I"m too old to be sleeping on the ground and crawling out of a tent like its a doghouse. I've only done it once and I'm hooked.
I"m too old to be sleeping on the ground and crawling out of a tent like its a doghouse. I've only done it once and I'm hooked.
I had not been backpacking in many years when my friend asked me if I wanted to do a week-long trip with her. I pulled out my old tent, put the fly on it, sprayed it with water, and it proceeded to rain inside the tent.
Needless to say, it was time to look for new backpacking lodgings. That's when I came across the possibility of hammock camping, and I remembered how horribly uncomfortable I found any sleeping pad I've ever tried. I got myself a Warbonnet blackbird, an UQ and TQ, and after a few test trips and our week out I have not looked back.
I never got that friend to test out my hammock, she always said "Oh no, I can't sleep in a hammock, my neck couldn't tolerate that." We just did a two night trip last month and she finally agreed to try it. She laid in my setup (now a Dutchware Chameleon) for 5 minutes and said, "Wow, I'm surprised at how comfortable I am!" I think she'll eventually join the hammocking ranks. The fact that her new sleeping pad is one of the noisiest I've ever heard will probably push her over the edge.
Age.
Honestly, that's it. I needed a way to sleep outside that wouldn't kill my back and shoulders and hips and neck and... Along came real camping hammocks and suddenly I was a happy boy again!
Before that I would literally wrap myself in a blanket and sit against a tree, dozing and catnapping as I could. Laying down on the ground would ruin me.
Long time tent backpacker. As the years have piled on (turned 53 this year), I noticed that it was getting harder and harder to get a good night's sleep on the ground. So I thought I'd give hammocking a try.
A buddy recommended this site, along with Shug's videos, as the go-to resources for hammocking. Took my new rig (HG Wanderlust kit) out in the WV mountains last weekend, and even though I still have some work to do, it was the best night's sleep on the trail I've had in years!
Shug
Then I realized my old joints didn’t hurt after sleeping in a hammock
Herniated disc & joint pain. plus up out there dirt.
I chose to start hanging because I thought it would be lighter than a tent. Also, I live on the East coast. It seems there is not any flat ground anywhere, that isn’t covered in roots. I still tent camp when bike packing or hiking at elevation where sturdy trees don’t grow.
I started in high school in the late 90s with some sort of Brazilian hammock I bought off of Amazon, thought it would be lighter and more comfortable, liked the idea of getting off the ground and away from creepy crawlers. Fast forward today and I most certainly sleep better in a hammock. I have gone from bridge to gathered end to preferring Amok.
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I have trouble sleeping and went through the hammock rabbit hole after having a bad night's sleep on uneven ground while tent backpacking.
Also, when I was a kid, I always wondered how Gilligan and The Skipper could sleep in a hammock every night.
While deer hunting in WY in 1996, one of our fellow hunters (Vietnam Vet) slept in a homemade camping hammock called the "Stargazer".
He engineered it with a bugnet, spreader bars like the WBRR, and a rainfly you could pull back and forth from inside the hammock without unzipping to either see the stars or protect yourself from the elements.
He made a 1/2 dozen of these "Stargazers" and loaned one to me to try out.
I tried it out, and was hooked. Not only a great design, but the most comfortable night sleep I've had while in the bush.
I had to give it back eventually, and have been pursuing the perfect hammock ever since.
My next foray will be with a DreamHammock coming to me next month, so I can take it out to WY for a shakedown this fall.
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