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Reviews > Shelters > Hammocks > Hennessy Jungle Explorer and Expedition > Test Report by Kurt PapkeHennessy Jungle Explorer Zip Hammock
with Accessories
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Name: | Kurt Papke |
Age: | 62 |
Gender: | Male |
Height: | 6' 4" (193 cm) |
Weight: | 225 lbs (102 kg) |
Email address: | kwpapke at gmail dot com |
City, State, Country: | Tucson, Arizona USA |
The primary focus of the test will be on the hammock, but we will
take a look at all the accessories as well.
Manufacturer: | Hennessy Hammock |
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Manufacturer website: | http://hennessyhammock.com/ |
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Model: |
Hennessy
Jungle Explorer Zip Hammock |
Radiant Double Bubble Pad XL |
Snakeskins XL |
HH2O Automagic Water Collector & Rainfly
Tensioning System |
Year of manufacture: | 2016 |
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Country of origin: |
China |
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MSRP: |
$279.95
USD |
$34.95 USD |
$19.95 USD |
$9.95 USD |
Color tested: |
Bark (Greyish, Brownish Green), no other colors
available |
Silverized, no other colors available | Coyote brown, no other colors available |
Clear, no other colors available |
Weight: |
Includes:
hammock, tarp, webbing, supplied stuff sack Manufacturer website (does not include straps): 3 lbs 8 oz (1.59 kg) Manufacturer package label: 4 lbs 7 oz (2.01 kg) Measured 3 lbs 10.7 oz (1.66 kg) |
Includes supplied stuff sack Manufacturer website: 13.9 oz (394 g) Measured: 13.2 oz (374 g) |
Manufacturer website: 2.3 oz (65 g) Manufacturer packaging: 3.28 oz (93 g) Measured: 3.5 oz (99 g) |
Manufacturer website: 0.85 oz/pair (24 g) Measured: 0.8 oz (23 g) |
Warranty: |
Guaranteed
against defects in materials and workmanship for one year |
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Material: |
Hammock: 40D nylon Mesh: 30D no-see-um Rainfly: 70D polyurethane coated rip-stop polyester |
Not specified, but appears to be "bubble
wrap" packaging material with a Mylar coating. |
30 D silnylon |
Not specified |
Dimensions: |
Manufacturer website: Bottom Fabric: 132 x 59 in (386 x 150 cm) Rainfly: long diagonal 140 in (356 cm) Measured rainfly diagonal: 135 in (343 cm) Hang tag: opens to 6 x 11 ft (183 x 335 cm) |
Manufacturer website: 72 in (183 cm) long by 35 in (89 cm) wide at the shoulders, 18 in (46 cm) at the foot Measured: 77 in (196 cm) long x 35 in (89 cm) x 18 in (46 cm) |
Manufacturer website: 82 - 84 in (208 - 213 cm) long Measured: 82 in (208 cm) |
Manufacturer website: 2.5 in x 2.5 in Per
Piece (64 x 64 mm) Measured: 2.75 x 2.25 in (70 x 57 mm) |
One of the "features" of the Hennessy systems is the use of a
hitch to attach the hammock suspension lines to the webbing.
I am quite accustomed to doing these hitches, but many hammock
owners prefer buckles or other gadgets that avoid remembering how
to tie them and execute it under potentially trying conditions
(cold, dark, rain, etc.)
Date |
Location |
Trail |
Distance |
Altitude |
Weather |
May 9-11, 2016 |
Chiricahua Wilderness in Southern Arizona |
Saulsbury |
20 miles (32 km) |
6100-9500 ft (2000-3120 m) |
32-70 F (0-21 C) sunny, windy |
May 26-27, 2016 |
Chiricahua Wilderness in Southern Arizona | Mormon Ridge |
11 miles (18 km) |
6100-9500 ft (2000-3120 m) |
30-70 F (-1-21 C) sunny |
June 2-3, 2016 |
Chiricahua Wilderness in Southern Arizona | Morse Canyon |
14 miles (23 km) |
6100-9500 ft (2000-3120 m) |
45-80 F (7-27 C) sunny |
June 10-12, 2016 |
Chiricahua Wilderness in Southern Arizona | Mormon Ridge
reprise |
12 miles (19 km) |
6100-9600 ft (2000-3150 m) |
50-78 F (10-26 C) thunderstorms |
June 26 - July 1, 2016 |
Yosemite National Park in California |
Tuolumne
Meadows to Cloud's Rest |
40 miles (64 km) |
7000-9900 ft (2300-3250 m) |
40-80 F (4-27 C) Mostly sunny |
August 6-12, 2016 |
High Uintas mountains in northern Utah |
Highline |
30 miles (48 km) |
10,500-12,600 ft (3445-4130 m) |
28-70 F (-2-21 C) Sunny mornings, rain, snow, sleet and hail in the afternoons |
August 13-20, 2016 |
Snowmass Wilderness in the Colorado Rockies
near Aspen |
Four Pass Loop |
35 miles (56 km) |
10,000-12,800 ft (3280-4200 m) |
30-70 F (-1-21 C) Some sun in the mornings, otherwise cloudy and wet |
This was the first of four hikes that were done as conditioning
and altitude acclimatization exercises in preparation for a trip
to Yosemite (Cloud's Rest). My secondary agenda was to
familiarize myself with the Turkey Creek trailhead area where all
four of these hikes began. The Saulsbury trail seemed to be
used more by equestrians, but I successfully navigated it up to
the Chiricahua Peak area. I spent the night at Anita Park,
just North of Chiricahua Peak.
