Campsite challenges...

[SWriverstone]

So I've been reading a lot and learning (slowly) about the various issues found when trying to camp along the B.C. coast. So far, the list includes...

1. no higher ground anywhere near the high tide line
2. too-high ground near the high tide line
3. long distances between high/low tides (long-distance boat and gear schlepping)
4. log-covered beaches, no place for a tent
5. rock-covered beaches, no place for a tent
6. impenetrable forest right up to the beach
7. sloped beaches with no flat areas
8. no freshwater nearby
9. too exposed to the open sea and wind
10. bear sign everywhere

Am I forgetting anything? While I know the presence or absence of these issues depends on where you are (outer coast versus inner, etc.), I'm curious whether experienced paddle campers find some/all of these conditions...

• most of the time?
• some of the time?
• infrequently?

I'm not a stranger to type 2-3 fun, so not daunted by any of this. It's just part of my B.C. Coast education, and learning what to expect. I'm also interested in opinions on whether a hammock reduces the likelihood of these issues being a problem (or if a hammock creates its own new set of problems—like no good trees for a hang, having to spend more time setting up complicated rigs with paddles and driftwood, etc.) My guess is a hammock mitigates many issues...but that's just a guess. (And does anyone paddle with both a hammock and a tent—to cover all possibilities?)

Thanks!
Scott

 

[Low Tech]

A hammock can be used w/ what's known as a Solo pole from Tensa Outdoors. Both CougarMeat and myself have them. Then you only need one tree, or similar, attachment point and some good ground anchors. They are telescoping and pack down to about 21"(?).
CM uses his up there in the NW and I in the desert. It always goes w/ me in the kayak, or bike when I'm bikepacking.

This is it being used on the Colorado River last month.

 

[CPS]

I use a hammock primarily, but also bring options to let me set up on the ground. I'm a big fan of tarps, so the same one I use over my hammock works for shelter when I am a ground dweller.
A tent could be brought along but a small bug net would also suffice.

Some sites you could use either option without issue, such as this nice spot on Admiralty Island. (Though no. 10 was well represented here)

Other times the combination of issues 4,5, & 6, make a hammock super handy. This site was still pretty annoying.

Most of the time there's some compromise available for either setup. Maybe there's not trees in perfect places to hang a hammock, or there's a flat spot with a root right in the middle that would suck for a tent. Often it can be made to work either way.

Having both frees you up to have options. Flexibility is good.


If you bring both, you end up with some redundant equipment. In my case when not using my hammock I had a unused bug net, a unused ground sheet, and an unused sleeping pad.
If using the ground set up I would have an unused hammock body and under quilt. Though I could always use the underquilt for extra warmth if needed.


The poles as mentioned free up some options. Though usually if there was one decent tree I could find another that would work. Places like Glacier Bay's West Arm where there just aren't aren't good trees would be a good candidate for a tent.

I personally don't love sleeping on the beach, as it's often a sandy mess. Depending on tides and storm surge it is sometimes totally off the table, so the flexibility to set up in the woods is really handy.

 

[SWriverstone]

Thanks @Low Tech and @CPS - good info. I've seen those Tensa options and they look good. And CPS I paid attention to all your setups in your photos (including the ground bed inside the bug net between your sail mast and a paddle).

I can definitely see where flexibility is good.

Bugs are a whole 'nother issue I'm just gonna have to learn to deal with. I know they aren't everywhere (and sometimes depend on wind)...but I have a deep, DEEP hatred of mosquitos and other flies that swarm your every orifice...(I was horrified CPS when I saw your daily trip post talking about flies badgering you even way the heck out in the middle of a passage somewhere—what?!?!)

 

[CPS]

(I was horrified CPS when I saw your daily trip post talking about flies badgering you even way the heck out in the middle of a passage somewhere—what?!?!)

Oh that's just the Southeast Alaska Auxiliary Air Force doing routine reconnaissance.

 

[chodups]

I find that 67% of my campsites are Type I. Easy. No issues or worries.
31% are Type II. These take a bit of work and could turn into a Type III with the wrong wind or tide. They are often not comfortable but relatively safe. Crap Camp on Banks is one of these. Best site within a day's paddle but with the wrong wind, weather and tide turns into a stone-Type III.
Only 3% of my camps are Type III's and they have usually been accompanied with some sort of error.
Generally I prefer Type II's because they see less traffic, are are either unknown to the paddling community, are too tight for more than a couple of tents or have gotten a reputation for being difficult.
I am tent only. MSR Hubba Hubba.

