I'm Shug and I'm talking to you what I'm talking to you about today
is your backpack and your boots when you're in your hammock this is kind of a
worry for a lot of new hammockers but the question has come up over and over and
over and over and over and over again about where you put your pack and your
boots at night so I wanted to say I've done a video on packs and boots before
but it was 2014-2015 and what happens as new viewers ask the question they don't
want to go back into my catalogue and look for it nor do I a lot of people
worry about their boots if they just leave them on the ground at night that a
possum or some sort of varmint will come up and start licking that salt and drag
that boot away now that has happened to people and a good way to possibly
prevent that is take your boot laces and tie your boots together what I did here
is I put a couple of metal stakes in the ground and you could just take your
boots and it kind of wrap around that stake like that but what that's gonna do
is keep an animal from you know dragging your boots off but a lot of people worry
about spiders and slugs and stuff getting inside the boot just take a sock
put your sock down in there and just sort of spread that over the top of your
boot like that all right or just stuffing the sock in like that
now I happen to have some camp shoes with me on this fake trip I'm on because
I'm not going to use my boots in the night and I'm worried that something is
gonna come and run off with them but you take your boots and you pretty much just
flop them over your hammock suspension like that
usually I just leave my boots on the ground right by me
why cause I'm lazy I'm lazy all right here's one more idea with the boots I
took these metal stakes I have them put them in the ground but what you could do
is go out in the woods find yourself a couple of sticks you know knee-high or
whatever and just pound them into the ground with a rock or another log or
something like that and what you got is you have a little place
to take your boots and hang them upside down like that that way your boots are
hanging at night more than likely stuff's not going to get in there they
kind of air out and that's a really effective way to secure your boots as
well so uh let's take a look at our pack now and what are a couple of options
with that when I've been riding my steed all day and I pull into camp and I hitch
that nag on up to a tree I got to figure somewhere to put my
boots and my saddlebags what I like to do is take my saddlebags and I'd like to
unload them in the uniform manner and put everything in its proper place so
it's protected and not from varmints that's the way I do it you may do it
just a different way everyone's good at that when I get to camp I just parked my
mule and I dismount from my mule and my saddlebags and I don't unpack them too
good I'll lay them on the ground and kind of
just worked out off them that way I really put anything away that's what I
don't do
the same things apply when you're working a dia hammock everybody style is
different so you got to think what kind of person you are how you load how much
stuff you take out of your backpack at night so when you're in your hammock
what do you need to access in the night what are you gonna reach down and get
are you willing to get up out of the hammock to go get it or are you like me
the Lord of lollygag and want to be right in your hammock and reach down and
get it without leaving the warmth of your nice down under quilt and top quilt
all right so with your backpack here what I pretty much have is my backpack
hanging off my hammock suspension - is coming off my continual loop right there
and I'm using a stick and that stick is just through my pack strap like that
just a pretty strong green stick and it's going right through my continual
loop and that just hangs it right there or you can bring a beaner and hang it
either way they get your pack up off the ground so even if I'm laying in my
hammock my pack is right here I can I could put things I need in a side pocket
I could pretty much lean back there and access that thing and and get things
pretty well without even getting out of my hammocks now I just happened to have
a hand a little knob sticking out of my tree right here but Hickory actually
carries a separate little strap that he uses just for hooking his backpack to a
tree so I could have this thing here it's really at a nice height to work out
of it for the day my hammock is right there if I wanted to leave it here in it
rain I'm gonna take my pack cover
and just cover the pack at night so I always use a pack cover if I'm hiking in
the rain all day and it works out great at camp for hanging your pack against a
tree at night gear hammock another great option and I mentioned it in that last
video I did on gear storage is the gear hammock it is a small hammock that just
hangs right beside the hammock that you are currently laying in enjoying the
view or getting ready to have well if you're like me 10 to 12 hours of slumber
the gear hammock right I'm a pack on the ground guy and I'm a boot on the ground
guy and normally at night I just take my laces and put them inside my boots and
I've got them right there and if I do not have camp shoes with me these are
what I'm stepping into at night if the ground is mucky sometimes in fair
weather I'm sleeping barefoot or just get up and go pee barefoot because
that's usually what I'm getting up in the night to do if I'm in doubt
sometimes think it's gonna rain or there's too many critters on the ground
I just kind of take my boots and do them like that get a slug or a spider still
get in there yes they can but good ideas with the boots before you slip them on
if you're barefoot just give them a shake before you put your foot in there
you'll be thankful for that tip if you did not know that tip so my boots go
right on the ground my pack will sit right on the ground during the day and
during the night and I always carry with me
and I have for years it's always in my pack the piece of plastic right here
I've had this now for 20-something years and that would just normally go on the
ground right there a my back
just sits on it like that so my pack is normally right by me
occasionally I take a boot and I just put it right there by the pack to just
shim it up so it doesn't fall over so in the day time when I'm working out of my
pack I'm all in it right here and it night want to go to sleep
same thing I might have a water bottle jacked up under it or a small rat
terrier so what I'm laying at night and I'm here and I need to get something I
usually put my poop bag for in the morning I'm ready to go for my morning
constitutional right in one of the side pockets maybe a piece of clothing I
might want to add in the night goes in the top if it rains and my pack is on
the ground I make sure just like with my tents
water can't get onto my piece of plastic down there my pack will be under my tarp
and if it's a torrential rain I used to put my rain jacket from the pack cover
over it and it might be laying back on the ground
but normally mine is kind of sitting up like that so then when I'm back in my
hammock and I'm kick back and I'm under it's all right here I got it all by me
tarp will be pitched boots are down here camp shoes and that's pretty much what
you're gonna do with your pack or your boots some form here they're willy-nilly
of what I just showed you best way to find out about this stuff is you know
take it as an excuse to get out in camp more because you're only gonna find your
groove by getting out and doing it and find out what kind of a camper you are
and how you like to arrange your pack and your boots or your you know for
those of you that use trail runners same things applies it's got to be very
literal here what I do at night is I loosen my laces at camp I have the boot
spread wide open so when I get up I don't have to fight my foot in there I'm
just stepping right in and staggering over there and taking a pee and then
staggering back getting out of them and getting back into the glory and the
wonder of this hammock Oh secure in Sector seven whoo buddy
why so stilbene oh you hate it oh you don't like to do