Newbie Really Basic Questions

[WeShallSee]

I have always been told there are no stupid questions; I hope you all agree.

1. Where do you change clothes, get dressed, etc. if you are using a hammock?

2. What about bears and other night time critters?

3. Where do you put your pack and poles etc?

4. Is it possible to sleep fairly level rather than in a banana shape?

And these are before I even get to the gear issues.

Thanks for you help.

[MDSH]

1. If anyone sees me naked they get what they deserve!

2. Lasso the bear and tie him to a tree for mosquito bait.

3. What pack? If you can't carry everything in your pockets it's not ultra-light.

4. By the time you finish wrestling the bear you won't care if you sleep upside down.

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[dkurfiss]

http://www.youtube.com/user/shugemery

Go watch these videos and all your questions will be answered and you will enjoy them!

1) I change clothing under my tarp which is usually set up in an A frame. If people are seeing my underwear, they deserve the blindness that will follow.

2) Bears? Critters? Do not eat any where around where you sleep. They will be after the food not you. If you are in bear country, use a bear bag tied up in a tree.

3) Packs/poles go one of two places. Either under me on my ground cloth or lashed up on a tree. If it is raining, they go under me.

4) Level depends. If you are in a bridge hammock, the lay is flat. If you are in a gathered end hammock, lay on the diagonal and your lay will be way much flatter. Do not lay like you are in a banana skin or it will kill your neck and shoulders.

Really, go check out Shug's video, read the threads on the forum, and you will be up to speed in no time. Just have to do the homework to make it happen.

[Kerflop]

I will add something to:

3) Check out this video. Work with Hoot (forum member) and he made me theses side pulls outs to use my poles across my ridgeline.

[The Old Boot]

1. My tarp has doors on it that, when closed, give me total privacy. Although I'm thinking of a smaller tarp for when I'm truly in the wilderness and there's no one to see me anyways!

2. Nighttime critters are no more likely to bother you in a hammock than they are in a tent. Keeping a clean campsite is the most important thing.

3. My pack can be hung from a tree and protected with a rain cover if needed. As to all the loose stuff like clothes, I'm in the process of making a dual purpose gear hammock/UQ protector. Shoes can be hung from the ridge line but mostly I just leave them on the floor mat where my feet can find them easily in the middle of the night.

4. A flat lay - absolutely! I went to a bridge hammock for precisely that reason. I side sleep mostly and it didn't take many videos of watching others lie in the gathered end hammocks to figure out that they weren't for me. YMMV.

[gunner76]

Where do you change clothes, get dressed, etc. if you are using a hammock?

Where ever. I am out in the woods. If someone is that hard up up they want to watch me change clothes then that's their problem.

2. What about bears and other night time critters?

Most times you will lucky to see a bear. The only critters I worry about are the flying blood sucking types

3. Where do you put your pack and poles etc?

If I think its going to rain then under my hammock in a large trash bag. other wise I strap my pack to the side of a tree

4. Is it possible to sleep fairly level rather than in a banana shape

You sleep at an angle in a hammock, feet on one side and head on the other.
Hang the foot end of the hammock several inches higher than the head end.

[sargevining]

2) Bears? Critters? Do not eat any where around where you sleep. They will be after the food not you. If you are in bear country, use a bear bag tied up in a tree.

In addition, do not go to sleep in the clothes you cook and eat in, you'll smell just like food. Hang them with your bear bag.

[Jcavenagh]

WELCOME TO THE BOARD!!
Here is a thread about changing clothes... https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...ad.php?t=75964

Pack gets hung on my suspension. Some hang it on a tree or put on a ground sheet under the hammock.

Bears, etc...Same as if you are in a tent. One diff=sometimes critters may bump your rump as they walk under you, but nothing to worry about. Keep a clean camp and store all food scented items AWAY from camp. Either hang or bear vault or URSACK(google it). Main problem is more likely mice/racoons/squirrels.

