Hammock camping in thunderstorms

[hammock engineer]

I was sitting at home tonight watching the thunderstorms outside tonight, and thinking about my thru coming up this year, and I have a question or concern.

What has everyone's experience been with thunderstorms in their hammocks? I am not to worried about the rain or wind, that is a matter of how the hammock is set up. My question is concerning the lighting. I read the article on it. I was wondering about the trees and lighting. If the lighting strikes the tree that I am attached to, am I going to be BBQ? Or will the lighting pass through the tree instead having less resistivity then the hammock and second tree?

I know the odds of the tree that I am getting struck is pretty big, but I have been more than a couple trees burnt from lighting strikes.

[Olive Drab]

I would think a wet hammock would conduct electricity. If its tied to a tree that has a current then it will probably get charged as well.

[Just Jeff]

Technically, the lightning will take the path of least resistance, which is thru the tree to the ground, and not thru the tree to the hammock to the other tree to the ground. But being that close to the current still isn't something I'd want to test!

But like you said, the odds are very low. I haven't heard of any hammockers injured by lightning. (Of course, they're probably still crispy burritos hanging in the wilderness if it has happened.) Just come down off the ridgeline if you're expecting a storm and you should be fine.

I'd be more worried about widowmakers than lightning during a storm.

[Seeker]

water does not conduct electricity all that well... salt water does, but not rainwater... i have no worries about lightning... like jeff said, the path of least resistance it straight down the tree into the ground... being off the ground, i'm safer, i think. and my wet tarp and hammock, tied to the tree with non-conducting plastic/synthetic ropes/lines/whatever, isn't going to conduct electricity any better than the tree... if lightning hits, i might get fried regardless of whether i'm in a hammock or in a tent next to the tree.

any rocket scientists or electrical geniuses out there with the real answer?

[hammock engineer]

The more I think about it, it would be fine as long as you tie to trees of similar heights and not next to the ridgeline or trial as mentioned. The trees that I saw that were hit by lightning were usually next to the trial along a ridge of next to a river.

It could ark across the person inside to ground, but this could happen to someone in a tent or tarp.

Maybe we will have to find a volunteer to try this out and get the real answer.

[Ramble~On]

:D Well being in the hammock I figure that if I'm ever struck by lightning I'm doing the Search and Rescue guys a favor by already being in a bodybag.
All they have to do is untie two knots and carry me out.

[Just Jeff]

Except the knots would probably melt, so they'd have to cut the ropes.

Pity to damage a hammock like that... :D

[stag3]

Golfers have demonstrated the effect of a lightning strikes, and some learned the hard way not to stand under a tree during a lightning storm. In their case, the tree is probably the highest thing around-and guess where lightning goes !! Somehow the lightning doesn't stay in the tree and anybody near by gets hit.

Hammock or tent doesn't matter--the best deal is get away from high ground.

[DLFrost]

Technically, the lightning will take the path of least resistance, which is thru the tree to the ground, and not thru the tree to the hammock to the other tree to the ground. [...] I'd be more worried about widowmakers than lightning during a storm.
I quite agree. That's the real danger, windthrown trash. That's one of the reasons I like younger hemlock copses for hammocking--lots of smaller branches above to act as a trash-rack. (The other is that they are clear and open underneath.)

No one should be careless enough to hang up to tall, lightning-target trees in threatening weather. But if lightning did strike your tree: It would travel down through the cambium layer (where the most water is) into the ground. Since lightning bolt cores are hotter than the surface of the sun, this would take the form of a high temperature steam explosion, blowing the bark and outer layer of wood off in a strip along the lightning channel. In addition to possibly being "shortgunned" by tree shrapnel, your hammock and tarp lines would be instantly cut (much like dynamite cuts through steel beams in demolition work), dumping you onto the ground. And then you would panic and soil yerself. You might also have your hearing damaged by close proximity to the thunderclap.

Doug Frost

[Two Speed]

Back in my salad days I worked on line crew for the Georgia Power Company and occasionally had the pleasure of cleaning up after lightning strikes. From my experience I'd say lightning is just like a bear in the woods: it'll do just whatever it feels like doing, and trying to predict that isn't a rewarding exercise. As much as I might enjoy pulling a hammocker's strings (bad pun intended) I don't believe a hammocker is at any more risk than someone in a tent or a shelter, provided they exercise some common sense. The short version is if this was a real problem there'd be more barbequed hammockers hanging around awaiting disposal.

