Hammocking in a storm

Leave it to me to do something crazy. I am so new to hammocking that I have spent all of 2 nights hanging. (But I've been backpacking for years and have been known to seek out storms...)

This weekend my wife was cramming for semester tests and finals (yes, they are different here) and I knew I better get out of the house. We had massive storms approaching. Here I go... heading for the trees. Got the gear all set up, tooled around, read a bit, and fell sound asleep. 4 hours later I was awakened by the snaps of lightning and the booming thunder.

It pounded and blew. I had not a care in the world since I was a good 18" above the wet ground. Laying there swaying away with lashing rain pounding on the tarp, with the smell of burnt ozone in the air, and the whoosh of mighty wind...it was a great night being out in the woods experiencing the grandness of nature.

I made dang sure there was not a dead branch anywhere around me. And I set up on the leeward side of the approaching storm. Man, what a great night.

Am I stupid or just plain adventurous?

Sounds like fun to me!!

Sounds to me like you're just another hammock nut. If I hear a crack of thunder I'm grabbing my gear and heading for my backyard. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but I just love riding out a storm in my hammock.

Some of my best nights sleeping in the woods have been during storms. The sound of the rain pounding on the tarp and wind rocking my hammock back and forth. I can never stay away for very long in those conditions. :D

I share your appreciation of sleeping during a storm.

It's just more nature to enjoy!

Your comments just prove I'm not a nut.

Shucks, i remember 4 years ago we had an early season winter storm come in. Snow level was going to be just above timberline. What'd I do? Loaded up my stuff and climbed up to 12,000 feet. Found the highest flat spot for my tent and got ready.

Slept like a well fed baby. Once the initial wave passed, or so I thought, it quietened down a lot. That's only because I was encased in ice and snow so I couldn't hear the raging wind. Ah...sweet sleep.

Can't get enough of it.

Thanks for letting me know I'm not crazy!!!!

Love hammocking in a storm. Hickery and I have been in a couple of doozies in the Linville Gorge, NC.....http://youtu.be/YsICgcSzfmo
You ain't crazy....:laugh:
Shug

Wolf,
Not sure I quite share your desire to seek out storms, but I do appreciate swinging in the trees during the flood waters. Back in October, I was doing a 7 day trip in Ocala and it stormed every day. What I learned:

-It sure doesn't take long for an inch of ground water to accumulate even if you think you have selected a dry under cover site.

-Tarp pull outs wouldve been nice. Having a tarp bowing against your hammock ain't fun. Curious how a pole mod would've worked.

-Mother nature is awesome and deserves respect. If you can taste the electricity, it is interesting where your thoughts take you. Like...are Sil nylon and amsteel good conductors?

I tied up to a pair of foot diameter oaks prior to a hell of a storm at Whitley Gap Shelter on the AT last year. I battoned down the hatches as much as I could (lee side of a bunch of low bushes). The wind buffeted the tarp against me all night even though it was banjo tight when I went to bed. I stayed warm and dry but the wind moved the trees back and forth all night. I was afraid with the low stretch it might snap the zing-it tarp ridgeline but I lucked out.

A hailstorm a few months ago on the AT was even more fun. The marble sized hail sounded like gunshots hitting the top of my tarp for a good 20 minutes. Being in storms is fun so long as you're set up and ready for it. Getting caught out in the open would be a totally different story.

If that makes you a nut, then I am in the same cashew jar as you. I always loved camping in storms. Hammocking in them is even better.

New to the hammock camping world, and this is my first post here. Your post is awesome, I LOVE storms and can't wait to get out in one......as i write this, my imagination is just running away!!!

I vote for stupid, 'cause my family tells me I'm stupid for hanging in storms. They seriously don't understand winter camping at all.

One of my trips next summer will be to go back up to retrieve my titanium needle stakes that I lost in a snow storm and gale force winds this October. I was using my summer cuben rain fly open on both ends when a horizontal snow storm came in and overwhelmed the light gear. My rain fly and stakes took flight and left me in the dark with no weather protection in the driving snow. Did I mention gear was blowing out of my open hammock? I managed to get my pants and boots on and retrieve most of my gear before doing a bivy under my friend's hammock and rain fly. When it got light we made coffee and pulled out before the trail was completely gone. Valuable experience that!

