I gotta say, a flannel liner feels like heaven in a sleeping bag. On winter exercises with the army, that Flannel felt better than Whiskey.
I gotta say, a flannel liner feels like heaven in a sleeping bag. On winter exercises with the army, that Flannel felt better than Whiskey.
Thank you sir for the tips! I'll definitely let you know how it goes. I head up to the Whites tomorrow for three days so I can't wait. I hope to at least camp tomorrow night but I'm playing everything by ear because of all the rain they got yesterday. Could be a good deal of flooding/sheer ice to deal with so my plans are still all over the place. I may end up just crashing in my car both nights but I really hope to break out the hammock. I'll let you know.
Interested to read about your results in the winter Whites.
That's some serious cold, and while I'm good down to 0°F with a hammock setup, my inclination would likely be to go back to my Duomid (pyramid tent) for really nasty, windy weather just to keep the volume/weight of the kit reasonable, with volume being more of a consideration than weight... imagine carrying two -20deg quilts for anything more than basecamping or pulking over flat or gentle terrain.
However, hammocking has really spoiled me for ground sleeping. I might do a short trip soon to see if I can even tolerate it any more!
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I enjoyed your video, Rhody Seth! Very nice. I'm envious of all that snow and the cold winter temps. And even more envious of that really great back yard test site you have!
You mentioned zipping up the sleeping bag, So, were you zipped up inside the bag using it in normal fashion? Or were you using it in TQ(top quilt) mode, with just your feet inside the footbox, with no bag under your back? Anyway, great results!
I just had my first attempt at White Mountain hammock camping this past Monday night. Temps only got down to low 20s. Overall it went...pretty well. A made a bunch of mistakes, some of which I was able to get on video, so I look forward to sharing the (mis)adventure with you all soon.
Thanks much Billy Bob. Sadly Christmas brought Na massive deluge of rain to New England which made for a soggy holiday and stole every last bit of snow from our area. Now it's just cold and sad here.
For the sleeping bag, I initially had it zipped up all the way but it eventually was too hot so I unzipped a third of the way. Then I remembered a Shug video where he sort of used the sleeping bag like a top quilt. Over the course of the night I shimmied the bag around so that my upper back was directly against the hammock. I was happy with how warm I was against just the underquilt. That seemed to work well though it meant that the mummy bag was sort of sideways against my head.
Not sure how exactly it went in New England, but at least over here the Green Christmas has now been rectified. I spent a _lot_ of time shovelling snow today How's that for you guys? I'm looking forward to some 10F weather tonight, but with a nice snow bank reaching all the way around and almost up to my tarp.
And yesterday night was my first windy and snowy night. I could barely sleep and went inside around 6 a.m. to get some ZZZs in the (quiet) bed. I thought I'd get used to the tarp flapping but I guess I didn't. Was also really warm and I didn't vent early enough. Also I got lots of fine snow in my face and all over the foot end of the hammock. Sooo looking forward to my Superfly with doors! It felt like I was awake the whole time (even though I definitely wasn't - I thought it'd be like 2a.m. when I went in only to find it was 6a.m. already )
So Rhody, have you been able to find some time to prep that "video evidence"?
The rainstorm that hit much of New England on Christmas really did a number on the snow. Even most of it was gone in the valley areas up in the White Mountains. Up there they are starting to get snow back on the ground but here in Rhode Island it is bare and likely to be for a while. Frankly I find it depressing - I'd much prefer heavy snow winters like the kind we had about five years ago.
Footage has been edited but I need to film a debriefing video to go over how things went since the footage ends abruptly when I decided to pack up my gear. I'll likely have it up in the next couple days. Stay tuned!So Rhody, have you been able to find some time to prep that "video evidence"?
A slight hijack, my cold weather attempt (or what passes for cold weather here in the UK)
In the garden obviously - we are in Covid tier 3 (for those not in the UK, it's like lockdown but random rules depending on how many vowels in your area name). Temps hovered around freezing all night which is about five degrees (Celsius) colder than my previous nights in a hammock but not as cold as the previous night when it got down to -5C and I chickened out of heading out. Generally still but with a few gusts that would billow the tarp and the occasional light shower. The moon and the snow lying on the ground meant it was pretty light all night.
Had the Cumulus Selva 250 underquilt underneath with my wife's Cumulus 350 quilt on top. I was toasty warm! I had to remove my jacket within a minute or two and headwear only a few minutes after that. I'd obviously not got the underquilt correctly set up as an hour or so later one of the wind gusts caused a cold spot in the middle of my back, a bit of adjustment and I was fine the rest of the night.
At some point during the night I'm woken by some soulful howling. The cat arrives wondering what the hell's going on then decides he's going to join me so jumps up and after a bit of that paddling that cats do and fidgeting around snuggles down on top of me! He wasn't bothered by my fidgeting and only stirred when the local blackbirds started their usual bickering clattering through the trees. It wasn't long before I was getting up anyway.
Surprised just how warm I was - the underquilt is rated to -4C. I suspect that if it had been windier then I'd have felt cooler. Not sure how much lower will be fine with this setup, at least with garden tests I can head indoors if I get it wrong.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry - Viking proverb
Bob, that is pretty funny that the cat jumped in the hammock with you!
FYI, I posted my White Mountain hammock attempt in this thread: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...hite-Mountains
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