Privacy with a hammock

[GrandCanyonWildflowr]

How do you ladies who hammock maintain privacy?
Last year my friend and I hiked Georgia and had difficulty finding flat areas to pitch our tents, but it was nice to have the privacy for an evening wet wipe bath and changing clothes.
Appreciate suggestions from other women.
Thank you.

[Hawkwind61]

I have been a hammock camper for almost 4 years now. I have a tarp and backpackers poncho that I can tie up like screens when I need more privacy. For the most part when I hang up for the night I am away from the busier areas around a shelter...or often my hiking buddy and I found a site off the trail before or after the shelter(s) when we knew the shelter(s) would be full and that in itself tends to give you more privacy.

[Acacia]

I have been a hammock camper for almost 4 years now. I have a tarp and backpackers poncho that I can tie up like screens when I need more privacy. For the most part when I hang up for the night I am away from the busier areas around a shelter...or often my hiking buddy and I found a site off the trail before or after the shelter(s) when we knew the shelter(s) would be full and that in itself tends to give you more privacy.

bears don't bother hammockers? where do you leave your gear? how many feet away would the food bag be hung from the hammock?

[SouthMark]

I hang my food back at the foot of my hammock on the suspension line. I guess that means that I hang my food and I sleep with my food.

[Nutbrown]

If you pitch your tarp low, there is just as much privacy as in a tent. I pitch mine low, over the ridge line, then prop up one side with my poles when I want it to be more open.

[Hawkwind61]

bears don't bother hammockers? where do you leave your gear? how many feet away would the food bag be hung from the hammock?

Haven't bothered me or my hiking buddy so far. Did have a squirrel fall on my tarp early one morning. Startled me a bit to see the little fellow rolling down the side. He was a little bit curious about what was hanging below him and he leaned out a little too much on a rather narrow and flexible branch.

If there is a bear box in the area my hiking buddy and I have always left our food bags in the box. Otherwise we hang, we feel it is sensible to hang away from where we are sleeping. My friend worries more about bears than I do so the nights it is her turn to set our bags so she's been known to find a spot up to 450 ft or so away. I'm apt to bag a bit closer, but still well away from where I hang. It's personal preference. Some folks feel hanging their food bag on their suspension is fine (kind of like the folks that bring their food in the tent at night). I don't feel I want to teach any animal that food could be in that thing hanging between two trees. Once we had some coyotes mill around the spot under the branch where our food bags were hung. (We hang PCT style.) But we were nearly 5 days out and even though our trash was double zip-locked we feel the coyotes scented the trash and followed their noses.

Anything other than our food supplies are hung on the tarp line. In the case of my nearly empty pack. I strap it to a tree if the weather is good. Hang it under the tarp if we are expecting rain. Either way I cover my pack each night with my pack cover.

The only time we ever remotely had a bear come around was the time we hung near a very busy shelter on Mt Greylock during a scout weekend. Bear bypassed us though to head to the shelter and was driven off by the barking of a spunky little dog one couple was hiking with.

[Hawkwind61]

If you pitch your tarp low, there is just as much privacy as in a tent. I pitch mine low, over the ridge line, then prop up one side with my poles when I want it to be more open.

If my hiking buddy and I use the same tree for the head of our hammocks it forms a two sided screen, one of us will watch out for passers-by while the other cleans up. Even when I hammock alone I feel I have more room for cleaning up since I can often stand up. I used to dislike being scrunched in a tent.

One night we hung in a really swampy area, wasn't our choice, but darkness was coming on. To avoid mosquito bites due to the swarms that came out at dark I ended up sponging down in my hammock. Discovered it was no more tight a fit than a tent.

[Liv2Ride]

Select a site slightly away from the masses. If you can't close the ends of your tarp just bring the sides down in semi storm mode. Do as much as possible while sitting in the hammock (feet out). If your hammock has a bugnet just let it drape in front of you. Change clothes, wipe down do whatever you need to while in the sitting position. When you get to the nether regions or when you are pulling on or taking off your bottoms just stand up quickly and do what is necessary. When done right nobody will know or care what you are doing behind that tarp.

[Theosus]

I know on my hammock I can drop the fly sides really low and enclose it. Im not sure how private it would be from the ends, but from the side I wouldn't worry about it.

[MaggieMaeFlower]

I used a Hammock Gear 4 season cat cut tarp on my AT hike. It has 4 doors and weighs about 6.5 oz. I love it!

[nu2hike]

When I hammock I carry a 3x5 piece of tyvek which I normally keep on the ground underneath my hammock! If I need privacy I drape that over one end of my tarp and my top quilt over the other! It works great!
Would love to have one of hammockgears cf tarps with doors but it's not in my budget yet! Maybe one day!!!

[Hawkwind61]

Would love to have one of hammockgears cf tarps with doors but it's not in my budget yet! Maybe one day!!!

Me too! Yep...maybe one day!

[Red Hat]

Speer Winter Tarp (probably much like the hammockgear tarp with doors) did the trick for me. Open or close at will....

[jlo]

I tell you what I do: I have a light weight skirt that I put on over my shorts and then pull my shorts off at the end of the day and to change into light pants for sleeping at night.
Also, hanging your tarp right gives you a "screen", so I'd usually change behind that.
Otherwise, I'd excuse myself and step into the trees a bit and they guys were always respectful about it.
As far as my stuff, I'd hang my food 50 ft. away from my hammock and then put whatever I might need in the hammock with me (headlamp, earplugs, FUD, book, etc.) I had a little pocket that most of that fit in. Then I'd put my pack in a large garbage bag and put it under the hammock at night while sleeping. That kept it dry when it rained and hopefully the noise scared critters away
When you're in the hammock and under your tarp, you have a lot of privacy really, just not as much room as you might in a tent.

[glaux]

I camped with a hammock for my very first time this past weekend, and on the first night, a bear did come around to check me out in the wee hours. As soon as I sat up and asked it to go play pinata with my food bag and let me sleep, he walked off. My food bag was hung PCT style about 200 feet away. It was still there in the morning, fortunately.

Anyway, I was glad I hadn't kept it with me in the hammock like I'd thought about doing, or hanging it from the same tree as me. The bear probably would have still left me alone, but I might not have had such an easy time getting back to sleep.

To keep this on topic, do you find the trail that crowded, that you need a screen? I'm new to backpacking, and in my experience this weekend, I had a ton of privacy (which was much appreciated for my introduction to the whole pooping in the woods experience). In NC in May, though, the wave of northbounders have come and gone. If I'm thru-hiking with that wave, will I have more trouble finding a privacy, just in the woods in general? I don't intend to camp near shelters unless it's mandated by park rules (though I may change my mind if I find I'm jonesing for social interactions).