Tarp, check, hammock, check, straps....D'oh!

[Randonneur]

I just realized when I unpacked my camping hammock to string it up in the back yard that the straps are probably still hangin on a pair of trees from when I went camping a couple of weeks ago at a state park. Luckily I have another set that is actually better than the set I left behind but I was kind of attached to those.

I understand that the straps are probably the most forgotten item with hammocks, I'm sure this won't be the last set I lose. How many have you left behind?

[pgibson]

I have yet to leave a set hanging but it is a common problem. When I was a kid I would often go to work with my dad on the weekends and most of the summer. He worked construction and it was often just him and I in a house. He had a lot of tools that it was easy to put down in a closet or bathroom and so every night we would do a walk through....walking in and out of every room, every corner....we covered every single inch of the house to clean up tools every night. Got in the habit of checking for every single thing that went in the front door in the morning went out in the evening. I do the same when I break camp, all that comes out of the pack goes back in. Not an easy habit for form...my kids are prime examples of that but we are working on it when we backpack.

[rick417]

I'd say it's a tossup between straps and stakes. I've not left a strap behind (knock on wood) but have lost a stake even though I knew it was missing and searched for it. I've only been hanging for 8 months now, so I'm sure my time will come. I try to do the same things in the same order, but if I get distracted during a task that's when it will happen.

[BuckeyeFan]

I was out on the AT 2 weeks ago and met Straps...leaving his tree straps behind and realizing after hiking 5 miles is how he earned his trail name.


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[Nick]

Haven't left anything yet. Like pgibson I double check when breaking down camp to make sure everything is accounted for. It's probably only a matter of time before I get home after a trip to find a guy line or strap missing.

[skater]

I left one strap on a tree, about 200 yards offtrail once. Camped out on the same trail a year later, found a good spot. Seemed familiar, actually. Then I spotted my strap, still hanging there.

[Grumpy Squatch]

Never straps, but I once lost my entire stake organizer with 10 aluminum Y-stakes, 12 guylines, and a set of Dutch Stingerz. That was about a $60 lesson. I think it happened hanging in a friend's yard helping him with a setup but to this day a year later neither he nor I have never found them.

That was the final straw and now i buy everything I can in orange, yellow, or some other bright color. My stake bag is now blaze orange :-).

[SkyPainter]

Never straps, but I once lost my entire stake organizer with 10 aluminum Y-stakes, 12 guylines, and a set of Dutch Stingerz. That was about a $60 lesson. I think it happened hanging in a friend's yard helping him with a setup but to this day a year later neither he nor I have never found them.

That was the final straw and now i buy everything I can in orange, yellow, or some other bright color. My stake bag is now blaze orange :-).

I paint all my stakes bright blue, as that is one color not normaly found in nature. The reds, oranges, yellows are all natural here in the New England forests, but blue stands out. Straps, i still use black or csmo as I stealth camo for real often.

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[Hobopelican]

I paint all my stakes bright blue, as that is one color not normaly found in nature. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

LOL. My first summer camping, I painted the tops of my stakes orange so that I wouldn't loose them...then fall rolled around! I don't think I've ever permanently lost an item, but I sure spent time trying to find various things! Blue is probably a great idea. I might go for a 2 tone paint job...Blue and bright yellow?

[TreeDangle]

Another piece of kit that instantly goes into stealth mode when put down is my titanium spork.

Solved this by painting a strip of the mid point with my wife's expensive pink nail varnish.

That didn't go down too well!