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Hennesy and other brands with a built in bug net over the hammock is garbage. Anywhere with bugs bad enough to need a net at all will leave you getting bit from below through the fabric. Bug net has to cover the full hammock.
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Jul 6, 2015 19:59
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Bottom Liner posted:Hennesy and other brands with a built in bug net over the hammock is garbage. Anywhere with bugs bad enough to need a net at all will leave you getting bit from below through the fabric. Bug net has to cover the full hammock. False, a bug cannot bite me through my sleeping pad
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Jul 6, 2015 20:01
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I could never get comfortable with my pad in my hammock, but maybe the widths are the issue there. I only have a ENO single, so my Neo-Air Trekker might be getting too bunched up.
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Jul 6, 2015 20:03
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Bottom Liner posted:Hennesy and other brands with a built in bug net over the hammock is garbage. Anywhere with bugs bad enough to need a net at all will leave you getting bit from below through the fabric. Bug net has to cover the full hammock. Nah, bugs can't get through my pad/bag.
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Jul 6, 2015 21:24
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Bottom Liner posted:I could never get comfortable with my pad in my hammock, but maybe the widths are the issue there. I only have a ENO single, so my Neo-Air Trekker might be getting too bunched up. When I was winter hammocking, I used my Big Agnes inflatable pad under my sleeping bag and my rear end never felt cold. I was using a Double Nest, though. My wife has a single, but I never tried to spend a night in it. The biggest thing I had to think about was pitching my hammock very level or else I'd just slide down on the pad until my back was bottomed out with my feet resting a bit higher than I'd prefer.
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Jul 6, 2015 22:10
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Sleeping pads (or underquilts i guess) are definitely essential for hammock camping in anything but hot weather. I've slept very comfortably and warmly at 35 F in my hammock, using my foam pad and 35 F bag. Warmth-wise, it didn't feel any different than being in a tent on the ground 
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Jul 6, 2015 22:20
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bunnielab posted:The other night I ran into the issue of where to store my pack while I slept ... it seems like buying/making a mini hammock for your gear is the common solution. Look around for a nearby tree with a broken branch, hang your pack off of that from the haul loop (or straps if your pack doesn't have one). There is no point to keeping your pack inside your tent - it's going to get soaked if it's still raining in the morning. Even with a rain cover, the straps, waistbelt, and surface against your back are going to get wet, then water will wick into the rest of the pack. I accept that my pack is going to get soaked when it rains, anything that needs to stay dry is inside of a trash compactor bag inside the pack. Anything that is especially sensitive (phone, maps, toilet paper) is inside of a ziplock as well - this helps with organization in addition to water management. e: OSU_Matthew posted:Also your time and aggravation in a hammock is directly related to the type of suspension/setup and how well it's hung. For instance, the Hennessy you just wrap the straps around the tree, clip in the hammock (with tarp, bugnet, and sleeves all built in and contained in the snake skins), and pull the ends on each side to get it tightened to the right angle, and you're done. Just gotta find what suspension system works best for you. An REI Quarter Dome 1 weighs 2 lb 10 oz, which is half a pound less than my Hennessy expedition. The only thing I've added to my hammock is four aluminum stakes - it doesn't include carabiners or snakeskins, which would add up to a full pound advantage for the Quarter Dome. If you skip the bells and whistles, rigging up a Hennessy takes a little less time than setting up a two-pole one-person tent, but when you account for finding the right trees, lashing, and adjusting the tension, it's not a huge difference. I like my hammock and I think they have some advantages over ground shelters, but for every trip where I was able to smugly hang over rocky sloped terrain, there has been another where I had to put in miles after dark to reach a spot where the ground foliage was sparse enough to let me get my hammock up. This thread seems to love hammocks to death, but it's just another tool that's good in certain situations and bad in others. ploots fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Jul 6, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 22:27
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turevidar posted:There is no point to keeping your pack inside your tent - it's going to get soaked if it's still raining in the morning. But what if it just rains during the night? Anyway, I went out and messed around with things this afternoon, trying to simplify and lighten. Here is the hammock:  This is how I have the ridgeline rigged:   I am going to find some lighter (and longer!) line but I like the idea of using a prusik to fine tune the length. I'm trying to rig the tarp off of the hanging straps to speed things up:    The only issue I see so far is that when I lay in the hammock the tarp slacks a little, but I don't think it will bug me too much. I also moved the hammock (stuffed into its pocket) and the straps into a small dry bag and the tarp into a second one. It is just a little larger than the one it comes with but that is all it takes to make folding and stowing it 100% less annoying. I still want to rework the stake tiedowns, I want to rig them to tighten from the the stake end so I can get them set while I am squatting to set the stake. Other then that I am feeling pretty good. Also, what's the deal with trash compactor bags? Are they stronger then normal trashbags?
