Rainy weather – hammock or tent preference?

With adequate tarp space, the hammock is superior in comfort.

Sit up, make tea. Use a trash bag as a ground sheet – once the tarp is up, everything under it can be set up dry. Read a book. You can take off rain gear standing up before you touch anything else. Hang damp socks on the ridgeline. Invite friends with leaky tents to come play cards with you. All the things you can't do in a tent and still have headroom.

With a tarp that can be staked down to the ground and shut on the ends, even wind is trivial. One trip it was the only way we were able to use stoves – the gusty wind kept blowing out even the stove with a full windscreen. You can add doors to a tarp that doesn't have them.

What keeps you from using the bag like a quilt?

Ref the con posted above…Get a top quilt or use your bag as a TQ with your under quilt and all the cons of getting in a bag before getting in a hammock are eliminated…

Have not been on the ground since 2003… Never been wet, even in the worst of weather.

Pan

Hi Phillip,

I spend more nights on the ground than in the trees. I haven't found a hammock setup that I really like that doesn't take up more pack space than a ground setup for comparable conditions.

A good, properly hung hammock is 'da bomb for comfort, though!

To clarify – my 20 degree bag is a Golite Feather – which has a half zipper right down the middle rather than a side zip – so it is configured in a way that makes it very difficult to get into even trying to use it as a top quilt (which I have done with my 40 degree bag – but as a cold sleeper I only use that above 50 from experience).

For me, there are theoretical advantages to a hammock, but two real life problems:

1. I could not get a hammock setup, when all the ropes, ti biners, etc, were weighed, that weighed less than my tarp/bivy setup.

2. I simply could not sleep in a hammock. Yes, I tried all the angles, different hammocks etc, just could not fall asleep.

So for me, I'll stick with my Duomid and bivy, which gives me a sheltered area in most any rain, plenty of room to spread out, and a very low weight.

YMMV.

I like a hammock in rainy weather. Your tarp will be tied off to trees, so no fears of poles falling over in the wind and you always have a nice taut pitch. Of course, mud and running water are moot and camping under the trees is drier anyway. Hammocking opens up campsites that you wouldnt dream of with a ground shelter. Although hammocks tend to be a bit heavier, you do get the effect of the most luxurious sleeping pads to help offset the weight.

In "porch" mode, you have a dry place to cook, sit, eat, put your clothes and shoes on. There is nothing like swinging in your easy chair with a hot cuppa while the rain pitter-patters on the roof overhead.

I use a Z-seat CCF pad for insulating my feet and that can be used for a doormat; a chunk of tyvek and a couple rocks would work too. When packing up, all your gear can be packed in the dry cover of your large tarp, stowing the wet tarp in an outside pocket as the last item.

I do use a side-zip mummy bag like a quilt unless it is cold. A quilt is big on my wish list. A left hand zip makes entry easier in my zip Hennessy, but there is still a wiggle fest getting it completely under me. With your center zip bag, it looks like the hood is the problem. Can you tuck it in and wear a beanie or balaclava?

I use my trash compactor bag pack liner as a pack cover when hammock camping. Suspending your boots is a good idea anyway— keeps them away from chewing varmints.

Cons: you do need trees and hammock kits are heavier than most UL tent setups.

Unzip the bag fully, then fold the top under the bottom so that your bottom opening is clear. Swing into your hammock and slide your feet into the bag. Sit up straight, and coax the top half out from under you and spread it back up (normal). Lie down into the top half of your bag. With a bit of practice I think you'll find it not that hard to do in your hammock.

As for me, if there are trees and it's not winter, I'll be in a hammock. I suspend my shoes from the hammock ridgeline over my knees or thereabouts. I suspend my pack from one end of the hammock, under the tarp. A stuff sack with pretty much everything else that's not in my hammock with me (I have a Blackbird and use the inner 'ledge') is suspended from the other end under the tarp. My tarp has doors for nasty weather (zPacks cuben hammock tarp with doors).

I had a trip in November where I realized, much to my chagrin, that my previously successful process of leaving my boots under my hammock isn't always a great idea.

To get in my hammock I sit down on the left side of the hammock, slide my boots off and line them up under the hammock. When I get up in the morning my boots are right where I need them to be to slide them on and begin my day. Sounds great, right?

In November, after drinking the better part of a pint of Scotch around the fire, I went back to the hammock and climbed in. As often happens after drinking a fair amount of anything before going to sleep, I had to pee multiple times during the night. I've perfected the process of peeing from my hammock: I lean to the right, point "it" down over the edge of the hammock and my UQ and pee. It's always worked flawlessly for me until that night…

Apparently in my haste to get into bed I kicked left boot so that it was under the right side of my hammock. Murphy played a role and it spun around with the sole nice and flat on the ground. When I woke up I could only find my right boot. I panicked thinking that a critter had run off with one of my boots and that I was going to have an impossible walk to the car. Not the case…I found my boot under the right side of my hammock placed exactly where my pee stream hit all night long! Not only was the boot soaked but there was about 1/2 inch of liquid inside the boot. It was 20 degrees that night and I think my first piss froze in the boot and all subsequent pisses just worked on filling it.

