View Full Version : hammocks and lightning!!!
siouxdog
02-22-2005, 20:57
so you're comfortable in your hammock and a lightning storm hits. what do you do? is there anything you can do except wait it out? if i'm near a shelter and it's a bad one(storm) then that's my option-the shelter that is. after all we are hanging by the trees.:eek:
WhiteMtns
02-22-2005, 22:03
camped on the ground and in hammocks in some amazing electrical storms (there are few things more awesome) and never had a fear of lightening...
I've been 100 feet from a river getting hit repeatedly for hours, I mean the next bolt is down before the first blinks out...and not a single tree was hit. Seemed to like water a little better than tall trees.
I'd worry a lot more about dead limbs shaken loose by the wind falling through your shelter than I would lightening. And that's not only for hammocks.
My only real worry in hammocks is the stealth colors making them hard to see...the moose up here ain't that bright...having one of those try to pass between the trees you've tied off to would make for a bad night...but you wouldn't be around long enough to complain about it...
I'd worry a lot more about dead limbs shaken loose by the wind falling through your shelter than I would lightening. And that's not only for hammocks.
Widowmakers are the first thing I look for at a tent site.
My only real worry in hammocks is the stealth colors making them hard to see...the moose up here ain't that bright...having one of those try to pass between the trees you've tied off to would make for a bad night...but you wouldn't be around long enough to complain about it...
A moose. LMAO! :D:D:D:D:D
WhiteMtns
02-23-2005, 08:55
I do have a small fear of a dumb giant turning me into a pulp...but I know a snore or two should redirect them...
...But wouldn't accidental steamrolling by Bullwinkle be a much more embarrassing way to go than lightening? I wonder if the folks on the other side laugh at you if you die funny...I would
P.S...if there's a cause for this irrational fear, it's the story of My Father backpacking in Maine in a two hoop tunnel style tent when he was awakened by the snap of the lower fiberglass hoop. Sticking his head out the door showed an eight foot high moose standing on the foot of his tent. Three more inches, he'd've lost his feet, another couple of feet, he'd be pulp.
Death by moose would be cosmically comic, wouldn't it?
SGT Rock
02-23-2005, 20:56
so you're comfortable in your hammock and a lightning storm hits. what do you do? is there anything you can do except wait it out? if i'm near a shelter and it's a bad one(storm) then that's my option-the shelter that is. after all we are hanging by the trees.:eek:
Let the rain lul you to sleep while the wind rocks you. I once rode a hurricane in a hammock, but that is another story :rolleyes:
The Hammocker
02-27-2005, 13:19
Let the rain lul you to sleep while the wind rocks you. I once rode a hurricane in a hammock, but that is another story :rolleyes:
Let's hear it.
Yes, please share this one with us!
Which hurricane?
Isn't Death by Moose one of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Flavors :cool:
shades of blue
02-27-2005, 15:04
I've always wondered where and in what shelter would be safest in an electrical storm. Obviously you wouldn't want to be the tallest thing on a high ridge. Shelters are three sided and open, sometimes with a metal roof. Tents have metal rods helping to stabalize the structure. Hammocks are connected to tall things (trees), although you could pick the shortest trees in an area. In a hammock you aren't connected to the ground (which conducts the electrical charge). Any scientists on the website who could know these answers?
On the A.T. last year 2 of us just starting a trip right as the weather was supposed to turn very stormy. We were heading for a sag so as not to be at the highest or lowest elevation. We made camp, hung up the hammocks, and ate. Just as we finished eating the storm rolled in, complete with strong wind and lots of lightening. I have been in many storms but this was maybe the closest one. I was never overly-concerned (was hardly concerned at all since I like storms) but I did wonder about being strung between two trees, and if there was a great risk in doing that. I would like to know if there is an elevated risk to hammocking. Any one know if it actually is very dangerous? What I do know is that the night was very pleasant all in all, and I wouldn't have changed a thing.
SGT Rock
02-27-2005, 19:01
Let's hear it.
OK, well here it is, basically copied and pasted from my site.
Update 16 June 2001
I just got out of the field here at Fort Polk, LA. Spent the last couple of weeks doing field training and gunnery, and as always I took the Hennessy Ultralite to sleep in. Well, about the 2nd or 3rd Day we just started getting buckets of rain, lightning, high winds, etc. It was so bad at times we had to stop training. This lasted about 5 days straight. About the 3rd or 4th day of the storm someone told me we were getting dumped on by some hurricane.
Anyway, people in tents were sleeping in water, had water coming in every possible hole and crack of vehicles they tried to sleep in, and the mood was pretty wet and miserable...
Except for me in my Hennessy Hammock! I had set it up and left it up about a day before the rain started and because I anticipated rain I set it up in my "storm pitch" in case we got some bad rain. It stayed up for the entire 5 days of bad weather without getting anything inside wet or blowing down - except for the one time I kicked a stake out in the middle of the night when nature called. What really impressed me is I didn't get a chance to find the optimal pitching spot, but it still did well.
I've been skeptical of the Hennessy's ability to perform in really bad weather, but now I won't doubt it one bit.
I admit I wasn't on the main receiving end of the hurricane, but I doubt any shelter would stand under that.
So there it is, as for the name, I don't know what it was, I just know it landed at about Lake Charles.
CanoeBlue
02-27-2005, 20:05
This is NOT a scientific answer but -
1. I do know of cases in which cattle have been killed by lightening as they clustered around the base of a tree to get shelter from a storm. Lightening strikes tree - follows the tree in to the ground - ground is wet - cattle have wet feet - cattle get zapped by lightening coming up from the ground.
2: A farm house near us is continually getting zapped - It is both on top of a hill and one corner of it sits above an underground stream (stream is probably 120 to 150 ft. underground) that offers exceptional grounding for the lightening.
3. Lightening rods DO work - because they offer a path of least resistance to the lightening and channel it down copper wires to the ground and not through the building.
My guess is that while there is no such thing as being safe if you are anywhere near a tree that gets struck by lightening, you are probably safer in a hammock than in a tent on the ground. In this case the path of least resistance is down the (already wet) tree and the hammock is a detour and relatively dry and not a very good conductor.
Best precaution is to set up whatever you are camping in - hammock or tent - in a place that is offers little chance of being struck by lightening - then enjoy the show!
Any thoughts out there?? :-?
WhiteMtns
02-28-2005, 10:49
That sounds good. I'll buy it.
It seems that the lightning always wants the easiest route to the ground...If it's already travelling down the tree...it would be a detour for it to jump out and take out the hammock.
I wouln't be so worried about getting fried...it's the flash boiling of moisture in the tree Blowing It Up that would worry me a little. You see those trees that have been hit in the past, usually dead, usually with a side blown off of them. Hear's hoping the 'lectricity gods have more distinguishing taste in trees than us.