Snow Camping in Hammocks

This spring two of my sons and I backpacked up a trail in our area, and ended up making it up to snow level!  Guess we should have waited a couple more weeks before making this trip.  Well, that's ok.

We brought up hammocks we had made and wanted to try them out on a colder campout, with backpacking supplies.  Our hammocks have a pocket below you that you can put a sleeping pad inside - I've slept in one at 19°F with a 3" foam pad and survived.  See HERE for my post on that.  This time we were backpacking so we brought only our 1/2" blue foam pads, so it was going to be a challenge.

It was snowy due to a late snow storm - it was interesting seeing green leaves and snow on the ground.

Looks cold, doesn't it?

There's something magic about sitting around a campfire and watching the glowing coals.

Long story short, we survived the night.  It was a bit cold, but nothing we couldn't handle.  I did however find that my hammock was tied to a dead tree that was rotten at the bottom.  When I went to climb into my hammock at night to sleep my hammock dropped down low and I could hear the tree coming towards me.  Luckily it didn't go the whole way and I was able to tie to a different tree nearby.  The next morning I was able to push the 16" diameter tree over with one hand!  I think I'll be more careful what I tie my hammock to in the future!

Updated Hammock Camping

One of the leaders has gotten into making hammocks lately.  He made a few that he took up to High Adventure this last summer and let the boys use and abuse to see how well they held up.  They worked great!  The boys all wanted to make one, so they spent a couple weeks worth of activities learning how and making their own hammocks!  It was great!

They all learned how to cut fabric and sew fabric!  It was a fun project for them because it resulted in something they can use for the next campouts!

I wasn't able to make it to the sewing party, so I didn't get a chance to make a hammock for myself.  But shortly after they finished, the leader that started it all found plans online that he then modified to a hammock with netting over the top, and a ridgeline, and pockets and everything!  It was great!  He showed my son and I how to make our own hammocks like that.  It took us about 10 hours to get it totally done, but it turned out great!

My Hammock with my son's hammock behind - showing the zipper side, and the netting

 The really neat part of these hammocks is that the bottom of the hammock is double layer, with an opening so you can slip in a sleeping pad between the two layers.  Then it insulates the bottom side of you while you sleep.  Without a pad below you, you wouldn't stay warm even in 40 degree weather.  But with the pad, I was able to sleep comfortably in 34°F weather with a 3" foam pad.  I tried the next time with a 1/2" blue pad, and a truck windshield reflector.  It got down to 19 degrees that night, and though I was cold (mostly my feet since the nature of the hammock puts your feet up and the blood drains out of them somewhat), I survived.

Looking from the end shows how wide it is when it has a sleeping pad stuffed in

Blanding High Adventure - Hammock Camping

So I had the option to borrow another leader's hammock for the week, and I'm glad I did!  As it turns out, the rains had a good chance of flooding the tents, but my Hennessey Hammock with a rain fly stayed as dry as can be!  The rain fly kept the hammock dry, and it was up off the ground so the monsoonal rainstorms that came didn't fill it up from the bottom like the tents did.  I put a tarp on the ground below the hammock so that I could have something to stand on to get inside the hammock, and after a big rainstorm I did have to dump some of the water off the tarp - but it dried off pretty quickly.


One of the issues with hammock camping is the fact that your body compresses the insulation beneath you it it looses it's insulating properties.  What does that mean?  It means that you get cold from the bottom up.  While sleeping on the ground you have the same problem, but you are usually sleeping on a pad that insulates you from the ground.  So typically you would use a pad of some type in the hammock as well to insulate your backside from the cold.  I didn't have one with me on this trip, but I was using my -15F mummy bag, so I figured I would be ok.  It was interesting as I was laying there to feel my cold back, and warm everywhere else.  But it didn't get cold enough to freeze me, so it was good.

Below are a few pictures of my hammock after a really good rain storm.  You'll notice the wet rain fly, and wet tarp underneath, but everything in my hammock was as dry as could be.

Those that were sleeping in tents also learned a few things.  You know those extra strings and stakes that come with the tent that are supposed to hook onto the rain fly to pull it away from the tent?  They are pretty useful in a big rainstorm!  They make the rain run off the fly further from your tent, giving you a better chance at keeping your stuff inside the tent dry!

I slept about the same in the hammock as I usually do on campouts - tossing and turning all night.  I find that I roll around a lot at night, and when I'm in a sleeping bag, I end up waking up at night as I roll.  But, by the end of the week I slept the entire night without waking up!  (part of that was because I was so tired from all the activities during the day in the 100 degree weather I'm sure).

For more info on Hammock Camping, see my Hammock Camping Post.

BACK TO BLANDING HIGH ADVENTURE

Hammock Camping

I hadn't really ever planned on doing any hammock camping because I've never seen any that would keep the bugs off, and the rain off.  I've only seen the ones that you get into from the top and lay in.  Then one of my friends bought a couple of good hammocks for a really good deal and let me try one on a trip.  It had it's benefits:

• you don't need to search for a flat place to sleep, or an area free of rocks (hard to find in some areas). All you need is two things to tie off to, whether they be rocks, trees, or whatever.
• It's fairly lightweight, no tent poles to take, no tarp necessary
• It's quite relaxing to be rocked to sleep by the wind.
• Hammock's like those in the pictures below, come with rain fly's that keep you dry, but allow you to see out still, they also are easy to get in and out of. 
• No sleeping pad required unless it's cold and you need to insulate from the cold.

Hammock camping in Uintah's on rocky ground

Hammock Camping on a slope below Kings Peak

There are some challenges with hammock camping though:

• It's hard to stay warm in a hammock.  Your sleeping bag gets compressed on the bottom, and leaves you with no insulation below you which makes for a cold night.
• The hammock's in the photos above have an opening on the bottom of the hammock where you climb in then when you lay back, the opening closes with velcro.  Then you need to get into your sleeping bag while rocking back and forth in the confined hammock.
• It would be good to bring a small tarp to set your stuff on, and stand on while you're getting in and out of the hammock - by small I mean it could be just a 4'x3' tarp

To solve the problem with the cold below you, we used thin pads, or even those foam, insulated, accordion type shades for truck windows.  If you slept on top of the pad, it was enough to stop the wind from freezing you from below, but it was hard to get in the hammock from below, get into your sleeping bag and then get the pad underneath you, and then keep it underneath you while you sleep (I roll a lot while I sleep).

Even goats like hammocks (well, the shade they provide anyway)

The hammocks we used were Hennessy Hammocks.  They were really well built, and I wish I had one for myself to experiment more with.  I know of some scout troops that buy hammocks instead of tents and all sleep in hammocks on their campouts.  CLICK HERE for more information on Hennessy  Hammocks.

All in all, it was a good experience.  I enjoyed sleeping in the hammocks, but at the same time, if it were bad weather for extended periods of time, you'd be stuck in your hammock all by yourself instead of in a tent with another person or two to talk to.