section a bit too high, so I couldn't get a flat or comfortable position.

Lessons learned:
More practice in the back yard. I was nervous about my setup and didn't trust that the tarp would hold. That trust will come with practice (and maybe some Dutch-ware :lol:)

Don't bother with a footprint. :D

Get a ridge line.

Need to figure out where to put my stuff so that it's covered by the tarp and protected from big rain.

Also need to figure out how to get changed around Scouts without a tent.

Bruce

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bdaabat

I had my first real hammock camping experience this past weekend. I'd used a hammock previously for four nights, but had tent backup on those outings just in case. This past weekends Scout outing, I went with just the hammock and tarp. Things didn't go as expected.

The weather for the weekend was supposed to be PERFECT! Sunny during the day with highs in the upper 60's to low 70's, evenings into the low 40's. we were car camping, so I wasn't worried about weight or volume of gear. Get to camp, get things set up, put down a tent foot print under the hammock and tarp just to have a place to rest my stuff so it didn't get wet from the ground. I was in a hurry and just pulled out the foot print and staked it out. Tarp was already set up as was hammock. While we were eating dinner, we heard thunder in the distance. Looked up to see nothing but blue sky. Mmmmm...that's odd. Heard another rumble of thunder. Just as I was reaching for my phone to check the weather, my wife calls. She says there was a tornado that touched down near our house (she's fine...wasn't that close to us), and it appears that the storm is headed our way. Another rumble of thunder growls in the distance.

We get the boys to batten down the hatches. I look at my shoddily rigged tarp and decide I better take down the hammock and put it into a plastic bin. If the tarp goes, I don't want my bed getting wet! About 10 mins later, the camp site siren blows to shelter in place. Our site has a cabin, so we round up the boys and some nearby campers and get them inside. About 10 mins later, the skies open up and just DUMP rain. The really heavy stuff arrives in waves as the storm cells move quickly on their path. Storm lasts around 2.5 hours. We never get the flying monkey-type weather, but we end up with several inches of rain in a short period of time. Needless to say, the camp grounds are soaked...some sections are under water.

I go to check my stuff after the main rains have passed. The tarp held! Unfortunately, I've made a really stupid mistake. I wasn't careful setting up the footprint. It extended out beyond the tarp edge...so, water flowed from the tarp, down onto the foot print and pooled under where I was sleeping. GGGRREEAATT!!!!

By the time I get the Scouts situated and camp put back together, it's close to 1am. I re set my hammock and crawl into it. Seems I didn't have the angle adjusted properly. Dang it! Get out, re-position, and it's better, but not quite right. End up saying, screw it, I'll be fine. I don't feel like messing around with it anymore. I'm beat and just want to go to sleep. Turns out, it wasn't fine. I ended up tossing and turning for the next four hours until it was time to get up. Not a good night. Had the foot section a bit too high, so I couldn't get a flat or comfortable position.

Lessons learned:
More practice in the back yard. I was nervous about my setup and didn't trust that the tarp would hold. That trust will come with practice (and maybe some Dutch-ware :lol:)

Don't bother with a footprint. :D

Get a ridge line.

Need to figure out where to put my stuff so that it's covered by the tarp and protected from big rain.

Also need to figure out how to get changed around Scouts without a tent.

Bruce

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sounds like one of my scout trips. Its also the best way to learn. The other day somebody asked me what I thought about them doing something stupid and I said we all do stupid things the important part is not to repeat it. Either way I say good times.

Yeah, lose the footprint - it's a relic of tent camping. Due to some pesky, thieving red squirrels in the Adirondacks, I've started hanging everything from my hammock ridgeline - nothing on the ground. If it's raining hard I can put my pack cover over the pack and it stops blowing rain from coming inside.

Live and learn. I carry a small piece of Tyvek. Even if your gear is hanging it's nice to be able to have someplace to put your feet if you're lounging or something to stand on while dressing before you have your shoes on.

