Let's Be Honest: Going To Ground While Backpacking

[TominMN]

I'll admit that I sometimes sleep on the ground. I'm actually usually pretty comfortable doing so. That's in a &^$& (four-letter word redacted so as not to offend sensitive ears) and with my wife. BUT, when I have planned to sleep in a hammock, I've always done so. The appeal of a hammock to me is being clean, dry, comfortable (with little thought to what the ground is like under me), and minimal impact on the environment. Not to say that I can't stay dry on the ground! I've never encountered circumstances that required me to put a hammock on the ground or not use it.

[Rex Clifton]

Five years for me and never happened. On not so we'll traveled trails I carry a saw, and I've been forced to do some pruning, but never had to go to ground. That being said, I have hung in some weird places.

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[Latherdome]

When I was a backpacker, I wasn't a hammocker, so hard to give a straight answer. Since taking to a hammock, I have foregone my ground-based sleeping gear entirely, as too miserable. Gave up a bed at home for that matter. Travel on a bicycle or motorbike: I have had to search long for suitable trees, once using satellite views in Nevada. I've also stayed at campgrounds thick with trees, but where camping off the provided pad was prohibited. Sometimes I have been forced indoors by not allowing myself enough time to find a suitable campsite. In both these latter cases I'm happy to have had my stand with me. Even if I could find trees, it's nice knowing you don't have to!

[zukiguy]

Every Noob on the forums asks that same question in one fashion or another. I always find it strange since they're the ones most recently coming into this setup from already sleeping on the ground. What did you do before you hammocked??? You had a tarp, bag, and some kind of ground pad or maybe actually stayed in a tent.

I plan to stay in a hammock and barring some catastrophic gear failure I always do (never gone to ground). There have been a few recent trips where it made more sense from a weight/bulk and environment perspective to sleep in a tent with my kids. Sandbars aren't the greatest places to hammock. However, rocky hillsides or marshlands aren't the nicest places to tent so you just have to pack for the environment.

I've been on at least one trip now where the wind was so bad I wished I weren't using a tarp. Even rigged as low to the ground as I could get the tarp still flapped against me all night as the rain pounded. I still managed to stay warm/dry but didn't get a lot of sleep. Next morning my buddy in his mountaineering tent barely knew it had stormed (yeah, I was a little jealous then).

Get good gear and learn how to use it then don't worry about the ground....HYOH.

[trouthunter]

I only backpack / camp in the southeast (heavily forrested) and have never had to hammock on the ground.
In fact a lot of places I go to are cypress wetlands and the ground is sometimes muddy & covered with cypress knees growing up through the ground, so you can't sleep on the ground anyway unless you seek out a mixed hardwood forrest at slightly higher elevation.

I say this because I think knowing your environment makes a huge difference in the quality of your decisions related to picking a campsite.

So I've never had a lack of trees, or left my suspension at home, etc.

[ChrisJHC]

I have an upcoming trip where 3 or 4 nights of the 15 there will be no trees at my designated stopping place.
I have the choice of carrying extra equipment to have a more comfortable ground experience OR changing my plans slightly to find a spot within a couple of km where I can hang.
In this case my itinerary is very dependent on water so I don’t have a lot of flexibility.

It’s a little hard to find hanging spots here:

[100 Ton]

Happened to me twice in 15 years. Once my own doing when a repair that I made to my hammock failed (I sewed a large patch on the bottom of the hammock that my pup chewed in it, and I was a newbie with the thread injector back then). The other time was at Isle Royale National Park back in 2004. First day on the trail and our group of 4 decided we had enough for one day and grabbed at campsite that was not hammock friendly. I'm sure I could have bushwhacked and found a spot, so I wouldn't say I was technically forced to ground. It was not a great night, but we managed. I had a GVP G4 pack that utilized about a 4 foot square of 1/2" blue foam folded up as the frame, and I unfolded it and slept on that on top of a slab of granite. Rained all night, but I stayed dry under the tarp. 3 of the 4 of us were hangers, and we had no problem finding a place to hang the rest of that trip.

[JmBoh]

I haven't been "forced" to ground yet. I've tented by choice or because of camp restrictions though.

[Vanhalo]

New-ish hammocker (hammockist?) here. Car camping is one thing, but I'm planning on getting into backpacking sooner than later.

BE HONEST: How often are you guys/gals being forced to ground with your tarp in places where you can't find the right trees?

The camping hammock changed my life.

It would ruin my trip to sleep on the ground.

[MAD777]

Never in 10 years between Florida, New England & Texas. Usually a somewhat lengthy search is required to find a suitable pair of trees, but they are there. Also, I have been using the lightest weight materials for hammock & suspension with no failures (if you don't consider sitting in my underquilt a failure, LOL).

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