A cautionary tale: trapped inside hammock by spiders!
This past weekend I picked up (2) 9oz arisol cans & (2) 12oz spray bottles of Sawyer's Permethrin. This was enough to treat : 11' argon hammock body(underside only)+whoopies+11' Chill Gorilla bugnet , XLC body(outside only)+ net+ whoopies, 10×10 Snugpak tarp, 11' Old Man Winter, Snugpak UQ (exterior only) , Snugpak jungle blanket UQ (exterior only) , (2) tree straps, Dutch Zing-it continuous RL, Columbia hiking boots+ synthetic UA t-shirt / Columbia hiking shorts (all undersidees only), and a small day pack (book bag style). I followed the directions, got each item thoroughly wet then let dry before use.
Friday night I used my 11' argon hammock & Chill Gorilla net w/ Snugpak tarp. When I woke up the next morning there were dead bugs EVERYWHERE ! They were covering the top of the tarp and stuck all over the bug net. A few spiders were hanging lifeless from my whoopies, but more were still alive. Saturday night I used the same rig with the same results: dead bug carcasses everywhere and more living than dead spiders. Sunday I switched to the XLC + OMW ( doors tied back on inside of course) combo. I had to put the tarp up every night BC there was a chance of t-storms, so I pitched both tarps high in porch mode to let the strong wind blow in off the water to help mitigate the 70°-75°+ temps and 80% humidity. Monday morning I noticed lots of dead bugs on top of the tarp again, and again more live spiders under the tarp and on the XLC netting/suspension/Snugpak UQ than not. Monday night, same set up, a few dead spiders, and lots of webs and living spiders from the tarp RL to the XLC net and around the edges of the tarp.
Last night was worse.... I went out around 830ish to tighten up the tarp lines and take some things out I'd need for the night. There were TONS of spiders/webs all over the inside of the tarp, hammock & UQ and their suspensions. I knocked them all down, lit a large citronella candle and sprayed everything I could with 40% DEET that was safe to do so. I climbed in around 9ish and started watching a movie to doze off to. It was fairly windy when I got in and stayed that way. At 1100 I started to pull the zipper to get out to pee when I noticed a decent size web on the netting pull out lines. When I shined my light around from inside the hammock to check for more, I was shocked by what I saw: dozens & dozens of spiders and webs all over everything under the tarp. They were on the underside, edges & guy lines of the tarp, on the whoopies and straps, webs from the tarp RL to the hammock netting and pull out lines, they were crawling across the netting exterior, tarp underside, and edges of the UQ by the hammock zipper,EVERYWHERE!! I was literally trapped inside.
Eventually, I shook the hammock and netting enough to be able to open the zipper semi- safely to grab the DEET spray bottle. With one arm out holding the spray and the other holding the net closed, I started spaying as many as I could while shaking the hammock and pushing the netting out far enough to knock some down that were on the tarp RL and side closest to the XLC shelf. After about 20 terrifying mins, I got up the courage to stick my legs out, slip on my flops and in one motion get out while turning to zip the net closed and dodge the still hanging spiders. Once clear of the evil creatures I thoroughly wiped myself off and got a serious case of the willies. I finally watered the nearest tree once I was sure I didn't have any on me.
At this point, I realized I needed to get back in my hammock or at least get back under the tarp to make sure it was zipped tight before going inside for the rest of the night. The wind was still strong and there were still dozens of not-so-small spiders in my way. The only thing I could do was to knock down one of my trekking poles I used to put the porch up,carefully undo the reflect-it guy out lines from that side and use the trekking pole to violently flip the porch side of the tarp over the hammock as to keep the RL between the 2 halves, effectively sandwiching the evil creatures from hell between the 2 sides of the tarp and RL. I secured the porch side tie outs to the stakes of the other side and then used the trekking pole to knock down any remaining webs/ check between the XLC and UQ. Once I was satisfied, I FINALLY got back in, zipped up tight and after checking every fold in the hammock body & square inch of netting inside, was able to attempt sleep, WITHOUT 1000 eyes looking down at me. Tonight I'll be leaving the tarp inside, when there's a chance of rain from now on I'll be inside the house with it. UGH!!!!!
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Originally Posted by Tikker
) so bad I should probably get therapy for it.
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