I believe i also really need to get my gear quantity down. That is going to be challenging! I got used to packing in all sorts of stuff for ground camping (e.g., full size pillow, lots of extra clothes, extra sleeping bag, back ups of back ups :D)

Yes, on this hammock only outing, I really did bring along a dustpan and brush...was left in my camping kit. :rolleyes:

Bruce

You need an intervention. :D

Give us a gear list. I bet we can whittle it down. ;)

Bruce - That sounds like the same line of storms that woke us up at 4:30am on Saturday. It gave us some grief as well. Glad to hear everyone there got a decent amount of warning and could prep.

I was on my first true backpacking trip in Northeast PA, and had hung my pack from a tree and covered it. Our hammocks held up really well (we both have HH Safaris), but the pack cover let me down and my pack was soaked. I had been relying way too much on the weather forecast from that morning (no cell reception where we were so no updates), and had ignored one of the old rules I learned in the scouts: put your clothes in a garbage bag. Luckily everything in and under my hammock was dry, so I was still able to enjoy the weekend.

I did numerous test hangs in my basement, and had two trips earlier in the summer as a warmup for this (car camping with just my fully geared up pack and day hikes), and I still missed/realized a ton of things that I should change. I also realized my Safari is awesome, but I need a way lighter/less cumbersome rig for the trail.

I've only been at this for one camping season, but I'm coming to the conclusion that I'll forever be tweaking/changing/fixing. I think that's part of the fun. My pack for the 25 mile/2.5 day/2 night trip was 40lbs on the dot with food and water. My new goal is 30lbs or less.

It sounds like you're well on your way. The ridge line helps a ton for getting the hang right, and the rest will come from controlled trial and error. I highly recommend car camping trips where you pack/behave like a backpacker. It really opened my eyes to what's important and what's not. When I unpacked after my first trip I put everything into two piles: stuff I used, and stuff I didn't use. Everything I didn't use got cut from the next trip. It also forces you to be more creative and resourceful with what you have.

Best of luck and remember: a bad hang is probably still way better than sleeping on the ground.

-Dave

Bruce,

PM sent

It sounds like you've had some good advice on here. It's always nice to see another scouter convert over to hammocks.

I tried a small ground cover a couple of times, but it always seemed to blow around. Noo much hastle. I carry a small square (about 18 inches) of a closed cell pad for a place to put my feet when I get up. My shoes go on it at night.

I've been through some pretty good rain storms and I just button up my pack and put it underneith. It keeps it pretty dry (or I'll hang it on my ridgeline).

Like you, one of my biggest concerns when I began sleeping in a hammock when on scout trips was where to change with the boys around. I just drop one side of the tarp down low. All that is visible from the outside is the mid-calf down. That seems to work for me.

Thanks folks! I appreciate all of the feedback!

@Dave: Glad you ended up being safe and doing OK. Yes, I'd forgotten the garbage bag as well. Since I was car camping, I had a waterproof bag though. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good system to keep the Scout neckerchief in place... sometime during the night, it fell into a mud puddle. Grrr...

BTW: Excellent idea, sorting stuff into piles of used vs. not. Agreed that the tweaking of setup will likely become a life long process. In fact, I've been doing major tweaking already... I've dropped the tent and the cot! :D

So, what hammock are you going to switch to?

@Stormstaff: thanks for the message! I will definitely be looking into lighter weight stuff from the links you provided!

@BillnGA: so, how do you deal with the ends of the tarp being open? I'm the Scoutmaster, so am always set up near the boys. The way the trees were at the campsite this past weekend, my tarp was set up broad side to the boys tents. However, it was also right near where the trailer got parked. The result? There were boys going into the trailer at 5A getting charcoal unloaded for the fire (we cooked a whole hog among other things). They walked back and forth past my rig many times as I was getting up and ready for the day. If I had gotten changed then, they probably would have seen more than anyone (except Mrs. BDAABAT) would want! :D

Bruce

Personally I normally use my Old Man Winter tarp so I have doors most of the time.

