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A few years ago, my son was in cub scouts and part of the summer camp we attended was for the boys to sleep in the woods in their sleeping bags. It was July in Alabama, so it was insanely hot and humid! A friend suggested that I take his hammock as it would be much cooler and more comfortable than my tent. I was hooked immediately! No more sore back/hips/shoulders! I slowly began to experiment with camping in hammocks. I froze my keister off the first night I camped in 50 degree lows! I only have fairly inexpensive equipment now because I'm buying rigs for five people. I'd much rather have cheap gear and have my family with me! Anyway, I'm so thrilled to be a part of the community! Thanks for adding me!
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A few years ago I was a lot more active in the outdoors but was getting sick of sleeping on the ground. I was forever getting a sore back and could never get a good nights sleep.
I saw that Hennesy was making inroads into the Australian market and decided to give it a go. I had a rather uncomfortable first night in the hammock which also coincided in life taking a somewhat unexpected turn and took me away from my beloved outdoors. fast forward about 5years and I got a second night in, but this time got my hands on a cheap synthetic UQ. I froze my but off yet again. I went back to tent camping because I figured that because I was only getting out for overnighters I could pt up with it. But last year my mind turned again to the hammock sitting in the ceiling space. I have since purchased the 4-season system for the HH and went on another overnighter. This time I was a little warmer (warm enough to get a good sleep) and have since bought the double Bubble pad to add to the arsenal and looking forward to more nights off the ground.
I am now drooling over all manner of other hammocks and hammock related accessories! :)
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Spent a couple decades in miserably humid, buggy Florida. Despite having such breathtakingly beautiful ecosystems, flora, and fauna... tent-camping always hurt my back, hips and shoulders. and was always way too hot. I even tried a bad hammock around 2011, and gave up camping.
Eventually moved to California, and decided to buy a hammock on a whim for downtime at my day job. Upon the initial test after reading pointers, I nailed the hang, the flat diagonal lay, and fell asleep in minutes. I'm bummed I didn't try this 20+ years ago.
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Been into hammock camping and backpacking for probably 4 years. Every other backpacking trip I had been on I just never slept well and always hated sleeping on the ground, getting on the ground, being on your knees in the tent, etc. Got interested in the hang life and haven't looked back, and hey now I actually sleep pretty good when I'm on a trip!
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I think what made me a hanger is I am just so uncomfortable on the ground. I wish I would have tried hanging sooner. I have so much invested in ground camping and the thought of changing up everything to go to hammocks was intimidating. I started watching a lot of Shug's videos the comments of him able to sleep 10-11 hours got me really interested because on the ground I only get 4 or 5 hours sleep, maybe 6 if I'm lucky and all in pain. Heck, even at home if I get 6 hours I'm doing good, 7 hours is great! I also started reading up on a lot of DIY posts and it got me thinking I could try making one with my sailrite which was a challenge by the way, but I learned a lot about that machine. Now that I have a hammock, it is so comfortable, and it feels so good to lay in. One of my favorite things to do is after a good long hike and after the hammock is deployed, just sit and lay in it for a moment. Just feels so good and I don't even want to move. I'm now getting 10-11 hours of sleep a night which never happened before! There was one night I had 10 hours of sleep, and the next day I took three naps or even more because it was raining so much and I couldn't go anywhere and couldn't keep my eyes open in the hammock while reading a book, and I thought I'm screwed and I won't be able to sleep because I slept so well the night before and I slept so much that day, but ended up sleeping like a log for another 11 hours! I woke up early and was so rejuvinated and hiked very fast and was so happy and I just felt great. I'm hooked.
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Same ol story. Trying to alleviate some pain. Jury is still out on whether or not it’s working. It would be 100% better but I’m normally a stomach sleeper.
