A cautionary tale: trapped inside hammock by spiders!

[alifeoutdoors]

Thanks, Bill Bryson! I think the funniest part of the trip was when a two-inch wide wolf spider walked onto my leg. I'm not afraid of spiders, so I let him remain in place on my leg while we examined him with a headlamp. Lo and behold, we discovered that the spider's back was moving. On closer examination, we discovered the wolf spider was carrying hundreds of little babies on his back! When we shined the headlamps around, we could see the entire campsite covered in wolf spiders.

It was only 9:30 or so, but my daughter retired to the safety of the hammock and bugnet. She didn't want wolf spiders crawling across her leg!

lol Glad you know your Bryson well.

My fear of spiders was actually induced by the wolf spider. I grew up in a house in the woods, was going through my closet grabbing a shirt and one was hanging there about the size of my eight year old fist. I don't remember much after that. :P Smaller spiders not crazy about them but can deal but I will run screaming if there's wolf spider anywhere near me. So I'm with your daughter on that one. A mass migration? My mind can't even accept it, rejects the thought immediately. Orb weavers don't bother me that much but yea in the quantity the OP is talking about, I probably would still be in that hammock.

[Chesapeake]

Yeah I don't know if I could handle a mass migration either,the amount I've been dealing with is far too many already, and Im talking dozens, maybe a hundred or so.... Not thousands or millions. F that. If I had that many I proly would a just drank all my water and then peed in my nalgene , waited for morning and hoped for the best lol. If it got any hotter last night I woulda had to sleep inside so im lucky it wasnt that many!

[gargoyle]

Obviously, if you'd hang the Chameleon, the bugs would not be an issue.
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Blame Dutch for the spiders.

[gunner76]

Wolf Spiders are harmless unless they detect you are afraid of them and then they will attack and suck your brains out

Spraying your tarp and quilts is not needed and a waste of permethrin. Concentrate on the hammock, bug net and your clothing.

[Chesapeake]

Wolf Spiders are harmless unless they detect you are afraid of them and then they will attack and suck your brains out

Spraying your tarp and quilts is not needed and a waste of permethrin. Concentrate on the hammock, bug net and your clothing.

I figured the larger the bug free zone the better lol.

[Nick]

That's crazy. Glad you made it out of the hammock. I've never had issues like that with bugs or spiders, but I don't spray my gear with anything either so the bugs probably just keep on going when they walk across the net, suspension, etc. at night.
Side note on the wolf spider, only came across one once. Found it in the hallway of my old townhouse trapped by the cat. Thought it was weird that it only had 6 legs, then I found the missing 2 legs in the hallway. Turns out the cat had done some damage to the spider after all.

[KBr00ks]

These stories are making me consider never camping again! Is this a ploy to generate lots of used gear sales?

The only similar story I have is camping on the C&O Canal trail. It was March but after a mild winter. The last campsite before DC was pretty warm. We pulled up to the site and my bike's headlamp immediately landed on a large spider on a tree. OK, no big. But then we started to see more of whatever these large tree spiders were, including on our tents. (They kind of flattened themselves on the bark for camouflage, but were not seeming too worried about anything.) I went down to the river to collect water, and realized that the leaf litter at the edge of the campsite was quietly rustling...with lots more spiders. Their eyes shone green in the light.

I tried to practice airlock conditions and slept only because we'd ridden around 115 miles that day.

[sunsetkayaker]

From what I have heard, DEET does not kill any bugs, and you need something powerful to kill spiders (or hit them directly with spray)

[oldgringo]

These stories are making me consider never camping again! Is this a ploy to generate lots of used gear sales?

The only similar story I have is camping on the C&O Canal trail. It was March but after a mild winter. The last campsite before DC was pretty warm. We pulled up to the site and my bike's headlamp immediately landed on a large spider on a tree. OK, no big. But then we started to see more of whatever these large tree spiders were, including on our tents. (They kind of flattened themselves on the bark for camouflage, but were not seeming too worried about anything.) I went down to the river to collect water, and realized that the leaf litter at the edge of the campsite was quietly rustling...with lots more spiders. Their eyes shone green in the light.

I tried to practice airlock conditions and slept only because we'd ridden around 115 miles that day.

It's really hard for me to pee with all of those eyes watching...

[Five Tango]

My home is on a heavily wooded lot and despite being set a distance away from treeline,we have more than our share of spiders.The exterminator we have for termites told me that spiders are not like roaches as they do not pick up the poison merely by walking over treated floors,you have to spray the poison directly on them.

They were likely eating poisoned prey which is what killed some and not the others.I finally have my spider population under control with glue traps to kill their food source and them if they touch the glue board.If that fails there is always the "bionic toe" or the vacuum cleaner.Just last night the local television station did a piece on home invasions by spiders.

Last time I pitched my hammock and tarp it looked like a Brown Recluse strolled under my hammock next to the groundsheet and I was thankful that I no longer sleep on the ground.Had one in my backyard try to jump me once but he miscalculated and won't be doing that again...........