We take the grin and bare it approach.Can't hide from the Big Guy.Originally Posted by Shug
We take the grin and bare it approach.Can't hide from the Big Guy.
"I like grits,because they have no bones" Chet Atkins
I read through the thread and saw a few mentions of having the foot/head end of the hammock facing into the wind. I wouldn't recommend that. When in strong winds, like in a hurricane or tornado, you don't open the windows and doors to your home because the wind will get in there and lift the roof off your place. Now, a thunderstorm isn't a hurricane or tornado, but a tarp isn't a roof either. Using that train of thought, it's probably best to put the side of the tarp facing the wind.
I've been in a tent car camping during an amazing thunderstorm before. My wife and kids and I were in the tent, inlaws were in their travel trailer. The storm was building for about an hour with the rumbles getting louder and louder. After a couple of loud booms close by, my wife grabbed the kids and headed for the trailer. When she asked if I was coming I said "Hell no". I laid there and listened to the raw power of the storm and drifted into an amazing sleep as the world blasted and boomed around me. Some of my favourite sleeps occur when there's a storm outside. As long as you're dry and relatively safe, I love a good storm.
I look forward to testing a storm out with the new gear, hopefully this coming summer if the weather so chooses to go that way.
It might be strange, but I enjoy them. In fact I'll usually go to high ground so I'm more exposed. Pitch the windward side in close and low. Sleeping in a nasty thunderstorm on a mountain top is amazing.
I have wondered though, a wet hammock is almost like a bulb filament. If one tree was struck, and electricity arc'd across the hammock (and me), how bright would we illuminate the night, even if for a brief moment? Haha...
Last edited by slammiam; 04-21-2015 at 10:34.
...but what a way to go though! I bet it'd be quick.
I was hiking along a mountain ridge in North Georgia in the clouds and was in a thunderstorm before I knew it was coming. Lightening hit close enough to zap me, hurt like the dickens, and just kept cracking a popping. Having been zapped, I was a bit gun-shy so I strung my superfly and hammock, got dry, and snuggled in to get warm. When I woke up, it was dark and the rain had turned to snow. The lightening had stopped though. I don't think you are grounded in a hammock, shouldn't be a problem. Never heard of a person hit by lightening in a hammock...
It's a good time to take a nap. Take precautions, then when there is nothing more to do... NAP.
I live in tornado alley and have been out in several tornadoes, innumerable severe thunderstorms. And I do not know about just plain rain.
I use a large hex tarp most of the time in the spring, summer my diamond.
But if there is a forecast for severe storms or tornadoes I take a winter rig.
Making a solid wall against the wind behind you and making a large veranda with walls wonderful. I like storms, I love them when I am warm and dry and still can feel and see them.
Two caveats
One. I bikepack so I adjust my load carefully for every trip. Very limited space.
Two.
I use climbing line for a continuous ridgeline. Even if stakes pull out and the tarp wraps my hammock to make a sail, I trust my ridgeline to hold the load and haven't lost a tarp that hasn't torn.
Storm shelter set up in a 40 mph gusting storm right now.
A coincidence?
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I can't claim to know, only to have pondered. I suspect there's little practical difference between hanging from a tree that gets hit, or tenting at its base. Theoretically speaking, I bet the hanger would have the better chance. I think the bulk of the current would go down the tree to the ground (the path of least resistance, but some might "leak" across the hammock to the next tree. I wouldn't want to be there in any case - close counts in lightning.
P Chang, when you are considering houses that lost their roofs, you mentioned a full on tornado/hurricane. If a Cat 4 hurricane or tornado hit your hammock, it wouldn’t matter what the tarp orientation was (note the “was”). Also, a structure like a house is usually “in the open” - with nothing around it. I am not discounting your experience if you have been in several “normal” windy camps were you get occasional gusts in the 20 - 30 mph range and sustained winds closer to 10 - 15 mph. My guess is that situation is more common than camping in a hurricane. My experience in those more common situations is orienting broadside to the wind presents the largest tarp surface area to the force - more surface area, more pressure. You may notice that in storm conditions, sailors REDUCE their sail area, not increase it.
The first effect of orienting broadside is the tarp is pushed into the hammock. If it has developed a puddle of water on top (left it in Porch mode without a water draining slant), that puddle will probably drop in your shoes at the foot of your hammock. Or so I’d imagine. The other effects could be pulled out or bend stakes or do some damage to the tarp itself.
When you orient parallel to the wind, You have your support trees initially blocking the wind. You also have minimal surface area facing the wind - less pressure. It also seems, depending upon addition setup factors - is the ridge line slanted or level, etc. - that instead of pushing in, the wind across the sides provides a little lift, keeping the tarp away from the hammock inside. I’m guessing it is also easier on your stakes.
The initial question was about a thunderstorm which may or may not have a lot of wind with it. But thunder does have lightening. And lightening seems to be a concern. And it’s a concern whether or not your tarp is broadside or parallel to the wind. So my answer would just be what you read about everywhere - for hikers, tent campers, etc. Stay away from ridgelines. Don’t see how high in the air you can hold your hiking pole, etc.
In my mind, whether you are in a hammock, standing on the ground, enclosed in a grounded Faraday cage, if you are that close to a lightening strike, it will a mark; psychologically if not physically.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
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