View Full Version : Wind direction
I just got a HH Expedition and was woundering which side or end you have the wind blowing against you? Thanks:)
simple answer is broadside. that way nothing blows in.
longer answer is that i bury myself in the most sheltered spot i can find to hang... that means using hills and pine/laural thickets as windbreaks whenever possible. then, the wind direction doesn't matter as much. if you get really deep in and cozy, you can hang the tarp almost flat, which gives you a nicer view out, and the rain will hit the trees all around you and drop straight down on you vs blowing in underneath. not always easy, but worth it. but i've survived, dry, in some pretty wicked southern downpours, using just the standard hennessy tarp. i prefer a slightly larger one on longer trips (more than 3 days), but for short trips will gamble with the weatherman and take the small one.
simple answer is broadside. that way nothing blows in.
clip but i've survived, dry, in some pretty wicked southern downpours, using just the standard hennessy tarp. clip.
I second Seeker's advice. A buddy and I hiked the Odum/Pinhoti trails in AL last weekend. I 'survived' completely dry last Friday night when it (evidently) rained off-and-on all night. I hung in a thicket (by a creek at the High Falls trail head) under the standard tarp (I have the ULBPAsym), and slept all night (the fifth of JW black he and I consumed before going down for the night helped!). The only way I knew that it had rained and the wind had blown all night is that my ground-pounding buddy told me about it Saturday morning!
I like to have my feet into the wind on warm nights. That way, the air can hit my face. On colder nights, I try to pitch with my head into the wind, so the hammock can act as a windbreak around my head, face, and neck. When it rains with wind, you're better off pitching either side into the wind, otherwise it can blow up under the high head or foot end.
Of course, we all know that, whatever way you pitch it, the wind will change in the middle of the night and thwart your best efforts to stay cool, or warm, or dry. :p
Tinker,
you bring up a great point... having just come from a few months of 'winter' camping, i'd completely forgotten about the summers here... in summer, i try to set up with my tarp pitched almost like a lean-to, still broadside to the wind, so it catches any little breeze and deflects it down onto me...
in windy conditions i hang lower,i try hang on slopes or hollows out of the wind.get ed speers hammock camping book,its filled with great tips:cool: neo
http://www.speerhammocks.com/index.html
here is a list of hammock camping tips from his website
http://www.speerhammocks.com/Tips/Tips%20on%20hammock%20camping.htm