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Jul 6, 2015 23:45
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bunnielab posted:Also, what's the deal with trash compactor bags? Are they stronger then normal trashbags? Yeah, trash compactor bags are really tough, much tougher than the usual trash bag, even more so than most lawn and leaf bags. Therefore they make great water barrier liners for your backpack. They are durable as hell and waterproof. Just make sure to roll the top before you close your backpack. The only downfall is that you can only access your pack from that top opening. Better water resistance than trying to keep your whole pack dry with a rain cover.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:00
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Someone else mentioned getting and using rubber tips for their trekking poles. I always keep mine own because I feel like they grip just as much as the carbide tips. The only time I've taken them off is in river crossing or other mossy water crossings. Am I right in thinking they tear up trails and destroy vegetation much worse with the tips off?
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Jul 7, 2015 01:21
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It's a mild difference between pointy tips and bigger rubber tips, but you're right. That said, poking little holes in a trail is a drop in the bucket compared to what just generally walking on a trail does in terms of wear/damage. Your feet are causing more long term problems than poles will regardless of what kind of tip. I build trails for a living and I use rubber tipped poles, for what it's worth.
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Jul 7, 2015 02:34
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That's a cool job. Tell us more.
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Jul 7, 2015 02:46
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I'll see what my dad has and test it out before I start buying new gear, thank you!  I know about the risks of iodine and won't be using it for long, just to see if I can deal with the wait time when using chemicals for purification vs using something bulkier like Sawyer Squeeze/Steripen. He's still hiking regularly so I hope that he's not too cheap to replace the iodine every once in a while. edit: Talked with dad, he has to hold on the good stuff because he's on the local search and rescue team just in case he gets called up but I can borrow other misc gear that he has extras of. Saw Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 on REI for 25% off as part of their July 4th sale and pulled the trigger since it fulfills my criteria. Since it's REI, I can return it easily if it doesn't work out for me
Tomato Soup fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 7, 2015 02:53
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bunnielab posted:But what if it just rains during the night? I prefer to hang my ridgeline from the trees independent of the hammock straps for the sagging reason you mentioned, but a lot of people do it like you do so I can't say it's wrong. drat I love the idea of a hammock and a rainfly and your setup looks sweet, but I still think I'm going to take mine back to REI and swap it out toward a 1-person tent. I'm just lugging around too much hammock gear. I'll keep you posted as I do research and figure out which tent I'm looking at. Also, +1 on compactor bags. I have a garbage compactor in my home so I always have speare bags around. They are thicker and heavier than normal trash bags., but no water if going to get in there. My wife has an old pack and the liner sloughs off onto her clothes so she uses a compactor bag to protect them for that. The waterproofing is a bonus.
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Jul 7, 2015 04:12
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Does anyone use some kind of GPS to record their trips? I think it'd be kind of fun and I was trying to see if my Garmin Edge 500 would work for something like that but it seems it has trouble recording low speeds since it's a cycling computer. I just saw someone on the JMT using one and wondered if there was some trick to get it to work well. Don't really feel the need to drop money on something else and using my phone would probably destroy the battery over a longer trip and I use it for pictures and all that
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Jul 8, 2015 02:16
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Levitate posted:Does anyone use some kind of GPS to record their trips? I think it'd be kind of fun and I was trying to see if my Garmin Edge 500 would work for something like that but it seems it has trouble recording low speeds since it's a cycling computer. I just saw someone on the JMT using one and wondered if there was some trick to get it to work well. Don't really feel the need to drop money on something else and using my phone would probably destroy the battery over a longer trip and I use it for pictures and all that Here's a Garmin log of when my dad and I summited Elbert a few years ago. HR was interesting. Even when rested, by heart rate never went below 100bpm after I was above 12,000'. Here's my R2R2R. Yeah, we were pretty casual about the whole thing. Here's day 1 of my Big Bend hike last winter. Here's a trail run just because I'm proud as hell of it. My Garmin 910xt is good until about 15-18 hours but I used a USB battery and charged it while it was running on my wrist to extend its recording throughout 24+ hour events. Your Edge 500 should work just fine.