My friend Mark gave me a new trail name: Piss in Boot.

From now on I'll be hang my boots from my ridgeline near my knees.

Piss in Boot

Gotta love it! ;^)

Was that the last night of MST? I never caught a whiff of it.

Yes – it was the last night of our MST trek. I was standing around the fire with Steve after everyone went to bed and finished my Scotch. I probably pissed 6-7 times that night and, with uncanny accuracy, in the same spot every time! I told Mark when he came over to my hammock in the morning and he laughed hysterically. I don't know if you heard me, but I confessed my error to everyone at the top of that first climb on that Sunday and looking at my boots you could easily tell which one was soaked and which one was relatively dry.

That was a fun weekend…I don't even mind reliving it this way.

BTW – Soaking your trail runners in a tub of Oxy Clean and water and then vigorously scrubbing them under running fresh water (including the insoles) can restore them to their pre-piss state…

Another for the "Don't Do That" file! :^)

And a good tip!

I shared that tale with the guys on our trip last weekend with the scout troop (did not share it with the scouts although they would have enjoyed it I think) and much jocularity ensued. I'm the only one in a hammock so I don't think they fully appreciate getting in and out of a hammock rather than a tent to take care of natures call.

I have to say I admire your ability to manage this at all – I'd have likely ended up on the ground…

and it rained a fair amount on the way in. Dried out for the afternoon and evening setting up camp, day hike and cooking etc… but then rained that evening.

I opted for the hammock and was generally glad I did – I had a nice sheltered spot and had hung my pack with a pack cover on it so I was pretty snug.

However I am glad I pitched my tarp relatively low and well as the wind really picked up all night – both during the rain (thankfully my Arrowhead Toxaway kept me dry) and post rain all night long. It is a different experience in a hammock in higher winds and that is one condition where both the cold and openness is a disadvantage versus a tent… I survived just fine but did wonder several times if my tarp lines were going to hold. I can see the benefit of a small bit of shock cord to provide some flex.

I was using for the record cheap texsport full size groundhog knockoffs and they held really well – didn't budge.

I'm glad you were able to share my tale. It was actually foul weather (with my tarp pitched low and near the hammock) that led me to try this technique. Getting in and out of a hammock with the tarp right at the ridgeline isn't fun. After my second "trip to the tree" in a pouring rain I decided to try peeing to the right (my boots were safely to the left that time). I use a wide (52") hammock so even on my side I never feel like there's a chance of flipping the hammock or falling out. I probably had 30+ nights without an issue until that fateful November trip!

I've hung in my hammock for a couple of hundred nights in Arizona.

Sleeping in my hammock is as comfortable as in my bed at home. I laid in my hammock for 14 hours in a snow storm (getting up as needed since I don't have Kevin's techniques). When I laid down, the hammock seemed okay, then 14 hours later, it still felt just as comfortable–no sore spots on my shoulders or hip bones, or on my back. I can't do that laying on the ground, regardless of what pad is carried. My hammock serves as a sheltered camp chair too, pretty nice for dual purpose. As a retiree, that comfort in camp helps me continue to backpack.

If you get wet or cold in a hammock, that is not a hammock deficiency, you just need better gear, or site selection, or technique, same as being cold or wet on the ground. If pack weight is more important than the benefits of hammock hanging, then don't hang.

You can really enjoy the rain in a hammock when your tarp is set up and you can even look out and enjoy the view.  If it’s a monsoon blowing sideways things can get hectic, but by their nature your hammock is going to be among the trees at least so that’s not usually the case.  Rain is nice in a well set up tent too, but I just love being able to under the tarp, sit on my hammock and take my boots off at leisure in the midst of a hard rain.  No scrambling on all fours, no wet clothes on your sleeping bag.  As others have noted, you pay for it in weight, and as comfortable as they are, hammocks take getting used to before you can flop in and crash for the night with ease.  Getting used to them and tweaking your set up is part of the fun, but if you’re strictly business on a through hike, that may not be what you want.  I’m a weekend warrior and in my late 50’s.  For me the extra weight is nothing compared to enjoying the site and the outdoors in any conditions and sleeping well (and late, as I am wont to do).  Make sure your setup has a ridge line, and if things get super hectic you can drape the tarp super close and stake it down with the walls right next to you in ‘storm mode’ and ride out just about anything.