My first hang: Stephen F Austin State Park - Texas
Hey folks, a friend got me interested in hammocking a few months back and while I wait for the $$$ equipment to roll in the door, I thought I'd get a little practice in with what was easily available. So I grabbed a Yukon Outfitters Mosquito Hammock on WOOT.COM one day for $25 and a Tad Pole tarp from Wilderness Logics . I had lots of paracord laying around the house, but I ordered a set of self tensioning lines from Jacks 'R' Better for the Tad Pole.
Some friends were RV'ing at a state park just a half hour away from home, so the wife and I scooted over there on Saturday afternoon and I had the perfect excuse to try my first hang. I put up the hammock as per YouTube videos I'd meticulously studied, and then hung the tarp. All in all I was happy with the outcome. The hammock hung down to about 2 feet above the ground when I sat in it, and that was fine by me.
So bedtime rolls around and while everybody else retires to the air conditioned RV, I maneuvered myself into the hammock. For those of you unaware, Texas gets hot in the summer. Yes, I'm sure that's a shock. We also get plagued with mosquitos, although our lack of rain recently has cut way down on that sort of thing. So as I make myself at home in my new hammock, I'm pretty quickly aware that this would be MUCH more fun in cooler months. But I finally get situated and doze off. Success!!!
Then about 4am rolls around and Mother Nature calls, and as I return to sit in the hammock I get off-balance a bit and lay down rather hard in its gossamer confines. And that's when the fun starts. BAM goes one support line and my butt hits the ground. I start to giggle at the absurdity of it, and the fact that I can't exactly go run into the RV at 4am to tell my friends 'hey you won't believe what just happened'. So by the light of my little Photon keychain flashlight I try to assess the damage. It later turns out that the Yukon simply runs a rope through the end seam and ties a knot in the end, and my weighty arrival forced the knot all the way through the seam... probably easily repairable. Unfortunately the attached mosquito netting was torn down from its paracord hangers, which ripped out 3 of the 6 stays leaving some gaping holes in the netting. Once again, probably fixable with some needle/thread and I still have 3 stays to hang it from.
So I try lying inside my failed hammock, atop my Therm A Rest pad for about a half hour before the sound of little woodland creatures freaks me out enough to move to a couple of lawn chairs leftover from last night's BBQ. An hour or two later when others stirred, I was the butt of endless jokes, which was fine by me as long as it came with breakfast.
All in all, even with THE EVENT, I had a really good time. I learned a lot and will improve with practice. Hang on folks, hang on!
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Originally Posted by UncleMJM
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