Night sounds?

[Palmetto]

Hello my fellow campers. I have one issue when it comes to hammock camping...or really camping in general. How do you deal with all the lively sounds of the night? It actually never bothered me until I tried sleeping in a hammock, and the last time I slept in a tent on a windy night even the rustling of the tent fabric was driving me crazy.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you ignore it? I am thinking of resorting to earplugs, but I'd rather not be completely deaf to my surroundings in case something did occur like a person or large animal happening upon me.

[Brownie1]

The other night I was out in the wilds of New Zealand. It was a wild a woolly night and my HG CF tarp resembled the spinnaker on a yacht on more than a few occasions. The rain was smashing down on the tarp as well but the really cool thing that I heard was a couple of kiwis squawking away while they did their night time rounds. Not many people get to hear that very often.

I love those night time sounds.

[Gadgetgeek]

The only noises that usually bother me are kids talking if they haven't gone to sleep when told, the odd koala party, which the kids usually think is wild pigs, or something fighting..... or curlew birds. those are by far the hardest to sleep through. Other than that, I don't tend to notice much. I find you just get used to it.

[sojourn]

I love to camp near a trout stream or rapids on the New River. I like to wake up to the sounds of birds chirping in the spring. If the noise or party ,like of trail days in Damascus, Va.bother me ,sleeping pill or ear plugs do the trick.

[fgblueenohanger]

I usually camp near a stream with some nice rushing water and that puts me into a deep sleep. The times I camp away from a stream are no problem for me either because the chirping crickets sing me to sleep.

[Deathstar77]

I don't normally get bothered by the sound of the bears tearing through my buddies pack full of food that he decided didn't need to hang up. If I hear their grunting noises, I'll put ear plugs in and turn over on my side. That normally does the trick.

[dingbat]

A couple, six-eight shots of tequila never hurts.

I am thinking of resorting to earplugs, but I'd rather not be completely deaf to my surroundings in case something did occur like a person or large animal happening upon me.

Earplugs won't make you deaf to your surroundings. In fact, sometimes they can make it easier to hear distinct sounds by cutting down on the background noise.

[Jaeger]

This will probably seem contrary, but don't try to ignore the sounds -- that will probably just add agitation to the mix. Instead, do the opposite and try to hear each and every little sound you can. You might find after a short period of time your mind has "acclimated" to the ambient sounds and begins to naturally tune out what it has already recognized. I believe this is an anthropological survival adaptation that our mind constantly searches for threats and "tunes out" the other stuff.

[Tonykarter]

I like the noises in the woods at night. They add to the adventure. Adventure is why I go. Now...Gen Xers in their fart-canned exhaust imports riding threw the car-camping loop after midnight? Drunks trying to talk over other loud drunks around the campfire at 1AM? Then firing up their four-wheel drives to go muddin' at 3am? Somebody needs an *** whoopin'. And then back in camp sleeping quiet as church mice all day? Really? Time for me to put the rabbit ears on the lower unit of my outboard, fire it up and work on it for a while. However, a considerate person that just gets up at 4am to get a early start on the trail...and clanks a pot lid or two while making breakfast, or a tent pole or two while breaking camp? I can forgive that. I am so lucky. I can sleep right though most of all of the above.

[MAD777]

I actually like the noises of the forest at night and am disappointed if it's a quiet night. As far as keeping me awake, after hiking all day I have no problems sleeping, especially in the comfort of my hammock.