 

[cougarmeat]

Before I forget ... REI has some bug solutions that I haven't tried yet. In addition to Permethrin for your netting and clothing, Picaridin lotion for your skin, there's the "Termacell" device. It comes in a rechargeable (USB port) model or a model that can use a fuel canister. The device warms up a "cartridge" that reportedly keeps the critters away with a 10 to 20 ft protection zone (product advertisement)

A hammock can be compacted to about the size of a Nalgene water bottle. Depending on size and material, it can squish down to the size of a softball. But you'll need more than the hammock itself.

The good news is, you already have most of the gear duplicated for your tent setup. I ALWAYS have a Plan-B, Go-to-Ground option, even if it's just to use the hammock (with built-in bug net) as a bivi bag.

What you need (by "need", I mean it's foolish not to have it) ...
You'll need a tarp. I first learned about tarps from tent campers at a kayak symposium on Orcas (about 2003). They covered their tents (that already have a rainfly) with the tarp so they can set up and take down under the dry tarp (and have a dry area outside the tent), with the last thing to stow being the potentially wet tarp.

You'll want a bug net, either a partial design like the HUG style if it's "just in case", or a full cover provided by the built-in design or a 3rd party full coverage.

You'll want top and bottom insulation - but you already have that with your sleeping bag and ground pad. Top quilts and under quilts are more comfortable, but putting your ground pad in the hammock works okay. I carry both.

You'll need some suspension gear to string up your hammock and tarp. I DO NOT use my paddles for that. That's just me. I figure the paddle has one job - to get me where I'm going and back. I'm not going to give it "double duty". I carry REI light collapsible poles to provide different tarp configurations. Those poles are too light for hammock suspension, but, as LowTech mentioned, the TensaOutDoor Solo pole works fine for that (search for my Around Orcas in Eight Days post in Trip Reports). You do have to learn about ground anchors.

New options are added every day - but they don't give them away. The latest "new and shiny" is the YoboGear Turtlebug stand.

I bring both a tent and a hammock for other reasons - like it's handy to put all the loose gear (empty dry bags) in the tent. And sometimes, if "others" acceptance of a hammock may be questionable, it goes in the tent when I get up in the morning and only comes out for sleep time at night. Note that once you set it up, you can just detach your tree suspension and store everything together. All you have to do is reattach to the trees; your spacing has already been set.

There are other Hammock-esque options, like the Draumr Amok and Haven tent/hammocks. The Draumr is supported from the sides rather than the ends, so the trees don't need to be as far apart. Its body support relies on the inflatable pad, and a tarp cover needs more consideration. The Haven is like a suspended tent. It can be set up on the ground or suspended between trees. It also relies on an inflatable pad. I have no experience with them. They are outside my "simplicity" criteria - but some people love them.

From Blazing Saddles: "Trees? We don't need no stinking trees!"

technical note: the usual desired hang angle is close to 30°. In the case above, that would put the hammock too close to the ground. The hammock has a "ridgeline" so, if needed, I can string it up at a shallow angle, and the hammock still hangs with the desired sag underneath.

Showing a paddling partner that my hammock (as a bivi bag) makes a better "tent" than his tent would make a hammock

Flat ground? We don't need no stinking flat ground

 

[alexsidles]

So I've been reading a lot and learning (slowly) about the various issues found when trying to camp along the B.C. coast. ... I'm also interested in opinions on whether a hammock reduces the likelihood of these issues being a problem

The majority of people who paddle the Inside Passage bring only a tent. When I paddled the Inside Passage myself in 2011, I had a lot of the same campsite-related questions as you, so I brought both a tent and a hammock. If I had it to do over again, I would bring only the tent. My trip was 100 days long, and other than the first week—when I was using the hammock every night in order to get used to it—I only used the hammock one time.

It's just not that hard to find tent-suitable campsites. I did my trip with no guidebook, no GPS waypoints, and no map other than a 1:633,600-scale route planning map (1 inch = 10 miles), but even so, I was always able to find a tent-suitable campsite. Plus, a hammock is not some kind of magic wand that lets you camp anywhere. Even with a hammock, the concerns you raise about exposure to weather and ease of landing will still apply.

People have different preferences. Pascal, for example, dislikes sleeping on sand, but I love it. Nowadays, the only time I bring a hammock is if I am setting out specifically to camp on some tiny, otherwise unsuitable rock, such as Tremble Rock in Nakwakto Rapids. Even in places like that, you still don't need a hammock. You can just bivvy under a tarp. I say, skip the hammock and use the space you save to bring a bigger tent, a thicker sleeping pad, a fluffier sleeping bag, and a better pillow.