In a gathered end hammock you lay diagonally and sleep pretty much flat. In a bridge hammock, you lay straight in the middle and lay pretty much flat.

Take a few days (or weeks) and browse around the board and you will read more than enough about all,those topics and LOTS MORE!!

[WeShallSee]

Thanks for the comments. I think I get the idea. Looking forward to learning more and maybe giving it a try.

[FLRider]

I have always been told there are no stupid questions; I hope you all agree.

1. Where do you change clothes, get dressed, etc. if you are using a hammock?

2. What about bears and other night time critters?

3. Where do you put your pack and poles etc?

4. Is it possible to sleep fairly level rather than in a banana shape?

And these are before I even get to the gear issues.

Thanks for you help.

Now, there are a couple of questions that go along with these, but I'll address them in the context of each individual answer...

1.) If I'm in a campground or other social setting where there are younger folks (adults can be told, "Hey, I'm going to change real quick," and if they don't want to see anything, well, they're responsible for that), I try to change in the hammock (not too particularly difficult if you're fairly mobile) as the tarp and bug netting make seeing into the hammock fairly difficult. If I'm by myself out in the woods, well, the coons don't care if they see anything... Also, I hike in a kilt, and that makes things easier (think using a beach towel, except that it won't fall off of your hips).

The question here is, "Where are you going to be using your hammock most of the time?" Once you figure that out, you're golden.


2.) As long as you're not sleeping with your food, you should be okay. Most critters don't want anything to do with a large predator (you!) and will go out of their way to avoid you. Now, the ones you do have to worry about can usually be defeated with a bug net... That being said, I've had trouble with smaller animals in established campgrounds before (they get used to campers who are lazy and leave food around, making for easy eats), so make sure to hang your food!

The question here is, "Where do you intend on camping?" If it's in grizzly country, I'd be more careful than everywhere else. If it's in an established campground, I'd also be careful. Otherwise, well, it's not that big of an issue.


3.) As to my pack, it gets emptied on hiking trips. My food, trash, and cook kit get hung at least fifty yards from the hammock, hopefully downwind. My shelter system (tarp, hammock, insulation, and spare clothing) is hung, ready to be used (any spare clothing is in the hammock's oversized blackbishop bag). My poncho is either on the ground as a "footprint" or attached to the hammock as a weather shield/insulation system. My ditty bag (FAK, firestarter, map and compass, headlamp, toilet kit, etc.) is either on the "footprint" or larksheaded to my ridgeline inside of the hammock. My (now-empty) pack gets hung from the foot end of the hammock suspension, to keep it off of the ground. My Camelbak carrier/day pack (odd pack design) gets hung from the head end suspension (it's usually heavier than the rest of my pack, due to water in it, so it goes on the head end, which should be lower than the foot end). My shoes either go on the ground under the hammock or (if it looks like a serious storm) get hung via their laces from the ridgeline in the hammock. My poles either get used for porch mode or are tossed on the ground nearby (if they get wet/dirty, well, too bad; they're going to get wet and dirty hiking regardless).

The question here is, "How much stuff are you going to carry?" If you're just going out to hike, it should be easy to empty your pack so that you can hang it. If you're going out with lots of creature comforts for in-camp, it'll require a bit more thought about how to store everything.


4.) Absofreakinglutely! You'll want to lie on the diagonal (that is, offset to the length of the hammock) to spread the fabric under your body. Depending on the length and width of your hammock compared to your body, you may want to lie either in a figure-4 position or with a pillow of some kind (spare clothing works well here) under your knees to help prevent knee hyperextension, but that's the only problem I've had with a properly-hung hammock (though occasional shoulder squeeze occurs if I hang my hammock too tightly; a simple adjustment to loosen the suspension some removes that problem if I encounter it). The fabric of the hammock spreads the load under you quite nicely, making for the best night's sleep I've had in the woods.

Hope it helps!