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A few years ago I found myself about to be homeless. I first shopped for tents, but I also wanted one that was stealthy and that I could afford. Somehow while on YouTube checking out tent reviews I came across hammock camping. What is this? After many hours researching how to hammock camp on the cheap, I bought a $30 hammock with a bug net zipped in from Amazon. One needs a bug net in Florida. I went to Harbor Freight (discount tools and stuff), and got a 10ft x 12ft tarp, a smaller one to cover my bicycle and a 4ft or 5ft x 6ft one for the ground cover. At Walmart I picked up a blue CCF and some paracord along with some useless hardware and camping items that I never used. After one night of hammock camping I was asked to leave by the police. I learned how to scout better locations for my stealth camping urban style as I was asked to leave two more time in 2 years of being a hidden homeless person. I did have a laptop and a fairly decent phone with a few power banks to play games and check the weather. Like many, I use the local libraries to recharge the batteries and download offline stuff.
I was 60 years old when my how-to-be-homeless-and-still-be-comfortable experience started. I figured I just needed to camp until I was 62 to collect my Social Security. Having food stamps really saved my bacon even though I ate some nasty canned food without cooking. It's hard to have any kind of fire if one wants to stay hidden.I went through two $30 hammocks, though I might have been able to use just one, but I learned the hard way not to keep pistachios in the hammock while I was away. Those pesky squirrels ate a hole in the bottom trying to get them. I didn't see the hole through the blue CCF and sleeping bag. I did find the hole when my butt hit the wet ground during the night.
During one winter, it got down into the 30's fahrenheit. I learned how to stay warm on the cheap with an extra sleeping bag and a big plastic drop sheet covering the hammock. It was lame and looked ghetto, but it did work. A top and bottom quilt would have worked a lot better. Fortunately, central Florida is really cold for a week or two if that long. The rest of the year the quilts would sit in storage as I had plenty of warm clothes to get through the cooler nights.
I don't miss being homeless, but I do miss hammock camping. I am currently researching how to hammock camp with my new E-Bike, or I could use the same non-electric Diamondback bicycle I bought new in 2011. I can go a lot further in a day on the E-Bike with dual batteries and I already know how to stealth camp for a day or two if needed. I can't quite see going to a library with 2 huge E-Bike batteries to charge while using their WiFi or reading a book for hours. Maybe have the batteries in a backpack might work.
I am looking to upgrade from the $30 hammock even though I have had some of my best sleep in that hammock. Not having a daisy-chain suspension would be a nice start, as would a real rain fly that packs down small instead of a huge tarp even though that tarp did last longer than 2 years. I recently saw dual layer hammocks. Still wondering if those really help the sleeping pad from shifting.
I joined this forum to aid in my quest to find a new and improved hammocking camping set up and maybe meet some new people along the way.
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Well done! I'm a full time hammock camper/houseless person and about your same age as well. I'm either living off my mtn bike, kayak, or my truck and tiny trailer.
We even have a section for Bikepacking in the "donating members" area. For $10 I think it worth supporting this forum even on my low budget.
This is the cheapest hammock tarp I've seen w/ good reviews
https://hanginghighhammocks.com/coll...mmock-and-tarp
and I'm still rocking a Onewind hammock off Amazon for the last 3+ years of almost constant use. Though I use a SLD (Simply Light Designs) bugnet as it fits way better than the Onewind ones.
Welcome onboard and I hope we hear more from you!
"Sent w/o me knowing"
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Thanks for the tips. It appears you are having way more fun as a houseless person than I was, though we are both better off than most stuck in big cities.
I do like Onewind hammocks and was just about to pull the trigger on the Northers 11' Zipper Double-Layer, until I read the zipper is one way, rather than an easy reach in the middle. Maybe I don't really need a double-layer hammock. I do like the zipper bug nets rather than the crawl under style. I figure, if I can do it, so can bugs. The single layer 11' or 12' with the zipped in bug net may be the way to go.
I will look into the Bikepacking section. I can afford $10 for a good cause.
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Chronic pain. I went camping with a group and someone offered to let me sleep in their hammock. It was the best night of sleep I've possibly ever had.