Alex

 

[Low Tech]

Same here w/ carrying a "go to ground" option. As I'm already carrying a tarp and fronkey style bugnet I just add in a tent footprint, and an inflatable mat. My TQ stays and if wanted I put my UQ on the mat below me. I know, I know, . . . compressed loft and all but my inflatable has all these low spots in the design and the quilt fills them in adding some degree of bounce back. My Sole hammock pole just becomes my tarp pole.

 

[SWriverstone]

More good info, thanks all! I hear you Alex regarding "less is more" and just having a good tent. For years I've slept all over the wilderness (backpacking in mountains) in a one-person REI Quarter-Dome. It's tiny and light...but I'd want something bigger for a long BC Coast trip.

That said, I've always slept better in a hammock. Some people don't, but I find them supremely comfortable and have literally never woken in the morning in a hammock and had any odd little pains or stiffness like I sometimes do sleeping on the ground. I just spring from the hammock feeling like I'm 20 years old again!

I recognize the value of a good tarp too when camping on the Northwest coast. And from what I've read, most people wish they had brought a bigger tarp than what they had, presumably for even more rain protection in wind...and also to provide lots of extra covered space to hang out under. (Like a 12'x18' instead of a 9'x12'.)

 

[cougarmeat]

I did the Oregon stretch of the PCT 50 years ago using just a GoreTex® Bivi Bag (with enclosed, raised, head area). I don't know there was such a thing as a tarp (we all have to start somewhere). The scariest moment was when, one night, near Hwy 242, I was dog tired and set up in the black of night on a piece of ground just wide/long enough for the bivi. About 3 AM, headlights awakened me, and my weary eyes saw a huge truck headed straight for me, turning off only at the last moment.

Turned out, I had unknowingly set up about 5 feet from a curve on Hwy 242.

Back to the point - not like that incident bothers me or anything (I can still see the headlights after 51 years) - a quality bivi bag gives a ground option with a tiny footprint. So there are lots of options.

The ultralighters on hammock forums are always looking for smallest/lightest. With your kayak load capacity, you don't need to worry about that - saving you a LOT of money (on a Dyneema tarp) and giving you more comfort-oriented item choices.

Full disclosure - I'm comfortable in either a gathered-end (what you imagine when you think of a hammock) or bridge hammock. The bridge has spreader bars that make it more like a shallow bathtub rectangle. One of my paddling partners prefers a tent (I think she likes the privacy feel), but likes to day nap in her bridge hammock. So no "one right way".

The only thing about a hammock is - it's better if you take the time to set it up, get to know it, find the set up comfort zone for you, before you actually need to use it. The biggest/first mistake beginners make is thinking they need to stretch it tight to get a flat lay rather than set it up with a sag so they can turn a bit diagonal to the hammock center line.

Alex is absolutely right about the hammock not being a magic "anywhere" solution. When I started, I thought, "How hard can this be? There are trees everywhere in the PNW. When it works, I use it. When it doesn't, I use the tent.

Small Tent

But slept in my Bridge Hammock

Hammock Camper's Prayer: "Dear God, please remind me to untie the tarp before I drive off."

 

[CPS]

Plus, a hammock is not some kind of magic wand that lets you camp anywhere. Even with a hammock, the concerns you raise about exposure to weather and ease of landing will still apply.

Absolutely true. Whatever you bring can usually be made to work in most sites. There were a few sites I stopped at on the East side of Kupreanof Island that would have been challenging in a tent. Mostly because it was near max tidal exchange. That meant the beach was off limits. The water essentially touched the trees. The forest floor was rather lumpy. I have one shot that sort of demonstrates it. A small tent would have been manageable, but lumpy.

The other spot I'm thinking of was similarly lumpy, but the floor was actually composed of old drift logs which had been lobbed into the woods by winter storm winter storms. They were half rotted and moss covered, with gaps through which a foot would occasionally slip. Setting up a tent would have been a doozy, but hanging above was ok.
Would a tent have worked? Yeah, but it would have been more annoying to set up, and probably less comfortable.

The few times I did set up on a beach (I am a sucker for pebbles) I think a tent would be far simpler, though as Cougarmeat points out a hammock makes an OK tent.

A tarp and bug net would be another great option. Ultra flexible and can be deployed in whatever configuration fits the space you've got.
I just don't like tents. (Which is mostly due to packing them away when they are soaking wet.). having an inner seems a bit redundant to me.

That being said I do own a tent, and usually bring it when an itinerary calls for exclusively beach camping.