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Jul 8, 2015 03:24
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I use a Forerunner 220 to track all my hikes. This was a couple weeks ago. Seems to work fine, although the battery really got sapped last weekend and it was only on for 5 hours. Since I'm only using it on the way up it's not a big deal but if you want something that will last a few days you'd need some external charger.
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Jul 8, 2015 11:21
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Levitate posted:Does anyone use some kind of GPS to record their trips? I think it'd be kind of fun and I was trying to see if my Garmin Edge 500 would work for something like that but it seems it has trouble recording low speeds since it's a cycling computer. I just saw someone on the JMT using one and wondered if there was some trick to get it to work well. Don't really feel the need to drop money on something else and using my phone would probably destroy the battery over a longer trip and I use it for pictures and all that I carry my old iPhone 5 with just that app and detailed topo maps on it just in case; I don't record my path, but I know Motion-X will do that and more.
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Jul 8, 2015 14:45
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A Kpro posted:I use a Forerunner 220 to track all my hikes. This was a couple weeks ago. Seems to work fine, although the battery really got sapped last weekend and it was only on for 5 hours. Since I'm only using it on the way up it's not a big deal but if you want something that will last a few days you'd need some external charger. Yeah that's why I was curious whether I could get my edge 500 to work, the battery lasts forever on that thing. Maybe I'll test it out around in the hills here first and see if I can come up with something JAY ZERO SUM GAME posted:An old iphone with a battery pack and something like Motion-X would do great. It's a ridiculously full-functioned app, even it does feel a little dated. Also not a bad idea but my old phones are all gone. Guess I could try something on my regular phone but I still suspect it'd drain the battery faster than I'd want. Can also give it a shot
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Jul 8, 2015 15:56
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Levitate posted:Yeah that's why I was curious whether I could get my edge 500 to work, the battery lasts forever on that thing. Maybe I'll test it out around in the hills here first and see if I can come up with something I've always seen my friends with cycling GPS have issues with tree cover, more so than when I use my etrex 20. I'm not sure if cycling GPS have different strength gps receivers or something but I never seem to really have any issues with my hiking gps and trees. Also, with the etrex, they connect to glonass satellites and take AA batteries so you can swap on the go. I usually only record the outbound hike on out and backs as the return will be the same route. I realize you didn't want to consider another device but you might run into issues with the cycling gps once you get into the woods. Go somewhere you're familiar with. See if it starts and stops often in cover, stays charged long enough, and determine if it will be of any use to you in the future. If it doesn't work out and you find yourself hiking fairly often, consider a hiking specific gps down the road maybe. My etrex 20 ran $200 and is on sale fairly often.
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Jul 8, 2015 16:36
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It might depend on how often and hard it has to search for satellites but I've been on 7+ hour bike rides and the battery on it was still above 90% This is more a curiosity thing really, it'd be neat to see the path and some statistics afterwards, but it's not a big enough deal that I want to spend money on a new device at the moment at least. Also don't really need location or maps, was just thinking of some sort of tracking thing. but yeah, I'll experiment. Lots of my upcoming hiking will be out of tree cover most likely anyways
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Jul 8, 2015 19:02
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Saw this article yesterday in my feedly: http://gearjunkie.com/stop-rock-stacking-cairns And I couldnt agree more! I know it's not a huge deal but it drives me nuts when I see it! When I hiked Zion last year there were parts of the trail that were hard to see and had it not been for the park service cairns I would've most likely lost the trail for a bit and cost myself some time. Had someone been putting them up all around willy-nilly I could've ended up spending a long cold night on the rocks. On top of that I dont like seeing people disrupt a scenic area like that. It's not as bad as the people spray painting rocks but it's still obnoxious. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 17:53 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 17:38
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It's even more annoying when people do it in off trail areas where the entire point is to be off trail and away from signs of other people Just randomly stacking poo poo loads of cairns is loving bizarre though. I'm not gonna get all "it's not leave no trace!" but it looks dumb and certainly is a big 'ol "look at me I was here aren't I special!" I guess better than carving your name in the rocks though
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Jul 9, 2015 17:51
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Yeah I've always been annoyed when I see stuff like that. Cairns serve a purpose and I don't think most people understand what they are and what purpose they serve. I think a lot of people see them as cool ways of putting your stamp on nature that doesn't require paint, carving or something more permanent or some spiritual bullshit.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:13
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Counterpoint: If that's the worst they do, at least it's easy to erase.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:21
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Hungryjack posted:Counterpoint: If that's the worst they do, at least it's easy to erase. Exactly, which is why if I ever come across a maddening field of them I will knock them all down. Even some cairns not made by a park department or trail organization are OK with me if they aren't everywhere and actually serve a purpose. I've seen a ton of them at river crossings marking good spots to cross. Those are OK, there are only a few and its actually useful.
