Lightning?

[Pinestraw]

I recently saw a story on social media about cows killed by a lightning strike...they were all sheltering under a tree when it happened.

Do you worry about lightning while strapped to a tree? This would be my biggest fear, apart from widowmakers. Anyone have close calls with lightning?

[Dylanc95]

I had one a few years back. Second ever trip with a hammock, and I was set up on the edge of the campsite. The bottom dropped out sometime after midnight, and around that time lightening struck close to me. There was a small road leading to the campsite about twenty feet to my left. It struck between me and the road. That was my only encounter with lightning though. The way I figure it, you take your chances with it, just like you take your chances with animal attacks or widow makers. There are things you can do to be safer, like not attaching your hammock to the tallest tree, but if Mother Nature decides she doesn't want you in her woods, then there isn't much you can do about it. Happy camping!

[SilvrSurfr]

If lightning didn't hit me, it's not a close call!

Global warming could increase the number of lightning strikes in the future, if you believe in that sort of thing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...y_be_news.html

This guy obsessed about lightning so much he posted twice in two months. He's probably hiding out in a cave right now.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ng+backcountry

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ng+backcountry

[Caminante]

>300 reindeer were recently killed in Norway:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2...tning-weather/

I've had a few close encounters with lightning and have a very healthy respect for it. Watched it catch my family's sawmill on fire when I was a kid, was on a football field when a goalpost was struck, and felt a tingle through an umbrella when it hit a nearby tree. The last two were mostly the foolishness of youth.

At the end of the day, I'm not sure what can be done when you're in the backcountry other than avoiding obvious lightning attractants like tall trees or outcroppings. I wouldn't hang from the only two trees on top of a hill in a storm. In the forest, I've had closer calls with trees falling down in strong winds than I have lightning.

[Pinestraw]

I was standing 20 feet away from another guy who got struck by lightning. I will never forget that loud piercing shriek of the lightning bolt and the immediate thunderclap. The hair on my arms stood-up right before the strike.

[Pennsy Camp and Canoe]

I try to hang on shorter trees, let the lightning hit the taller ones. Also make sure I don't have any "lightning rods" sticking up like radio antenna or rifle barrels, etc

[BanjoPicker]

It is a risk, but the drive to/from the trailhead is probably a bigger one. On the rare case where lightning is close, you can always get out of the hammock, put on your poncho, and get away from any trees.

[Freakin Farmer]

If lightning didn't hit me, it's not a close call!

Global warming could increase the number of lightning strikes in the future, if you believe in that sort of thing.

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...y_be_news.html

This guy obsessed about lightning so much he posted twice in two months. He's probably hiding out in a cave right now.

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ng+backcountry

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ng+backcountry

I just read both of those threads....yikes.

[dscotthep]

I was on a canoe trip with my Boy Scout troop up in the Boundary waters (ca. 1986) when we were caught in a sudden storm. We paddled to the nearest shore just as the rain started falling and had to spend the night on a rocky hillside in a makeshift shelter of tents and tent rainflies while mother nature tried her best to hose us off those rocks. There was lots of lightning that night, but one strike in particular was so close (no time passed between the flash and the thunder) that it left our ears ringing and every one of us checking for a pulse, just to be sure. The following morning, we discovered the remains of the tree that [we presume] had been hit by that lightning strike. It was about a quarter mile away and looked like it had been felled with dynamite.

I've seen lightning scarred trees before; this tree had been turned into kindling. It was shocking (no pun intended) to see what a lightning strike could do to a tree about 24" in diameter and probably 60 feet tall.

Call me a wuss or a wimp, but I don't camp if I know a thunderstorm is in the forecast and I will seek substantial shelter if I find myself caught in one.

[underserviced]

If I'm camping in the back country there's no getaway for me. I've picked a campsite and hunkered down. It doesn't really matter whether I'm in a hammock or tent. I'm in it for the duration of the storm. While I've been through some big uns, I have yet to be struck by lightning. I try to focus on the few things in my life that I can control like my next tarp or...