Stupid no, weird probably. :D

The best sleeping weather EVER is during a substantial T-STORM in a hammock in a sheltered site (preferably with no widow makers nearby)! :lol:

From a card carrying weird guy!

Any of you been hanging from a tree that was struck by lightning?

Weathering a storm in a hammock, that would be my only concern.

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Originally Posted by Lupus

Any of you been hanging from a tree that was struck by lightning?

Weathering a storm in a hammock, that would be my only concern.

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I've spent many a night in T-Storms with danger close lighting strikes. I've never heard of anyone having the tree they're hanging from get hit. I don't want to be the 1st to report, (Or even worst, someone report why I can't report) the results. :scared:

There has been an ongoing debate on which is safer in a T-storm. The tent or the hammock. So far, I've read of people being killed in tents, tarps, 3 sided shelters, homes, and vehicles. So far, no hammock that I know of.

Hmmm. Seems worth the research on how electricity might travel down a hammock's suspension from the tree during a strike. Perhaps if it was soaked with water all the way through you'd get enough conductivity??
Laying directly on the ground with just a sleeping mat between you and the ground has to be much more dangerous.. being that lightning can travel through the roots of trees. :confused:

We hang on the coast at every opportunity. It took a long time for me to learn now to keep dry. I think I have the hang of it now. I just absolutely adore hanging in a storm. I do worry a little about T.Storms. Ever since we lost our roof off our house when we lived in Joplin. Storm came out of nowhere in the middle of the night, turned the inside of the house a errie greenish colour, big freight train noise, then rip, roof just picked up and moved about two inches. In the moring a crew came out jacked up the roof and nailed it back down again. That made a real impression on me. I have always had strong winds around me, I grew up along the Columbia River Gorge. The storms in Joplin made me more respectful of their power.

We love hanging in storms, we are very careful of the sites we choose. I have worried a little about a direct hit. I think sleeping on the ground you are more likely to have that happen. I don't know, do you alfix a lightening rod to your hammock???

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Originally Posted by bruceandtammy

New to the hammock camping world, and this is my first post here. Your post is awesome, I LOVE storms and can't wait to get out in one......as i write this, my imagination is just running away!!!

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Welcome to the forum. Yay! I have seniority now. 😄
Enjoy your hammocking. I just received an order from Dutch so I gotta set up yon hammocke again to play.

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Originally Posted by HangingOut

One of my trips next summer will be to go back up to retrieve my titanium needle stakes that I lost in a snow storm and gale force winds this October. I was using my summer cuben rain fly open on both ends when a horizontal snow storm came in and overwhelmed the light gear. My rain fly and stakes took flight and left me in the dark with no weather protection in the driving snow. Did I mention gear was blowing out of my open hammock? I managed to get my pants and boots on and retrieve most of my gear before doing a bivy under my friend's hammock and rain fly. When it got light we made coffee and pulled out before the trail was completely gone. Valuable experience that!

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We must be first cousins. Nature is grandest when at its worst. That's me story and I'm stickin' with it.

People have been killed by lightning while hanging in their hammocks. I remember a couple people (I think a father and daughter) who were killed by lightning a couple years ago while hanging in their hammocks. It was widely publicized here and on WhiteBlaze, but am unable to find the thread yet. As best they could figure, the lightning originated (in case you didn't already know, lightning goes up from the ground, not down from the sky) from just below the hammocks and jumped into the tree about ten feet up. The hammocks didn't really attract the lightning, they were just in the way.

The lesson learned was never to hang from the highest tree or trees in the area. Make sure you are hanging from trees in which the tops are average for the area or lower than in the area. Also, the more trees in the area and the closer they are, the better.

OP is also a really good writer :)

Nothing like hanging when it's wild out. If a trip isn't challenging, you may as well stay sitting in your armchair at home.

Sounds like a great time... did u get wet??? I need to get those doors to ya...

