Lady Hammockers thread

[grannypat]

Poncho. Good idea, though I'm guessing most of us could do it with just a shirt. I'm kinda with lilprincess; I don't change unless absolutely necessary. I go to bed late at group events, so sometimes I just make sure there are no lights near me, set my stuff out, turn off my headlamp and do it in the dark. Always the chance of some one getting up, I guess that's a risk I take. I've also done the...stealthily look around...coast is clear...ok MAD DASH!!! 3.5 second change! Never been caught...that I know of...

GrannyPat, didn't know the bottle thing could be done. Where do you practice that? In the bath tub? And can I just ask, am I the only one who can't seem to help getting splatter all over the bottoms of my pants when I pee? Grass is the best but there's no grass back in the woods! I use that "turn off my headlamp thing" to pee in the middle of the night too.

I'm sorry, I said Gatoraid bottle, I actually use a wide mouth Nalgene (orange so I don't get it confused with anything else). I intend to try the gatoraid because it would be lighter. With the Nalgene, you have to keep the mouth of the bottle pressed up against your body at the right spot. Practice in the bathtub. I've gotten to where I can do it by feel without a light.

[CountryRoads]

I'm sorry, I said Gatoraid bottle, I actually use a wide mouth Nalgene (orange so I don't get it confused with anything else). I intend to try the gatoraid because it would be lighter. With the Nalgene, you have to keep the mouth of the bottle pressed up against your body at the right spot. Practice in the bathtub. I've gotten to where I can do it by feel without a light.

Thanks. That definitely seems doable. Probably wouldn't resort to that unless it was really cold. I usually don't go more than 10 steps from my hammock at night. And, just so I don't derail this thread, about the splatter issue I posted before, you don't have to respond to that on this thread. There are plenty of solutions, just never cared enough to explore it really...

[scooterdogma]

I, also, posted this in the Southeast Hangouts, Camping and Trip Planning Section

All Women Hang

Let me know which weekend works best for you;

A. July 13 - 15
B. July 20 - 22

We will camp in a campground near Beckley, W. VA and New River Gorge National Park. There are numerous such campgrounds, if anyone has a favorite, post it with your reply. The campgrounds I am looking at have bathhouses, covered picnic shelters and a lake/or river. We can plan some day hikes or touristy visits to the local areas, anyone for white water rafting? All things hammocks, will be discussed, yea!

I will be visiting Beckley in June. I will scope out the campgrounds then. Unless, of course, someone has a favorite. So come on ladies, lets nail this date down and start planning activities

[Loki]

That Beckley is a beautiful area Scooter

[cataraftgirl]

I'm sorry, I said Gatoraid bottle, I actually use a wide mouth Nalgene (orange so I don't get it confused with anything else). I intend to try the gatoraid because it would be lighter. With the Nalgene, you have to keep the mouth of the bottle pressed up against your body at the right spot. Practice in the bathtub. I've gotten to where I can do it by feel without a light.

Small plastic coffee can with a snap on lid works great. Larger target area, so less practice required. Not as hiker friendly as the nalgene size wise.

[Owl]

I was in the Army for 20 years and it can be a challenge to change in the presence of others. I have gotten to the age I don't care as much, so I just go under my tarp and change. If something shows, so be it. If it bothers you, don't look. It can be easier to change under a poncho, (did that in the Army), and as mentioned earlier, setting up a long tarp or fabric around a few trees for a changing/shower area is a good idea. (did that in the Army also)

I wanted to add in what someone else said earlier to this very thoughtful post.

I am male, and was an active duty Army NCO for a long time. Often had female soldiers that worked for me, and we worked out an excellent system.

Someone else made the comment about "giving privacy". That, combined with the suggestions here, pretty much sums up how we managed in the military. We'd often create impromptu shower points. When one of the female soldiers wanted to make use of it, she'd normally ask someone to sit outside the shower point to keep anyone else from stumbling in...they'd sit with their back to her (if it wasn't another female soldier), and she was given the privacy she needed/deserved. Same thing when camping with a mixed group of male/female hikers...setup your tarp for privacy, then ask folks to be courteous and give you a bit of space. Anyone who won't abide by that is someone you probably shouldn't hike with anyway.

[jackleberry]

Just chiming in because I noticed a lot of people talking about having to stand up to change bottoms. FYI, you don't have to stand up, and even a very minimal tarp is required for privacy. To change bottoms in the hammock, sit down in it, take off your shoes, put your feet up on the hem, lift your butt, remove pants/underthings from hips, then take your feet off the hem and remove pants/underthings from legs. Putting on new stuff is the reverse. This way you never have to even put your bare feet on the ground, so a groundcloth is unnecessary. This is how I change into my sleeping clothes when I hang--not for privacy, but because this is the easiest way I've found to change clothes without getting my socks muddy. If your hammock is sufficiently wide/deep and there's no one standing right in front of you, then you don't even need a tarp to prevent people from seeing anything during this operation.

[anjea214]

I just did a two night backcountry hike. I just pitched my tarp low and changed behind the tarp. It was really handy - one of our campsites was very close to the trail nearest the trailhead (we got in late so didn't hike far) and there was so much foot traffic in the morning! I was very glad to have my tarp.

[chapmage]

Being in a Scout Troop with more and more hammockers (we currently have 3 Scouts and 2 Adult hangers, with more Scouts getting interested with each trip), I purchased a "pop-up" changing tent off eBay. It stands about 6' high, and has a 4'x4' base and a zippered door. Makes is convenient for the hammockers to change into swimsuits and nightwear discretely.

[Bec]

I just finished a 3 day 40 mile kayak trip and I came up with the perfect solution for kayak or car camping. I ordered the pop up changing tent from Sportsman Guide for 31 on sale. Privacy, you can stand up to change and bathe. I even carried a portable potty to use in it. There were 28 of us and we were the envy of the group. Forgive Donna's tent. She didn't want to sleep up in the woods on this trip. I had people ask to change in it. It folds flat and I carried it on the back of my kayak withe the portable potty on top of it.