First Night Tonight and Scared

[Kasuko]

I am ALIVE!!

Sorry, I should have posted but I've been so hectic, I have a week off work and was trying to fill it with alot of stuff. Good to know this is a very tight knit community.

First hang was good not a total success but good. I set up completely in the dark using just the stock HH setup, tarp connected to the hammock etc. When I was finishing up I was quite warm so when I got in the hammock I had on my Looney Tunes fleece PJ pants and a cottonT-shirt, for insulation I had a walmart sleeping bag with an unknown temperature rating underneath me opened up. I had a folded up fleece blanket and a sweater in the hammock with me off to the side and a pair of socks in the ridgline pocket, I also quickly realized my pillow was very uncomfortable so I pulled the sweater into the sleeve and used that.I was planning on cooling down then pulling the warm stuff on and getting some shut eye but I fell asleep ... I woke up and was cold, no shock of course so I pulled on the sweater on and fleece blanket and warmed up, drifted in and out of sleep but I couldnt fall back into deep sleep, I had to use the washroom but it was raining so I decided to try and ignore it, well after a bit of that I noticed my shoulders were cold, I had to go to the washroom, the wind had picked up and the tarp had stretched and the stock HH setup was not very taut so the tarp was nice and loud. So I would have had to get up get out, use the rest room (read: tree) re adjust the tarptension, double up the sleeping bag, climb back in and fall asleep again. All to be woken up in an hour and a half. So I packed up and headed in. So I made it till 4:30 but if I was out in the woods I would have survived the night.

I was quite impressed with the low profile, I was far back and in a corner by a parking shelter, heard alot of people walking in it and some in the parking lot but when I walked out of the house with my stuff I could barely make out the outline of my hammock and I knew where to look.

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Second attempt

So I tried again 2 days later trying to get a full night in. Well I set up (in the dark again) found that the wind was wicked loud in the tarp, tried to tie it tight but the stock HH setup was horrible, so I got some nylon rope to try and tie to the trees, I got a half decent but not adjustable setup going on, then I tried to stake the pole into the very moist soil with my alumium stakes, well when I pulled on tight the other would fly out of the soil. So I got them taught enough, got all the stuff in the hammock, got in, and when I bounced to shift around my rear end hit the ground, turns out things were slowly slipping down with all my adjustments. So I said screw it I was out there for like an hour and a half and had to redo everything.

So got me some of the big plastic stakes and I'm going to try again tonight again, using two sleeping bags and the fleece blanket, sweater and some form of make shift pillow.

I will post back right away this time.

[BillyBob58]

You can tame that noisy tarp a bit, without tying to trees, by hanging something heavy from the left and right sides- like a full water bottle or a sand filled stuff sack. Also by tightening the tarp up exactly a directed by HH: stack and tighten to the ground 1st, before you tighten on the RL. Or, you can just tie to the trees for the tightest possible pitch, but be careful because when you get in you will sag down below the optimum distance from the tarp and might not have adequate coverage. Which is why so many folks get bigger tarps and tie to the trees.