Appalachian Trail, last 500mi section hike, gear shakedown

[taraH]

What about hummingbird's ultralight whoopie straps? How do these compare in long lasting strength?

[cmoulder]

What about hummingbird's ultralight whoopie straps? How do these compare in long lasting strength?

If you mean these, there's nothing wrong with them if you like the method of attaching to hammock, which they don't really show, and can live with the 8' length of each one, which might be problematic in some areas with large trees. Also, Dyneema straps tend to bunch up in very short order and handle more like cord than webbing.

It seems to me that using separate webbing for the tree and a MSH+toggle, with whoopie attached to hammock, might be more flexible and easier to deploy. BUT I haven't used, or even seen, these Hummingbird straps/whoopies so I can't comment more on them.

As it sometimes happens, absolute lightest weight and least volume are not necessarily the primary concerns.

[schwad]

To tie up loose ends, I thought I'd post back here.

I didn't end up managing to make a 500 mile trek work out, but I did do a shorter trip of 5 days through the White Mountains. My trip report is here.

Many thanks to everyone in this thread for your suggestions and advice. You helped me go from "novice hammocker with a $25 hammock" to "fully equipped and completed a major backpacking trip" in under 3 months!

[cmoulder]

Mega kudos... no small feat to backpack one of the toughest regions in the NE starting from scratch!

[Pavel]

I no longer can do any distance hiking but over the years I have found that I'd do almost anything to avoid shelters. Snoring, listening to people who I don't want to hear have their vapid conversations and the hard surfaces. It was always too social for my tastes, where really what I got out to nature to find solitude. I did hike a lot when I was young, but even more I canoed for on multi-week trips (that was heaven) and also bicycled on my unplanned impromptu trips. I hate planning as much as not being able to snore because of someone's bad apnea, I think.

The greatest reason for a Hammock is the ability (on the east coast esp ) to sleep almost anywhere easily and fairly comfortably.

[Ko the Crow]

I wish it would be legal here to just walk in the forest, find a tree or 2 that are at a suitable distance and sleep there for the night... but you got to be out of the forest by sunset and aren't allowed to camp in the forests, only on campings and such.