I had no difficulty pitching the hammock due to my many years of experience with a Hennessy Hammock. I chose to attach the tarp to the suspension and not tie it out to the trees, as this is my preferred configuration for Hennessy tarps. It may not be apparent from the photo below, but most of the trees in the area had a diameter too large to accommodate the tree straps supplied with the hammock. I normally use straps twice the length of those supplied. After a little searching, I was able to find two trees at suitable distances apart, yet small enough to fit the straps. Note that this is unlikely to be an issue for most hammock hangers -- the Ponderosa Pine forests of Arizona simply grow some monster trees!
Jungle Explorer in the evening light at Anita Park
The Mormon Ridge trail is the most direct route to Chiricahua
Peak, but also one of the steepest. I spent the night at
an informal campsite just below Chiricahua Peak, so I was at
about the highest elevation one can camp at in this mountain
range. It got a little colder that night, about 30F (-1
C), but I was still nice and toasty at night. So far the
Bubble Pad has impressed me with its warmth.
I spent two nights out, the first night at the
campgrounds at Turkey Creek, the second up near the peak
again. The first night I attached the rain collectors for
the first time as there was a chance of rain as shown in the
photo at left, but sadly none occurred.
The second night there was an even greater chance of rain, in fact the thunder was rumbling as I gathered water from Headquarters Spring. When I set up camp later I considered attaching the rain collectors, but unfortunately all my water bottles were full. About an hour later the rain came down in buckets, and I could see the water flowing off the tarp tips -- it would have gone right into the funnels.
This scenario illustrates the dilemma I have with using the
rain collectors. I live in a desert where rain is a scarce
commodity. Refilling water containers along the trail can
be sketchy, and one often has to take all you can when it is
found. We are entering into "wet summer", or monsoon
season in Arizona, so I am hopeful of having future
opportunities to try out the rain collectors.
This was a 6-day, 5-night backpack done in conjunction with the
Tucson Backpacking Meetup group. We had great weather
pretty much all week, a few light sprinkles on afternoon was all
the precipitation we had. Unfortunately we were plagued
with mosquitoes, so I was very grateful for the Explorer Zip bug
net. At night I could sometimes hear them buzzing about my
head trying to get to me, but frustrated by the netting.
I had no difficulties find two trees the right distance apart except for a night of car camping on the drive out near Lone Pine. I had spotted a scorpion near our camp and so didn't want to "cowboy camp", so I rigged up the hammock as a bug bivy:
I brought my foam Thermarest pad with me just in case of such a
situation. It is visible on the inside floor of the
hammock. I had one tree to tie the head end to, and the
foot end was secured under a rock. This worked out
remarkably well - no scorpion stings, and the bug net stayed
away from my face nicely. It was also remarkably easy to
get in and out of the hammock due to the side zipper opening.
On our last night of the route at Cathedral Lakes
I took a little snooze in the late afternoon in the
hammock. The other hikers in the group were envious that I
had a nice comfy hammock, and they had to nap on the hard
ground. The mosquitoes hadn't emerged yet, so I tied back
the bug net with the supplied elastic cord:
After a one-day break from the Highline
I headed up into the Rockies for a week-long trip around the
Maroon Bells. Altitude was about the same as the Highline,
but we camped below treeline and many of the campsites had areas
that were clearly prepped for hammock hangers. It was wet
enough that I was actually able to use the rain collectors
somewhat successfully. As shown in the photo at left I was
able to fill a bottle about 15% full, and drank the fresh water
at breakfast the next morning with great gusto.