You ask if you're a bit crazy for wanting to hammock in a storm? Of course you are. But then, aren't we all? A couple of good quotes:

"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

"If we weren't all crazy, we would go insane."

"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, then it's you."

It is not just hammocks. There is always a feeling of well being when snugged up warm and dry inside any shelter that lets you see, hear and feel mother nature doing a gear test. ;-)

what is gear, if it cannot be tested?

I love being outside in storm....best sleep ever!!! Guess we are all nuts

I also like being out in the middle of a storm, best time to find mushrooms too!

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Originally Posted by SmokeHouse

Sounds like a great time... did u get wet??? I need to get those doors to ya...

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Just a wee bit. Mainly just a bit of mist. My quilt has a Pertex Quantum top so no worries there. UQ had more moisture but nothing serious. I shook it off, let it air out later and it was ready for more. 👌

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Originally Posted by SilvrSurfr

I vote for stupid, 'cause my family tells me I'm stupid for hanging in storms. They seriously don't understand winter camping at all.

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:lol: amen brother :lol:

Nothing makes you feel more alive that watching snow from your tarp, or hearing a tree come down at 3am :D

Fair weather camping, meh!

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Originally Posted by Lupus

Any of you been hanging from a tree that was struck by lightning?

Weathering a storm in a hammock, that would be my only concern.

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No. But a few years ago I was hanging during a noreaster with another hammocker (Ordin Aryguy) who was on the ground that trip . During the night we each heard a tree fall. We both thought it landed on the other guy. We were at most 50 yds (Ordin, correct me if I am in error on that) away from each other. It came down right between us, both of use were safe. We had some firewood for the next night though.

I love me some storms to hang in. Lightning...well, less so. But wind and rain? Ahhh...ain't nothin' like it to help me fall asleep.

USS Virginia, 1983 - rode out a hurricane coming back from our yearly "spring break" cruise down to the Caribbean. I stuffed a bunch of clothes under the outside of me so that I was wedged up against the wall of my rack to keep me from rolling around or falling out, slept like a baby after that. All my life really storms put me to sleep when I feel safe and snug.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by FourCats

USS Virginia, 1983 - rode out a hurricane coming back from our yearly "spring break" cruise down to the Caribbean. I stuffed a bunch of clothes under the outside of me so that I was wedged up against the wall of my rack to keep me from rolling around or falling out, slept like a baby after that. All my life really storms put me to sleep when I feel safe and snug.

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I may have been in the same storm. I was on the USS Concord AFS 5 and the ship went dead in the water. Only time I walked on walls :eek:

This is a good thread btw. I am looking for info about bad weather for preparation sake. Any more hail comments?

Thanks,
John

I adore Hanging in Storms. We mostly storm watch on the Oregon and Washington Coasts, some times in the mountains.

I never consider the lines to the hammock breaking, as I am swinging.

I am very careful about tent camping in large storms. I have had huge trees come down around me. Living in western Oregon I am also concerned about floods or too much water causing problems around my tent. Hanging does not present as many issues with the water.

The smell of ozone is amazing after lightning. You can literally smell the spark in the air after a couple of really close strikes. Been there.

What I love most about being in my hammock during a storm is knowing there is no place around me I would rather be. I am protected, off the ground, warm and dry. The rest is a light show. :lol:

I cannot wait for the first good storm of the year here... And I'm hoping it will be coming in on a Saturday evening so I can run out and get a good seat to watch. :D

Well, you can't always tell when storms will roll up on you and develop suddenly sometimes. It's happened to me a few times. I'm talking real severe stuff that turned into strong cells with tornado warnings on the weather radio.
If you're going to spend time like this outdoors, you can expect it, like it or not.

Maintain your gear to perform, prepare your site and be aware of any overhead dangers and sometimes praying isn't such a bad idea either.

This thread has me thinking about if I should change my metal spikes to some plastic ones.

If you are not complaining about getting wet you did everything right! ;-))

I didn't have a hammock setup yet, but camping at a mountain lake then taking a drive up THROUGH the lightning to look down on it. It was one where it was like strobe lights with bolts hitting literally all around us. I live for that sort of thing. :)