One thing you wish you would have known when you first started hammock camping?

[Tpatter]

I replaced my old headlamp with a Nitecore NU25. Whoa! It was like getting new glasses. That thing can get super bright and I really like that it is rechargeable from a cord I usually carry for my phone anyhow. No batteries to worry about!

[brutalguyracing]

I replaced my old headlamp with a Nitecore NU25. Whoa! It was like getting new glasses. That thing can get super bright and I really like that it is rechargeable from a cord I usually carry for my phone anyhow. No batteries to worry about!

It's a great light
Love mine
I just swapped out the band for shock cord
The red light is actually usable


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[GilligansWorld]

My .02¢;

That this is a process. Because there are so many variables and so many personal preferences, there truly is no right or wrong way.

This is about you becoming comfortable with a different way of sleeping outdoors. as with anything the more things you try the more informed you become.

Take people's advice with a grain of salt and remember your experience is your standard from then on out.

Listen but be prepared to charge your own path.

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[Semiuseless]

Attachment 184307

This is what I thought a hammock was. A couple of bucks at the Dollar Store and I LIKED IT!

I started in that same kind of net hammock. I used a blue foam mat with the corners cut off to line the hammock, and then wormed my way into my sleeping bag. All under a crinkly blue tarp. The tarp was so noisy, they made me sleep at least 100 yards away. EVERYONE was thrilled when I could afford a nylon tarp, because the noise went WAY down at night, and I was closer to the group.

[flask_ehrlenmeyer]

i'm going to echo the thing about underquilts. i tried to make a pad work for a whole year.

i'm up to two hammocks and two sets of quilts and i think i want more quilts.

i have a 40 degree topquilt and a zero degree topquilt

i have a twenty degree underquilt and a zero degree underquilt.

see the problem here?

i need a forty degree UQ and a twenty degree TQ!

[rhotic]

I lurked these forums so hard before actually going hammock camping that my only regret is not finding out about HF earlier in life before I invested in a tent setup

I'm extremely thankful for all the information on HF about quality cottage vendors and underquilts. I run extremely cold, so finding the right underquilt was a really big deal for me. If you sleep cold, don't mess around with pads. Get a good underquilt!

You can get a really inexpensive lightweight hammock and be happy with it for a long time as long as the insulation is good

[Car Camper]

I wish I would have thought that if you are 6'3" don't expect to just grab an 8 or 9ft hammock and be comfortable.

I also would have not bought a matt and instead would have started saving for the supplies to make my UQ.

[docbrown]

It takes multiple nights of tweaking how you hang your hammock, position underquilts, and lay in the hammock to get it to be truly comfortable. The most comfortable hammock in the world will likely take some getting used to if you're new to hammocking. Give it time.

[Roy_OKC]

I'm expecting my first, ever hammock. It is a WB Ridgerunner.

When you look back, what is one thing you wish you would have known when you first started hammock camping?

I'm also new on HF, about a week in. I ordered a DW Chameleon this past weekend, my first "big boy" hammock. I also have a gifted bearbutt hammock that was enough to make me want to try out a better setup. I did quite a bit of research, have what I think is a decent very general knowledge but at grasshopper-level about the many details.

Already, I was given great advice on here to consider a tarp with some amount of closed ends instead of the hex that I'd planned to get at time of hammock order. I'll hold off on that now until I can make sure that hammocking works for me and pick up a cheap harbor freight tarp for backyard use until then.

I have a quilt that I can use as a TQ maybe down to 30, another that I think I can somehow rig as a temporary UQ to maybe 40, at least at home. If testing works out, I'll at least have to get a better UQ ordered pretty quickly, due to long lead times, for some possible time in the Rockies this summer.

There is so much more I need to learn from here, the Ultimate Hang book, Shug's and others YT videos, etc. With the hammock, I ordered a set of Dutch straps with beetle buckles, maybe there are better options but figured that would get me started. I realize now better than before a week or so ago that I'll need to do a lot of adjusting to find that good lie, then tear down and set back up to get back to that sweet spot. Because there is too much noise in my neighborhood and I'm a light sleeper, I may build a turtledog or similar system to use in the house for a bit to make sure I can sleep well throughout the night. I need to (re)master various knots and hardware so that I can do them quickly without overly thinking when the weather is rubbish, I'm tired and sore from hiking, etc. These are just some of the known unknowns for me, hoping to learn here on these as well as the unknown unknowns.

[AmberG]

I’ll play. I wish I would’ve known that I’d discovered it sooner...and that I’d never sleep in a bed again (if I can help it).