 

[Philip.AK]

Not sure I have much to add since I am a tent camper who never lacks good spots to pitch, but this concept seems interesting.

 

[SWriverstone]

Wow, that OPEONGO "hanging tent" looks GREAT. My guess is some of you experienced B.C. coastal campers will find all sorts of reasons why this wouldn't work well on islands (like "not enough well-spaced trees" or "trees on islands generally aren't 7" or more in diameter")...but it still seems really well-designed.

I guess the only obvious negative is that it doesn't provide a wider covered area to sit, to leave gear, etc. But you could either have another tarp hung up nearby...or might not need as much covered space.

For sheer speed of setting up a comfy, rainproof bed fast, this looks pretty good.

Oh wait—here's the dry gear storage solution—a gear "basement" you can get that hangs beneath the tent...

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

Wow, that OPEONGO "hanging tent" looks GREAT.

You may have seen this already:
https://www.westcoastpaddler.com/community/threads/opeongo-areal-a-1.10359/

It looks pretty tippy to me. I notice that in the company's 'stability' video they use a kid as the demonstrator. I think the results would be different if a 'full sized' adult sat on one edge of the suspended 'tent', especially if the support straps were only 7" apart.

I like my (discontinued?) Exped Ergo hammock. Very comfy. I've only used it a few times- I don't like having all my 'stuff' in the mud under the hammock, if it gets rainy. But I have taken it along as a backup to my (good) tent, on a few occasions.

 

[SWriverstone]

FYI, there are lots of third-party reviews on YouTube of the Opeango Aerial A1 tent. I'm not trying to push it, rather just get as much unbiased info as I can find. From what I'm seeing looking at all the review videos, it's not tippy at all, and most say it's easier to get in/out of than a hammock.

And regarding the force on the suspension straps, they claim it's all climbing-grade webbing, stitching, and buckles rated at a minimum of 3,000lbs. Seems pretty solid to me.

I'm starting to wonder if it might not be the "ultimate" shelter for long kayak camping trips? In addition to the suspended setup, you can also just pitch it on the ground like any tent...so it's a hammock and a tent in one.

The biggest question mark is finding well-spaced trees at least 6-7" in diameter. But you have the same challenge with a hammock. SoI suspect anywhere you can find two trees for a hammock, you can also find trees for this thing.

I'm also very interested in the Amok hammock, the one @cougarmeat mentioned that hangs perpendicular to the two trees so the trees can be much closer together. I also like how the Amok can convert to a comfy La-Z-Boy chair configuration.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

I'm starting to wonder if it might not be the "ultimate" shelter for long kayak camping trips? In addition to the suspended setup, you can also just pitch it on the ground like any tent...so it's a hammock and a tent in one.

They seem to have put a lot of thought into the design.
Compared to a lot of tents nowadays, the price isn't outrageous, and it's not very heavy or bulky (for a kayaker) so it might be worth a try.

'Non-exoskeleton' (tent is erected first, fly over) tents don't work very well in rainy conditions. Many kayak campers put a tarp over the tent for that reason. So the Opeango would probably need a tarp above in rainy weather - just like a regular hammock.

Like @cougarmeat (in the other discussion here at WCP), I have concerns about the advertised 'horizontal' hanging angle. Most good hammocks are designed to be comfortable with the suspension lines about 30 degrees from horizontal (60 deg rope angle in this graph):

Getting near horizontal (90 deg rope angle) means a big increase in forces.
From the advertised information: Maximum suspended capacity= 275 lbs
Webbing breaking strength 2200 lbs, buckle breaking (not slipping) strength 3400 lbs

So in practice there must be some sag in the suspension of the Opeango.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

I'm also very interested in the Amok hammock

One advantage of the Amok and the Opeango (and the Exped Ergo) for tent enthusiasts is that they use rectangular inflatable sleeping pads, which don't work very well in most hammocks, from what I've read.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

I'm also interested in opinions on whether a hammock reduces the likelihood of these issues being a problem (or if a hammock creates its own new set of problems

Have you joined (looked around at) hammockforums.net ?
If not, it might be worth wandering over there.
Even though most of the discussions are about backpacking (minimizing weight) there's a ton of good info there.
Great forum; I don't want to think of how much time I spent there. It led to hammocking (a bit) and also lots of other DIY stuff (making tarps, buying and fixing sewing machines, etc etc...)

 

[Low Tech]

The amount of pull on the supporting trees was my first thought w/ that nearly horizontal hang. I guess in some places and w/ some trees, pulling them over on you isn't as much of a concern, but I definitely prefer a much more relaxed angle of my suspension.