We as leaders setup as a patrol, so we are normally away from the boys and possibly have a roped off site.

Dunno how it'll be when we try our first backpack trip this spring

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bdaabat

Thanks folks! I appreciate all of the feedback!

@Dave: Glad you ended up being safe and doing OK. Yes, I'd forgotten the garbage bag as well. Since I was car camping, I had a waterproof bag though. Unfortunately, I didn't have a good system to keep the Scout neckerchief in place... sometime during the night, it fell into a mud puddle. Grrr...

BTW: Excellent idea, sorting stuff into piles of used vs. not. Agreed that the tweaking of setup will likely become a life long process. In fact, I've been doing major tweaking already... I've dropped the tent and the cot! :D

So, what hammock are you going to switch to?

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My personal snapping point was when I was putting 4 people and a dog in my Subaru AND pulling a loaded trailer. Tents, cots, dutch ovens, propane tanks, coolers. It was madness! We still do those kinds of trips, but since my hammock epiphany, I've dialed it way back. I'm still working on getting the wife into a hammock, but she's a much harder sell. Hopefully by next summer we'll both be hanging and can ditch the tent and cots completely.

As for my next hammock, I just picked up two Grand Trunk Ultralights for $12 each at Green Life Outfitters, so I'm going to rig one up and see how I like it. At that price, it was a total impulse buy. The fabric for a DIY one would cost me more than that!

Since I doubt I'll be camping again until January, I've got a bit of time to mess around with it before I take it out on a trip. My goal is to change the suspension over whoopies, and a ridge line, and find a lighter silnylon tarp. I might find a bug net too depending on how motivated I am over the winter.

My goal is to spend around $150-175 and for the whole rig and to be at or less than 3lbs. The Safari clocks in at over 5lbs and takes up way too much pack space for my liking. It's a great hammock, but it's just not for backpacking. I'm debating selling it to fund the new one(s), but it does make a good car camper...plus I'd need another 40+ posts to sell it on here!

The GTUL's arrive Friday, so I'm going to do a quick basement hang w/ some ratchet straps as suspension and see how it feels. Hopefully it's what I'm looking for.

-Dave

Wow, I remember watching my scout leader struggle, not with a hammock but a tent in the same way when I was younger.
For the group, I am asking cause I am new too, I see ENO makes an underbelly Gear Sling. Would this be somewhat useful to keep your stuff off the ground?, especially if you are using a hex tarp or even something that runs lower to the ground. I don't want to call them gimmicky since I have never used one, but I would expect that once you have your hammock set up, in reality there is no room underneath. Is it just easier to use a ridge line and hang the basics and just garbage bag your back pack and hang it from a tree hugger line? I don't want to hijack this experience, but I think I am. sorry

Bdaabat, good job on troop safety!!! Well done!

Glad you made it through...

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Originally Posted by cdnrogue

I would expect that once you have your hammock set up, in reality there is no room underneath. Is it just easier to use a ridge line and hang the basics and just garbage bag your back pack and hang it from a tree hugger line? I don't want to hijack this experience, but I think I am. sorry

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I'd say it depends on the type of tarp you have at the size. I use a 12' x 10' BlackCat with DIY grizbeaks and I run a loose ridgeline underneath the tarp to hang light gear from (mostly the stuffsacks and toilet kit). I find that I can tuck my pack up underneath my head or feet (depending on the prevailing wind) and haven't had a problem getting things wet. If the weather's looking bad, I'd pack the bag up with all of the loose gear and put on the rain cover. In dry or slightly moist weather, you can get away with hanging it from a tree and again using the raincover.

Finally, it's nice to have a small plastic footmat to keep your feet/socks clean of dirt/twigs/pine needles before either going to bed or putting your shoes on. A good trick is to duct tape one corner and peg it to the ground so it doesn't blow away. You'll have a great chance to check out hammock rigs next month.