I think the comments about wind blown debris point to a more likely threat. If you watch out for the widowmakers, don't hang your hammock between the two tallest trees in the area, particularly on ridgelines when thunderstorms are predicted, a I think a hammock is just as safe as any other form of shelter.

[flyfisher]

I was sitting at home tonight watching the thunderstorms outside tonight,...

Me too. I wish I had been outside in the woods.

A storm in the woods, hanging in a hammock nice and dry, is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. More so when my friends in tents are getting soaked. :D

[peter_pan]

Me too. I wish I had been outside in the woods.

A storm in the woods, hanging in a hammock nice and dry, is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. More so when my friends in tents are getting soaked. :D


AMEN. to the high and dry....fire works from the "recliner " is great.... but I do prefer to bail a couple hundred feet or so off the ridgre line....:D

Pan

[Shutterbug]

In thunder storms, falling trees are a greater danger than lightening. When you hike through the woods, notice all of the fallen trees. Most of them fell during a storm.

Last year, my son and I were hiking through an old growth forest on the Wonderland Trail. It was raining cats and dogs, but the wind wasn't blowing very hard. I thought that there was little danger because the wind wasn't blowing. All of a sudden, the top section of one of the tallest trees came crashing down right beside the trail. At the time, I couldn't figure out what made it fall.

Later, I talked to a tree expert. He said that when there is heavy rain after an extended dry period it isn't unusual for large trees to soak up so much water that the top of the tree will become too heavy for the base to support. In those cases, the top of the tree will break off and fall.

So, there is more to worry about in a thunder storm than just the lightening.

[neo]

i have camped in ragging storms many times in my hammock i love it:cool: neo

[stupe]

I'm no rocket scientist, but I bet you would be in no more danger in a hammock than if you were sleeping on the ground under the same two trees.

[smokymtnsteve]

no near misses for me please,,,I'll just hope for a direct hit :eek:

[Two Speed]

Stupe, if you're referring to lightning I don't think that's correct. When a lightning strike hits the ground the current dissapates in roughly circular pattern. If the strike, or trunk of the struck tree, is close enough to a tent there's a decent probablity of the tenter suffering the effects.

A hammocker on the other hand has to worry about lightning striking one tree, running the hammock, and possibly the hammocker's body, then down the trunk of the second.

Bearing in mind that I don't think predicting exactly how lightning will run I think you could make a good argument for either scenario; a lightning strike on a tree that's within 100, maybe 200 feet of you can kick your butt, and that's if it doesn't kill you. To paraphrase how we used to say it on line crew, lightning can leap out of your shorts and untie your shoe laces if it feels like it and there ain't gonna be a whole lot you're gonna do about it. :eek:

[justusryans]

Either way, I don't think you'll be happy with the results :eek:

[orangebug]

Life must be really good if this is all you can come up with for a major worry.

[Youngblood]

Life must be really good if this is all you can come up with for a major worry.
I don't think you understand the major gest of this. Some folks thought that they may be save from lightning while in a hammock because if the lightning hits the tree, that ALL the energy from the lightning hit will harmlessly follow the tree all the way to the ground. That is not likely to happen consistantly and a lot of bad things can happen if you are in close proximity to a lightning strike or the path in follows... it might use your hammock as ONE of its paths, the tree might explode, the hammock suspension lines might break, etc. The bottom line is being in a hammock does not make you immune to possible lightning damage.

[Two Speed]

Nor does sleeping in a tent, trail shelter, doghouse, bathtub . . . Don't know that anyone's actually implied or stated that one form of shelter's safer than another, but for the record I think any form of shelter has it's vulnerabilities, just varies depending on the nature of the shelter. Simple comon sense is probably the best way to deal with this: get off the ridgelines when thunderstorms are likely, don't attach to or camp near the tallest tree when thunderstorms are likely, don't wave your Lekis over your head when the hair on your arms starts standing up, etc.

Of course the common sense requirement is probably the one that's gonna get me screwed.:p

[hammock engineer]

I wasn't thinking a hammock was less likely to get hit, but more likely.

After thinking about it and looking at everyone elses responses, I think it comes down to you are just as safe in a storm when considering lightning and widowmakers as you are in a tent or tarp. I think that widowmakers are the biggest danger, but I also think that precautions should be made against lightning. But if I tree explodes or you get hit by lightning (either direct or indirect) you are pretty screwed no matter what you are in.