[at-l] Hike ended short after 13 miles

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 06:16 PM 3/4/2005 -0500, Bror8588@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 3/4/2005 1:37:27 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
>jbullar1@twcny.rr.com writes:
>Depending on what hammock you are using you may be able to
>use it as a tent when camping where there are no trees handy or other
>conditions make a tent preferable.
>
>I have a Clark Jungle Hammock and it is true that it could be used as a 
>tent as well.  It also has the extra large Fly so it could be set up as a 
>tarp tent with the hammock itself zippered to keep out the insects and 
>slithery things as well as the mice.  I found it to be very comfortable 
>for sleeping, hung between two trees, but using it as a tent would be 
>another experiment to do this summer.

I have a Clark too but it is an older model with the smaller fly. I'm 
thinking of replacing the fly with an 8x10 silnylon tarp a'la Ed Speer. 
Eventually I will probably make a Speer style hammock too as I believe it 
would be lighter.

>Oh, I have a Day Pack (Eagle Creek -- I think they make the best stuff) 
>that has a sternum strap that is a bit high but I think it is because I 
>tend to carry heavy when I hike.

One thing to watch when buying a pack is the length of the pack relative to 
your torso length. One of my packs with a sternum strap is a rucksack style 
and although it is a 'large', it is actually too short for my torso. The 
result is that if I wear it high enough for the shoulder straps to work 
properly, the waist belt is about 2-3 inches above my hips, right around my 
belly button. If I wear it so the belt rests on my hips, the straps connect 
to the pack down between my shoulder blades and the sternum strap *was* up 
by my throat. That is one of the ones I moved. My favorite pack is an 
external frame EMS pack. External frames are not in fashion in recent years 
but the frame made the support system very adjustable and therefore 
comfortable. An ill fitting pack can be almost as bad as ill fitting boots.