Glad to hear you survived the storms. Where were you camping?

I was hunting just a little south of the Mason-Dixon in Baltimore Co. and I'm sitting there in my stand when I start to hear drops on the leaves. I thought to myself, "I don't remember hearing about rain tonight, maybe its the wind blowing drops around from this morning". NOPE! All of a sudden the lightning and thunder starts and it's pouring down rain, and I decided that a metal stand in a tree was not the best place to be, and hunting was done for the evening. My Uncle got a deer before the storm started, so I had to help him drag it out and we both got drenched, and I caught a cold. Sounds like you fared better.

Dave: I hear you with all the junk that goes along camping. I'm at the point of needing to purchase a truck just to haul the troop trailer and carry all of my gear. The troop has something like 70 boys. We generally pack in a lot of materiel for outings...8 - 10 propane tanks, two garages to provide cover for cooking, several large chuck boxes, bins for food, camp stoves, and, my new favorite, a 24" Discada . That Discada can cook a WHOLE bunch of food very quickly. We eat well. :D

For Webelos-O-Ree, our troop was responsible for one of the cooking demonstration stations. So, in addition to the usual cobblers that we used for demonstrations of cast iron cooking, we set up a whole hog over the fire pit. It's great marketing for incoming Cubs (and their parents!). Also did chili, mac n cheese (in box ovens), chicken and dumplings in a camp stove on a tripod, trash can turkey, tres leches cake, and deep fried s'mores. The deep fried s'mores and the chicken and dumplings won the camp Cast Iron Chef competition. :lol:

So, yeah, I'm gonna be a car/truck camper for the next several years.

Stormstaff: I've got a Kelty 12*12 at the moment. I need to figure out how to fold it up so that there are doors... both for the colder weather camping and to prevent scaring young eyes. :eek:

cpc1027: We were at Broad Creek Scout Reservation in Harford County for the big Webelos-O-Ree. BTW: Really glad to hear you made it down safely! That's got to be a pretty scary place to be when the weather rolls in.

Bruce

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bdaabat

we set up a whole hog over the fire pit. It's great marketing for incoming Cubs (and their parents!). Also did chili, mac n cheese (in box ovens), chicken and dumplings in a camp stove on a tripod, trash can turkey, tres leches cake, and deep fried s'mores. The deep fried s'mores and the chicken and dumplings won the camp Cast Iron Chef competition. :lol:

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Shawnee District Cuboree Nov 1-3.
I'll let them know you're coming. ;)

Bruce,

The first time I used my HH Expedition classic on a scout campout, we had a rain storm and I found out just how exact you need to stretch that little tarp it comes with. I woke to find a stream of water under my back. Yuk.

Now I have a large Hennessy tarp that well covers the area of the hammock. The tarp has its own ridge line, so I can tension it separately from the hammock. I use a 3 by 3 piece of Tyvek staked to the ground under the hammock in case I need to answer the call of nature in the night and I need to fumble with my boots, I will not get my bare feet dirty.

As for the privacy issue (which is a concern in the age of youth protection), I have been able to do this: If there is a latrine at the camp, I change for bed there just before I get into bed. I wear a poly T-shirt and gym shorts to bed, and I hang my pants on the ridge line. In the morning, I can reach the pants and put them on if necessary, or just walk back to the latrine and change for the day. I always teach my scouts to wear a separate set of clothes to bed. I am not concerned about boys seeing me in gym shorts and a t-shirt. It is good enough to jog in in the park. I can also pull the tarp down if needed to conceal my body, as others have stated.

You should also sleep away from the scouts. The adults should have their own corner of the camp site. Your patrol leaders should be able to handle stuff in their patrol site. I actually hang a bit outside the camp site, since I need the trees close together, and I am not bound by needing a flat clear place for a tent. I also snore (I use a CPAP at home) and my ASM strongly requests that I be out of earshot.