Since I had no time to dry my gear, and since this trip was
even more wet than the prior week, I continued to shiver a bit
at night. Temperatures dropped to about the freezing point
most nights, and I think my sleeping bag was getting quite
damp. Also, on several occasions when I removed the bubble
pad in the morning it seemed to have folded over by itself
during the night when I was tossing and turning. It seems
that once the pad has taken a "set" by being folded for an
extended period of time, it wants to fold there again. I
found I had to double-check before going to bed to make sure the
pad was in the right place.
I did have a "zipper incident" on this trip. I had the
head-side zipper open almost all the way to the end of the
hammock, and the foot-size zipper closed to about the
middle. I swung my feet out putting my full weight on the
edge of the hammock. Realizing my error, I tried to open
the foot-side zipper and it "slipped", with almost a foot of
bugnet offset between the top and bottom. Unfortunately I
did not have the presence of mind to take a photo. I was able to
partially repair it by pulling laterally on the zipper, and then
repaired it the rest of the way by opening the foot side past
the offset point. Bottom line: zippers are not
invulnerable, and one needs to use them with some care.
I have spent many comfortable nights in the Hennessy Jungle
Explorer Zip during the last two months:
Date |
Location |
Trail |
Distance |
Altitude |
Weather |
August 29-30, 2016 |
Goat Rocks Wilderness, Washington State |
Goat Rocks Loop |
14 miles (23 km) |
4500-6670 ft (1480-2190 m) |
50-70 F (10-21 C) sunny, windy |
October 4-6, 2016 |
Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness | Aravaipa Canyon |
21 miles (34 km) |
2550-3400 ft (840-1115 m) |
43-80 F (6-27 C) sunny |
This is a hike I've had my eye on for several years, and since
I had my Jeep with me during my August trip to Portland, Oregon
I headed out to the trail for an overnight camp. I had a
little difficulty finding the trailhead, but still managed to
get a reasonably early start.
I did the loop clockwise, and camped a few miles after visiting
Goat Lake. It was a beautiful campsite with good trees for
hanging the hammock. I spent a restful evening reading in
the hammock after dinner. One nice thing about sleeping in
hammocks is they prop your head up enough that with a few
clothes bunched up for a pillow, I find I can read very
comfortably. The night was a little warmer than I had
experienced recently due to the lower altitude, and I was plenty
warm all night long. As always, the hammock packed up
quickly and easily the next morning, and I had an enjoyable hike
out to my Jeep.
I did notice on this outing that the elastic cord and mitten
hook for attaching the foot end of the pad to the hammock had
gone missing. I'd had to retie it several times, but this
time I must have lost it for good. The pad stayed in place
without it reasonably well, but clearly a more secure attachment
is called for. I was able to improvise when I returned
home and made a replacement part from a short piece of cordage
and a small S-biner.
This two-night trip was my first in Arizona in several
months. It is along a perennial creek, and as I expected
the bugs (flies mostly) were pretty bad. Though trees are
abundant along the trail, I had to search around a bit to find
two that were the right distance apart, and not too big in
diameter to hang the hammock. Some of the cottonwoods
along the creek are huge, and the ridgeline rope simply was not
long enough to attach to both ends of the tree straps, but I
eventually found a spot each night to camp. The
photo below shows my campsite on night two, with the creek in
the background:
This campsite photo shows one of the advantages of hammock
camping - no way could I pitch a tent at this scenic spot!
I was nice and toasty at night on this trip, in fact I used my
sleeping bag as a quilt on both nights, not zipping it up at
all. The temperatures weren't that different from the Goat
Rocks loop, but the humidity is much lower in Arizona.
I finished up my hiking in mid-afternoon on the first two days,
which gave me some time for lounging and reading in the
hammock. It was really nice to be able to tie back the bug
net and drape my legs over the edge, though I did pay for it
with a few mosquito bites.
As an adjunct to this report, I produced a video comparing and
contrasting the bubble pad that came with this hammock with the
"traditional" Hennessy Supershelter, which I have used for the
better part of a decade. To see the video, click on the
following link: click here
for the Supershelter comparison.
The main thing I can add from my Field Report is the loss of
the tie cord and mitten hook for the foot end. I think the
bubble pad could be better secured. I'd also like to
reiterate that the supplied straps are simply too short. I
confirmed this in use across five states!
Overall I am very happy with this hammock, especially with the
comfort and ease-of-use. This model is perhaps a bit
heavier than I would normally carry, so in the future I will use
it mostly for car camping trips.
Thanks to BackpackGearTest.org and Hennessy Hammocks for the
opportunity to contribute to this test.