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Jul 9, 2015 18:44
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What are people's thoughts on sticking animal skulls on low hanging branches next to trails? Cuz man, I don't think I could give that up.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:15
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bunnielab posted:What are people's thoughts on sticking animal skulls on low hanging branches next to trails? If the animal didn't naturally die suspended in the tree in such a way that the rotting carcass leaves the skull propped up in the branches I have a serious problem with it!!!
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Jul 9, 2015 22:20
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Real talk one time a goat skull on the trail saved my rear end  It was a really unclear part of the trail, we were low on sunlight and an hour from the campsite and I did NOT want to hike parts of this trail in the dark, and we later found out a lot of people get confused at that same spot and lose 1-2 hours. Someone had placed a goat skull on top of a rock, it was obviously not natural, and it was away from the false trail. Thank you goat skull.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:22
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bunnielab posted:What are people's thoughts on sticking animal skulls on low hanging branches next to trails? A bunch of local trails are marked that way, I love it. taqueso fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 22:26
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Bought a BearVault bv450 today. Should be good for short trips with my wife, a bit longer trips if I go by myself, and I think I'm probably gonna rent bearikades for longer trips I also cannot goddamn find a REI that keeps those small plastic bottles in stock anymore, every time I go to a store they're completely sold out of that poo poo. It's embarrassing.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:27
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In my wife's continuing (and some might say irrational) obsession with low-priced dodgy sleeping bags, she wants to get this one. Now right off the bat, I'm calling bullshit on the waterproof and temp rating, but again, we're in Texas so if this bag is good down to 40 degrees, it'll likely handle just about anything I'd throw at it. If it's good down to freezing, then it'll handle anything I'd ever need around here. It comes with a stuff sack, it packs down pretty small, and it seems to have really good customer reviews. So, heck, I guess we might get yet another cheap bag for me to review for you guys.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:43
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It's a theoretically 5F bag that is described as being good in "temperate conditions". Goddamn. Might be OK into the 40's but probably packs like poo poo and is heavier than the 3 lbs shipping weight claimed On the other hand, it's 30 bucks and if it sucks you can probably donate it somewhere I think the Kelty Cosmic Down is still the top choice for relatively cheap/light/warm but it's still like $120 e: lol at the reviewer saying he used it in -5F weather and slept alright Levitate fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Jul 9, 2015 |
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Jul 9, 2015 22:49
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I'm sure it is going to be pretty huge when packed up, but that bag doesn't look too bad. I'd give it a try for $30.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:50
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well, we have a Big Agnes two-person rated for 15 degrees and an old Coleman Peak1 rated for 0, and then we have those two summer weight bags that we got for like $25 last month, so I guess this is the last temperature range to hit. And yes, I know this will never compete on weight or size with bags 10x the price. But if I cram it in my Sea to Summit compression sack, I'll bet I can crunch it down pretty small.
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Jul 9, 2015 22:56
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Yeah for $30 why not give it a shot pretty much I need to get up in the mountains. I'm currently in Marin County which has some nice hiking trails around here and all but drat I can't wait for my Yosemite trip in a couple of weeks. It's not long but I just love actually being able to use my gear and being away from everything for a bit
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Jul 9, 2015 23:05
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Tomorrow morning I am setting off on my first proper overnight. My pack is siting at 33-34lbs, which includes 4 liters of water and far too much fishing tackle. I also have too much food but I am trying my hand at making my some instant meals out of dehydrated crap but decided to bring along one or two proper ones as back up. I know that in general I have way way too much crap but I am a huge over-packer in general that it is going to take pain to get me to cut down more. My work is/has most always been field/remote and years of getting hosed by tool or equitment shortages have left me paranoid as hell.
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Jul 9, 2015 23:37
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Levitate posted:e: lol at the reviewer saying he used it in -5F weather and slept alright
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Jul 9, 2015 23:41
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-5c is 23F which is cold but not crazy pants -5F is -20C which is getting towards balls cold
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Jul 9, 2015 23:43
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I meant -15c like the bag is "rated". The only way you're sleeping at -15c in that thing is wearing clothes appropriate for chillaxing at -10.
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Jul 9, 2015 23:55
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