Keep up the good work with the troop. I hear one day it will bring dividends we can not yet imagine.

Since I'm still fairly new to this, here's a couple of thoughts.

One, maybe someone on here can explain or there's an illustration on here showing how to hang/fold your tarp to make "doors"

Two, take a 24" x 24" piece of cloth and hang it on a string and start folding it until you find "doors" then transfer to your tarp

Just a thought. Don't know if it'll work or not, hehe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bdaabat

I believe i also really need to get my gear quantity down. That is going to be challenging! I got used to packing in all sorts of stuff for ground camping (e.g., full size pillow, lots of extra clothes, extra sleeping bag, back ups of back ups :D)

Yes, on this hammock only outing, I really did bring along a dustpan and brush...was left in my camping kit. :rolleyes:

Bruce

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Your thinking like a Scout. I still tend to do that myself when I'm not Camping with the Scouts. As far as a ground cloth I used the foot for my bivy 3x7 sheet of Tyvek. Small critters love to run across the stuff in the middle of the night.

Lose the pillow. I packed an inflatable one for my hike and it never came out of the bag. I wound up using my jacket as a pillow. On your next scout trip, leave the extras in the car then determine what you are not using during the trip and shuffle that to the car as well.

Is the Kelty 12 x 12 an asym, catcut or rectangular tarp. Asym - not sure you can make doors, the more experience hangers here will know better than I. Catcut - consider making doors from tyvek. Rectangular you should be able to fold the corners in.

Check this thread http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=52588

If you've got one of those Kelty Noah-type tarps, the most straightforward way is to hang it in the rectangular configuration, and stake it down not at the corners, but about a quarter of the way in from each end. Then take the corners, fold them inward and stake them down below your hammock suspension. From the side, it will look hexagonal, since the "doors" will appear to angle upward.

You can do something similar with a hex tarp, but you have a lot less material to work with, so it's not usually as effective.

I normally carry a short tree strap that I use to hang my pack off of one of the trees, and throw a pack cover over it. anything inside the pack I will need goes on either the ridgeline or suspension. I tend to compartmentalize stuff into rolltop drybags, so it is easy to clip right on. As for changing, I drop the tarp sides pretty close to the hammock if they aren't already, climb in and change while laying in it. I also have a Clark NA with the weathershield that I will use if I know I am completely going to lack privacy. It may look funny with me bouncing around in it, but no one can see a thing!

As a Scoutmaster, you may want to look at a bigger tarp and tarp doors, and spend some time on site selection to make sure you are positioned correctly and out of any thoroughfares! ;)

Thanks Throdka! Will have to give that a try!

Others: yes, I'm set up close to the boys, but outside of their area and yes, the area is roped off. For this outing, the trees handy and close to the boys happened to be RIGHT where the trailer was parked. And, we happened to get a big downpour, which meant that the 500 lbs of charcoal that had been unloaded by the fire pit earlier in the day got re-packed inside the trailer that evening to keep it from getting wet. So, when 5am rolled around, boys were going into the trailer to get the charcoal set up by the pit.

@Ag: there is no flipping way I would have tried getting changed in this particular camps latrines. They were a bit downstream from the rest of camp and ended up with about an inch of mud inside!

Good suggestion on the Tyvek...will be heading to Ace this weekend. Also good suggestion to dump the pillow. I really didn't need something that big and bulky, but was frankly too tired to toss it into the dry bag once I realized that I didn't need it. Another learning experience thanks to Scouting!

Q: where do y'all hang your Scout shirt?

Bruce

I just hang it over the footend of my ridgeline.

You could always just fold it and put it back in your pack too.

Smokehouse makes a nice tarp with doors and a stove pipe hole in it with lots a room in side (to accommodate the stove). Might be to much for summer backpacking though. There are people who make good sized tarps with doors as another possibility. I like the roped off section idea as well.