Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 28
  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    "North Jersey"
    Hammock
    Hybrid 1.7 GE, Happy Medium Bridge
    Tarp
    DIY Xenon Winter
    Insulation
    Loco Libre Gear
    Suspension
    All of them! Ugh.
    Posts
    1,681
    Images
    138
    Quote Originally Posted by akaCat View Post
    ...I'd guess that it's safer to at least get out of the hammock and crouch below the tarp while not making contact with the tarp or hammock. But that's strictly a guess.
    I believe the electrical charge will follow the tree roots and you're toasted anyway. Probably better off in the hammock.

  2. #12
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Central Texas
    Hammock
    SLD Tree Runner 10'
    Tarp
    SLD Trail Haven
    Insulation
    EE UQ/TQ
    Suspension
    Huggers/Dutch
    Posts
    16
    I once worked & lived on a high, hilly area in Tennessee. There was above average lightning activity in the area. Supposedly, the Indians wouldn't camp/stay in the area because of their belief that it was "haunted by bad spirits". Due to my job, I got to see first-hand the evidence of lightning damage.

    All of the above descriptions are to be taken as true. First the flash, then the boom. After the fact, the damage. It's truly amazing, and once you've been exposed to the phenomenon at close range you become a "true believer". There's also what I call "collateral damage". When lightning strikes something like a pole, a tree, or a water tower, the absolute magnitude of the interaction causes damage in an area surrounding the primary conduit of the charge that is insidious. The wires connecting the power poles would be stripped to shreads. Tree branches would be barked. It's a humbling experience.

    The solution: prevention. Don't set up in a vulnerable location, especially if there's a possibility or forecast for a storm. As far as depending on the straps or whoopies, good luck. I wouldn't even consider them as players in the game.

  3. #13
    Senior Member TrailSlug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Huntsville, AL
    Hammock
    Warbonnet RR / BlackbirdXLC
    Tarp
    SimplyLightDesigns
    Insulation
    Lynx / LocoLibre
    Suspension
    webbing/buckles
    Posts
    7,730
    Images
    1
    I witnessed first hand a good friend get hit on what we though was a perfectly sunny day. We were in the backyard of his lake house and he was in a hammock holding his 7 month old daughter. We didn't see a cloud in the sky and flash/boom all at the same moment. Ten seconds later once we recovered from the stun of what just happened his daughter was fine and he had 3rd degree burns to both butt cheeks where the arc came down the tree and out the lowest point of his body closest to the ground. He was lucky that day but this was simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was around 30 minutes later when the clouds rolled in and we had a small thunderstorm. The odds are in your favor but you never know when this is going to happen.

  4. #14
    New Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    Flagstaff, Az
    Hammock
    Hennessy Explorer Deluxe
    Tarp
    Supafly!
    Insulation
    Hammock Gear
    Suspension
    Beckett Hitches
    Posts
    46
    Electricity is like water, in that it's trying to get to ground. Or in the case of lightning, sometimes the opposite.

    It differs in that it doesn't take just the path of least resistance, it takes every available path. And with enough voltage, anything becomes a conductor.

    I've been a lot closer to several lightning strikes than I'd prefer to be, to the point of numb feet/hands and hearing loss, and I don't trust anything in a hammock to keep me safe. I figure the bolt just traveled a few miles to get to me, a few feet of dry strapping or rope isn't going to stop it.

    As others have said, you can lessen the risk, but if you don't want to be struck, don't go out in a storm. For what it's worth, I've seen lightning strike a clump of grass, and not touch the trees surrounding it. Scary stuff.

  5. #15
    Chard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Toronto, Canada
    Hammock
    HH Exped w DIY ZipMod & WBBB
    Tarp
    DIY 12' BlackCat
    Insulation
    DIY Down TQ/UQ
    Suspension
    DIY Whoopie Sling
    Posts
    2,184
    Images
    204
    As has been said by a couple of people, I don't think staying in the hammock will help make you immune to the effects of a lightening strike.

    Generally, when scouting out a spot to put up my hammock, I try to avoid widowmakers and the largest trees in the area. If there is any chance of weather I'll try my best to pitch my hammock on average or smaller sized trees for the area, away from any of the giants. Getting into a grove of smaller trees also serves as a windbreak.

    If I've had to break that rule then I'd likely get out of my hammock, throw on my rain gear and get away from the biggest trees, either under the cover of some small ones some distance away, preferably down hill.

    If, for some unbeknownst reason, I was hanging from the proverbial Joshua tree standing alone on a plain, I'd try to move as far away from that **** tree as possible, lie down and cover myself with a tarp to shield me from the weather.

    Fortunately I haven't had to do any of these yet myself. Frankly after a couple of close lightening strikes here in Toronto (buildings next door) and another as a boy during a tornado warning in Ohio, I like my thunderstorms loud and bright, but not too close.

    P.S. Everyone dies eventually.

