To avoid a diatribe as you have requested, here is an idea. Why don't you contact the hiking clubs which build and maintain these shelters and ask them which ones you can hang in. I assume you must have already done so for the ones you know you can hang in. I am glad to see that you do not want to totally disrupt others.Originally Posted by Crash
Last edited by Joe; 02-04-2007 at 01:38.
Joe's rules of contentment: 1. Mind your own business, 2. Don't mind others' business, 3. Remember rules 1 and 2.
Joe, welcome to the forum.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
good to hear from you joe. i saw your name in the member's list<g>.
hope your'e doing well. ...tim
I too will something make and joy in it's making
Pan - You are wrong!
but thanx for the diatribe.
"Courage Grows Strong at a Wound" - Stewart Clan Motto
Please read the history of this debate
Crash, et al.
For your info here are some threads about hammocks in shelters, pasted from Whiteblaze.... Please consider them before you decide to hang a hammock in a shelter.
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16748
Here is one where Crash posed the question in 2003 on Whiteblaze...http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2668... This thread of two pages and 32 posts rather strongly says it is inconsiderate, in appropriate etc.
Another related thread about hammocks and shelters... http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6764
One more thread...http://http://www.whiteblaze.net/for...ead.php?t=5613
For all.... this is an oft debated subject... If you want to further the acceptance of hammocking as viable mainstream approach to camping, especially backpacking please read all of these threads.... The greater backpacking community is definately opposed to hammocks in shelters... there are even shelters with notes/signs in them that state no tents,etc to be pitched in them....
Remember on this forum we are almost all hammockers ... These threads are attached... so we don't go off half informed with just a hangers bias ... we are members of the larger hiking community...Our future hangers will come from the larger hiking community....And, our future hanging options will be influenced by the larger hiking community and the clubs and/or organizations that maintain trails and facilities....
Pan
Ounces to Grams.
www.jacksrbetter.com ... Largest supplier of camping quilts and under quilts...Home of the Original Nest Under Quilt, and Bear Mountain Bridge Hammock. 800 595 0413
I've never thought of hanging in a shelter. when i heard of tenting in a shelter it did not sit well with me. i thought it would be inconciderate of others . evan if you were the only person there you would never no when a late arrival would come. i hope that hammockers who choose to hang in shelters don't make it bad for the rest of us who are prepared to hang our tarps first in the rain then set up our hammocks. if it was life threating then i would use my hammock in a shelter, but not to hang, but to wrap my self up in as an extra layer! i think this is probally only a minor few who would do this anyway so hopfully it wont put a bad tast in other hikers mouths.
Why would someone even think to hang (or tent) in a shelter when it's generally posted VERY CLEARLY that you're not to CAMP at ALL within 500 yds. of the shelter? Besides - if you're already carrying your shelter (whatever it may be), why use a shelter at all except maybe for some socialization time? I may be in the minority here, but part of what I like about being in the woods is the ability get away from people...
Specifically for hammocking, like Pan says, there's already enough animosity toward us in the general hiking community. Hammocks aren't allowed in many places because of the misconception that we damage trees. At least part of this image we've gotten HAS to be due to inconsiderate or uneducated hangers who DO damage trees.
The same thing applies here. We don't need "They tear up the shelters!" or "There wasn't any room 'cause some guy had a hammock hung in there!" showing up in trail logs. Just like with tree damage, our community as a whole has the responsibility for setting a good example. If we slip, it puts out an image that encourages others to do the same. Just like with LNT, we're trying to protect our ability to continue doing something we all love!
Just my .02 .
"Physics is the only true science. All else is stamp collecting." - J. J. Thompson
Welcome Joe,
It's nice to see another home town guy on here. That's 3 of us now.
Stoikurt
"Work to Live...Don't Live to Work!"
I first saw these topics on Whiteblaze...tenting or hammocking in a shelter.
Aren't tents and hammocks shelters in themselves? Why the hell would anyone put up a tent or hammock in a shelter? It defies logic lol.
I'm an outlier here.
I have hung my hammock in dozens of shelters. I tend to hike the trail when others are not around, in the fall, and away from the main group of AT hikers. I have hung my hammock outside the shelter something over a hundred times.
I usually don't hang my hammock up in the shelter if there are others around, and I don't hang up usually until after dark.
Almost always, I have hung my hammock in the shelter when it was raining or windy or both.
Someone has asked why hang a hammock up in a shelter:
The reason is simple: It is comfortable. I sleep better, and that means that I hike better than sleeping on the floor. I've done that enough (dozens of times) to know that I would always prefer to be in a hammock if I can.
I am very careful about how I hang in a shelter. I have never pulled anything apart or broken anything, so I guess that my engineering analysis (thumb sight) has been OK.
More often than not, it is not rain that I am trying to avoid by hanging in the shelter, it is wind. And the walls of the shelter keep me warmer than hanging out away from the shelter.
My advice is to not inconvenience others, to not cause damage, and to not be dogmatic about any point of hiking. I don't remember ever hanging my hammock up without asking anyone else there if it was OK and I looked in their eyes as well as listened to their verbal answer. The very few times I have hung up in the shelter with other hikers who were sleeping there, I never got the idea that it was offensive to them. I never heard later that they were inconvenienced or bothered.
And I think that the small number of times that I have hung in a shelter with other hikers is perhaps offset by the large number of times that I have arrived to a shelter with 3 or 4 other people in the shelter and they have been overjoyed to hear that they would not need to move their stuff for someone else to come in. They liked the fact that I was going to camp outside the shelter.
Part of the reason that I seldom hang my hammock in a shelter with even one other hiker not hiking with me is that I hate, really hate, to wake up at night with a snorer. So my own selfishness keeps me from inconveninecing others...
I will not get into an argument about this issue. I don't mean to be offensive. But my experience is that is sometimes is OK to hang a hammock in a well designed shelter, without carrying any hooks or other equipment. And that sometimes leads to a better night's sleep.
Rick (Risk) Website: http://www.imrisk.com
I cook. I sew. I walk. I lead. I hang. I write. I play.
Author of "A Wildly Successful 200-Mile Hike"
http://www.amazon.com/Wildly-Success.../dp/B00COCI5HW
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