Hello from Southern Utah!

[rotornoob]

First off, what an amazing site! My name is Matt and I live in beautiful Cedar City Utah. I've always been into hiking and camping, but I'm rather new to the hammock world. Seeing as how I live 20-30 min from Cedar Breaks, Zion etc. you can imagine my excitement as I ditch the tent. I'm the assistant Scout Master for my local troop and we go camping at least once a month. My current set up is the ENO singlenest with the ENO bug net and Atlas straps. I just ordered the WB Superfly and can't wait to put my gear to use. I'm headed out for a 7 day trip with the troop at the beginning of Aug. Do you guys have any tips or advice for me? We're headed to the mountains which is still hitting temps in the low 40's at night. I guess my main area of concern is getting the tarp and ridgeline set up correctly. My current thought is to put up a tight ridgeline and throw the tarp over and secure it to the ridgeline using prussic knots. Should this work out OK? Is 5/50 cord appropriate for this sort of set up?
TIA!
-Matt

[MAD777]

Welcome to the forums from Florida. I wish we had 40 degree nights. The low a couple of nights ago here in the South Florida was 91 degrees along with the ever-present humidity.

I've been in Southern Utah and have seen it's jaw-dropping landforms. Then I thought, where would one hang a hammock? Of course I then pictured a hammock swinging under one of the natural arches, LOL!

The 550 cord isn't recommended because it stretches so much. Silnylon on tarps stretch a bit themselves and you'll end up with a floppy tarp. Probably the most popular tarp lines here on the forum is 1.7mm Zing-it or Lash-it (same stuff, different color). I get mine in 180' spools from Redden Marine. I use it as my general utility cord for everything other than hammock suspension. www.reddenmarine.com

[rotornoob]

Thanks for the advice! I will be picking up some Zing-it before I leave. Here in this part of Utah we have lots of trees in the mountains. In face our tree line goes up to just over 11,000 ft. Dixie National Forest has (I believe) the largest quaken aspen growth in the world. I love camping up there listening to the trees in the breeze. Do you, or anyone else, know of a store that Zing-it can be purchased in, or is it a strictly online order? Thanks again for your help!
-Matt

[MAD777]

You can get Zing-it locally from arborist supply.

[mchlwise]

Welcome!

Advice: practice.

Spend LOTS of time in that thing before your trip. Get all the "bugs" worked out at home. You don't want to be 1/4 into a 7 day trip and find that you have to uncomfortably live with something that could have easily been fixed at home.

[doc17th]

Welcome from Philly.