Would have never thought

[Longwinters]

Just getting back into backpacking/camping after 40+years. Started out tent camping but with age came stiff/sore knees, hip and shoulder. So just got into hammocking. I thought it would be easier to find trees than flat spots for a tent. What I found is that it’s all relative. With 3 of us finding suitable tent sites (for 3 tents) was not always easy and trees seemed to abound. Now when all 3 of us switched to hammocks (for 3 hammocks) suitable trees are not always easy to find. Especially in areas where you have to reserve sites sight unseen.
Nothing is ever easy. Lol

[cmoulder]

Just getting back into backpacking/camping after 40+years. Started out tent camping but with age came stiff/sore knees, hip and shoulder. So just got into hammocking. I thought it would be easier to find trees than flat spots for a tent. What I found is that it’s all relative. With 3 of us finding suitable tent sites (for 3 tents) was not always easy and trees seemed to abound. Now when all 3 of us switched to hammocks (for 3 hammocks) suitable trees are not always easy to find. Especially in areas where you have to reserve sites sight unseen.
Nothing is ever easy. Lol

Perhaps this is why people who car camp seem to revert to Tensahedron and other external frame solutions for no-tree venues.

As a primarily (99.74%) backpacker doing dispersed/stealth camping at least a few miles into the woods, this is rarely a problem. Also don't have the running/screaming kids, generators, kleiglights, late-night parties, and some guy learning guitar who repeats the same 3 chords 3,278 times.

[Longwinters]

We don’t car camp but are on designated hiking trails that get a lot of hiker traffic.

[Dvankirk]

I noticed a lot of people still look for "tent" sites when they start hammocking. For a hammock, the spot doesn't need to be level or completely clear. To me, finding a site that hasn't been cleared helps me uphold the leave no trace philosophy. I'm not saying that you need to climb over some bushes or hang over jagged rocks, but hanging over a less than perfect site can be done if you make sure that everything is secured well.

[jeff-oh]

Please stop I would like to hang my hammock here.
default.jpg

[PirateDude]

.. and some guy learning guitar who repeats the same 3 chords 3,278 times.

That guy has been following me around for years!

[cmoulder]

That guy has been following me around for years!

There's a cure for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs

[PirateDude]

There's a cure for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs

Yeah thanks for the reminder! Just pulled my toga from the closet and cued up some Belushi & Aykroyd. Time for some water boiling tests on my new alcohol stove

[ObdewlaX]

There's a cure for that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V_hCqO6UQs

Classic

[cougarmeat]

When I first started using a hammock I thought, “How hard can it be; there are trees everywhere.” Then I discovered they had to be a certain distance apart. And preferably not covered with sap. And not dead, and not have widow makers. And then there was nature’s trick of putting a third tree/bush between two good candidates such that the in-between tree would interfere with the tarp.

And at campgrounds, they clear the site for a tent but leave trees as a boundary between two sites. So if you use those trees, you are encroaching pretty close to another party’s camp area.

But I did finally realize, when car camping, that I didn’t need two trees. I just needed one tree at the right distance from the car. I could attach to that tree and the luggage rack on the car. If two people don’t mind sleeping side by side, they can use the same tree or trees. Covering both with one tarp might be a little challenge. But “easy” isn’t part of the equation for why I sleep outside.