[pct-l] Chaos On The PCT

[Kevin Cook]

Hillary, there are "double wide" hammock made for couples, but I've not
heard good reviews. Haven't bad either, but I don't hear people talk about
using them much. I don't recommend it. I can't imagine you would sleep well.
What you can do if you want to hammock with a partner, is share a tree for
one end. This limits your tree options a little as you now need to find 3
trees in the right position. Sometimes you can find 4 trees in perfect
position to hang the hammocks right next to each other. Both of these
options really only work well in good weather as they negate the ability to
hang a tarp easily. It can be done though, and someone on hammock forums
made a tarp specifically designed to cover two hammocks pitched using 3
trees. I can share the link if you want to see it.

I use straps for my attachment to the trees, as do all the hammockers I
know. I don't use 2" wide webbing though. My old straps are only 1/2" and
I've never seen any evidence of damage to the tree, but I'm aware that I
could be crushing the cambium(?) under the bark. I'm going to have 3/4"
webbing on the PCT. I've heard of the stick idea too, but never tried it. It
one of those, "can't hurt, might help" sort of things.

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 10:59 AM, Hillary Schwirtlich <
hillary.schwirtlich at gmail.com> wrote:

> I never thought about the fact that sleeping in a hammock causes less
> damage to the ground underneath. That's pretty awesome! I'd consider it if I
> was going solo, but I couldn't imagine it being easy to fit two people
> comfortably in a hammock all night. :)
>
> Two years ago when I was on a trail crew in Central Washington, both my
> crew leaders were hammockers. One of the rangers stopped by to visit us and
> bring us some much-appreciated drinks... and was really interested in one of
> my crew leaders' hammocks. He asked if my crew leader had thought about
> doing something to protect the tree from girdling. His advice was to stick
> some sticks upright in the loop around the tree to minimize the line rubbing
> into the tree bark. I read on the LNT blog that you're supposed to use 2" to
> 4" wide straps - they call them "tree saver straps."
>
> You all who hammock, what do you think about this?
>
> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 10:16 AM, Kevin Cook <hikelite at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Here is a link to my journal entry where I discuss the reasons why I
>> choose
>> to use a tarp and hammock:
>>
>> http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=4b4f39d5d4dfb3b0b5bbabaa85aa9267&entry_id=19566
>>
>> I'm pretty sure I posted this here before, or something similar, but it
>> was
>> months ago.
>>
>> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Scott Williams <baidarker at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> > Great point, maybe I'll have to give it a try.
>> >
>> > Shroomer
>> >
>> >
>> >
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