    Fun Fact: As of 2015, the only places in the world that still reserve the electric chair as an option for execution are the U.S. states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.


    http://www.solarnavigator.net/lightning.htm
    Last edited by Chard; 08-18-2017 at 13:09.
    Survival is about getting out alive, Bushcraft is about going in to live - Chard (aka Forest-Hobo)

    Upcoming EGL Hangs:
    tbd. For EGL notifications, subscribe to the EGL Hang Notification Thread
    EGL Trip Reports:
    The Collection Follow me on Instagram

  6. #16
    Senior Member Mittagsfrost's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Germany
    Hammock
    DIY Argon 1.6
    Tarp
    DIY
    Insulation
    DIY Down UQ
    Suspension
    Turtle Ties
    Posts
    228
    Images
    8
    The picture above says all you need to know. I don't want to be an armlength away from that tree in the moment the lightning hits it.
    Omnia vincit lectulus pensilis.

  7. #17
    Senior Member oldgringo's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    On the Rez
    Hammock
    Varies
    Tarp
    GargoyleGear Ogee
    Insulation
    UQ-varies w/season
    Suspension
    Dutchgear
    Posts
    7,335
    Prayer works about as well as anything, and I'm not religious in the least. Lightning is random, unless you play golf or are a cow under the only tree in the pasture.
    Dave

    "Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self."~~~May Sarton

  8. #18
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    UT
    Hammock
    Netless + Bottom Entry net
    Tarp
    Rectangle
    Posts
    329
    Quote Originally Posted by rweb82 View Post
    And if you get both at the same time, you know you're right in the thick of it

    Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
    Only time I've seen/heard that was riding in an enclosed gondola to go mountain biking. We were near the top when the storm came in from nowhere. The power went out, the gondola stopped, and we watched lightning at eye level accompanied by instantaneous thunder claps. We weren't too scared since we were supported between two lightning rods (towers) and basically inside a Faraday cage (gondola).

    I've never been able to sleep during lightning once I know its there. My procedure when camping is to lie awake contemplating all my sins and how I might reform my life. To pass the time I like to count the seconds between flash and thunder to see how close my doom is (5 seconds = 1 mile). I can usually convince my self of my safety as long as its more than a mile away.

    I've seen the aftermath of a tree hit by lightning, it looks as if a stick of dynamite was detonated in its core... I wouldn't care to be hanging from such a tree, the shrapnel would damage my tarp.

  9. #19
    Senior Member rweb82's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Location
    NW Indiana
    Hammock
    DH Raven/Darien
    Tarp
    WB Mountainfly
    Insulation
    Loco Libre/HG/SLD
    Suspension
    Myerstech/Becket
    Posts
    1,578
    Quote Originally Posted by jabraso View Post
    Only time I've seen/heard that was riding in an enclosed gondola to go mountain biking. We were near the top when the storm came in from nowhere. The power went out, the gondola stopped, and we watched lightning at eye level accompanied by instantaneous thunder claps. We weren't too scared since we were supported between two lightning rods (towers) and basically inside a Faraday cage (gondola).

    I've never been able to sleep during lightning once I know its there. My procedure when camping is to lie awake contemplating all my sins and how I might reform my life. To pass the time I like to count the seconds between flash and thunder to see how close my doom is (5 seconds = 1 mile). I can usually convince my self of my safety as long as its more than a mile away.

    I've seen the aftermath of a tree hit by lightning, it looks as if a stick of dynamite was detonated in its core... I wouldn't care to be hanging from such a tree, the shrapnel would damage my tarp.
    I almost got struck by lightning the first year I lived in Louisiana. I was a Junior in HS playing baseball at a complex with multiple fields- set up in a clover leaf pattern. We all saw lightning strike in the parking lot over right field. They pulled us off the field at that point and had us wait out the storm in the dugouts (metal roof with chain link fence all around...real safe). They wanted to see if we would be able to finish the game once the storm passed.

    Anyway, while we were all huddled up in the 3rd base dugout, lightning struck the 1st base dugout on the field directly behind us- no more than 40ft away. The flash and bang were instantaneous, and I could feel the hair rising on my head and could smell the ozone in the air. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life up to that point- having only lived in the PNW where we hardly ever had a thunderstorm. Needless to say, we never finished the game

    That said, I love thunderstorms now, and always watch them from my front porch when I can!
    Last edited by rweb82; 08-18-2017 at 22:14.

  10. #20
    Senior Member Dead Man's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Clinton, MS
    Posts
    2,000
    Images
    1
    I grew up watching storms from the carport with my dad for many years. I developed a healthy respect for storms of all kinds and what they can do and for their amazing if not destructive beauty. I won't tell you you're safe cause lightning is natural and therefore random and freakish. Nature does a lot of things that don't make sense. One way when logic or prognosticators tell us it should be another.

    I've hung in thunderstorms in the backyard and in the woods. I had them seemingly rock the foundations of my home and had them rock me to sleep like a newborn. As in all things, venture at your own risk, but odds are you'll get eaten by a bear or have a Mack truck roll over you in the church parking lot before the lightning will give you more concern than you've generated in posting this thread. Respect it and move on from there.

  • + New Posts
  • Page 2 of 3 FirstFirst 123 LastLast

    Similar Threads

    1. Lightning While In a Hammock
      By patrickbdunlap in forum Weather Protection
      Replies: 34
      Last Post: 06-22-2011, 13:06
    2. Are Hammocks Safe in Lightning?
      By SubnormalCoyote in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 30
      Last Post: 03-30-2010, 20:44
    3. Replies: 18
      Last Post: 02-02-2009, 20:18
    4. on the AT now. rain. lightning in a hammock?
      By jaiden in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 16
      Last Post: 06-17-2008, 22:48

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •