hi! i am new here!
not new to camping heehee.
been using tents for the beginning, and then when offered to "upgrade" manage to start my new hammock life.
at first its just simple hammock, u know for the night... eventually got to try many different types of hammocks
no more tentage!
I have been curious about hanging for awhile but recently got back into backpacking after a long break. I discovered that much of my gear was dry rotted, including my tent so I thought " hammock time"! I have a Dutchware Chameleon which I absolutely love! I've hung in the Shining Rock Wilderness and the Linville gorg with my Dutchie and have no complaints!
Hello, I probably should introduce myself since I've posted about a dozen times. My name is Clyde Watson. (Gained the nickname Doc Watson in college - Sherlock Holmes reference- I'm not a real Dr and I don't play one on TV ;-) ) Grew up in rural/central Maine and went to school in Boston. Living in NH. 1st in the Rochester area and now in the Nashua/Manchester area for 20+ years. I work in the networking field supporting products for monitoring application traffic and threat management. Grew up car camping (tent and RV's) around Moosehead Lake Region in Maine and along Maine's coast from Bar Harbor on South. A buddy had me try hammock car camping last year in a public campground in the White Mountains. Slept better than in a tent on a cot or in an RV. He had just upgraded to an Amock and I used his old Eno and Chill Gorilla tarp. Bought my own setup on the cheap from Amazon this spring and been out about 5 times this year and loving it. I wasn't going to sign up, but I had too in order to see several of the pictures in the threads.
I am cheap... er I mean 'frugal' when it comes to my camping & fishing gear (well actually most things). I've found that you don't have to spend a lot of money on name brands or high end 'stuff' to enjoy yourself. And that's what I'm doing. Going out to enjoy myself.
This year I've been trying to find places close to home in the White Mountains that is free camping and discovering that I've been spoiled growing up in Maine. Where I could just head to 'paper country' and pull off and camp most anywhere for free. Camped many times in old logging road gravel pits that have grassed over. Such places don't seem to exist or are hard to find in NH. So far, I've been trying to check out 'remote' campsites that are within a couple miles from trailheads. I know I pack too much stuff and my frugal equipment isn't the lightest. (I've packed a cast iron griddle into a campsite to cook a steak and then pancakes for breakfast.)
So far my biggest issue hammock camping is being too hot sleeping. I'm usually hot anyways. Last weekend was probably the best. I was at our family camp in Maine and instead of sleeping in the camp, I put up the hammock between two trees near shore and slept there with a 20* under quilt and a Sea to Summit CoolMax sleeping bag liner - but I was still a little warm (high 60's/low 70's at night).
Anyhow, thank you for letting me join the forum, I also joined the FB counterpart of this site.
- Clyde
I asked my kids several years ago, "What is one thing you would want to do, just with me?" One of my sons replied, "I want to go backpacking!" I had never done that before, so we made our plans, borrowed gear, packed way, way too much and headed out on the AT 9 years ago. The errors were comedic, but we survived! That begun a love of being on the trail, collecting our own gear, researching and finally getting into hammocks. My son ended up doing a thru hike (AT) in 2015 starting with his homemade double layer and then switching to a netted hammock about halfway through (Hammeck). Personally, the comfort and support you get in a hammock is superior than other alternatives. The gentle sway is also quite nice!
"Walking is man's best medicine." - Hippocrates
Ive done a lot of tenting. Car, family... I just don't sleep on the ground no more. They all like naps in the Hammock.
I'm New here. Learned A Lot Reading..!
Looking for some long Hikes 2 years out.
Heyo
I got into hammocking through slacklining. Friends of mine kept sleeping in them on our slackline outings, where a lot of the pack is filled with webbing and other gear, so having a lightweight option to sleep in was great, especially in tricky terrain.
I've since fallen in love with hammocks and have installed several options to hang them in the house I share with friends. Inside and outside. I get the feeling I am a little less of a hammock gear nerd than many of the users here, happy with my low-tech Ticket to the Moon hammocks, simply because I want to lounge around in them during the day too. Also found out that it is really fun to hang them off highlines. You may have seen some of the silly hammock-highlines up in the mountains.
I live in Switzerland, close to Berne. Hammocks are part of most trips. Mostly venture out into nature on my bycicle or by public transport.
Glad to be part of the conversation here. Looking forward to learn a thing or two about other hammock types.
Last edited by Saves; 07-28-2019 at 10:03. Reason: typos
Howdy,
For most of my life I have camped out of necessity for hunting, fishing, or mountain biking excursions. I have done some family recreational camping, but in every instance I was still just "roughing it". I owned some generalized, inexpensive gear (tents, sleeping bags, regular accoutrement) gathered from Wal-Mart and chain sporting goods stores. I had heard about people sleeping in hammocks, but quickly decided that wasn't for me...I needed walls. Until recently during a group camping trip with our church, where I decided to rough it with the guys, did I actually camp with some hammockers. I got to really inspecting their setup and, being somewhat of a "gear junkie", got really intrigued. So, upon returning from this trip I bought an inexpensive hammock and tarp from Amazon to start playing with this whole hammock thing. I made the mistake of Googling "hammock tips" and stumbling upon Shug's YT channel... It's really been all downhill from there and that's the beginning of my mental illness. Over the past year I've come to acquire multiple hammocks and tarps, and simultaneously a divorce-threatening amount of other backpacking gear!! It took one night sleeping in a cheap hammock for me to ditch the tent and everything associated with it. I have an obsession...well, at least I can live in my hobby gear when I get kicked out of the house!!
"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: What! You too? I thought I was the only one."
- C.S. Lewis
FIRST POST- Hay all...
I teach high school special ed in central NY, married, 4 grown children, 7 grands, and just turned 60 yy (years young). My grandmother, who lived to be 96, said she was still 18 between her ears. I'm keeping that in my mind.
Taking off this morning on my first extended hang; where there will be no backup. My interest started sleeping in our rope hammock by the lake...I sleep there any time I can now and have acquired a basic hang... although I did get a Winterdream tarp for Adirondack camping.
I leave in a half hour to kayak for a week with two friends in the ADKs! Excited!
Glad to see this forum and be a part of it. Pics at the end of the week.
"18, Til I die!" B Adams
Bought an ENO a long time ago and enjoyed it for relaxing at camp or in the backyard. Didn't find out hammock camping until a few years ago. So glad I found it since it is the best night's sleep I have gotten out camping.
My buddy tried hammocks and at first his set up looked so cold and terible. While I stuck to tent camping, he was determined to get the proper set up.
After about a year of trial and error I noticed that all his gear was becoming more and more light weight, I began to become very curious and asking him about what each component was and what it was used for. I was lucky in the fact that I didn't have to go through terrible nights hanging to get the right setup.
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