Time to add one to the post count with the hello world post. My story so far...
Camped on and off through my teens, mostly gave it up during college but came back to it as a 20-something. When the kids were real young, we'd do a fair amount of car (actually pickup truck) camping. Work and other busyness kept us out of the woods for a while until I realized I was in my mid-40s and hadn't spent the night in the woods in forever, so started heading out again, this time slightly differently.
Seeking an antidote to a hectic job, I struck out with very minimal backpacking gear during the relatively mild Georgia winters. When I say minimal, I mean a small backpack, an army poncho and a sleeping bag. I didn't know what lightweight was, but I wanted to see how little I could get away with. My evolution has thus been from lighter to heavier instead of the other way around. I'll condense about 3 years into a couple of paragraphs here.
Sleeping in the bag on the bare ground with a poncho strung up overhead was fun for a while. I made some alcohol stoves and had a great time, but got pretty cold in February, so I started adding things. I got a blue CCF pad and learned that it made me much warmer. I got a cheap tarp and found out it's much better than a poncho, or at least more versatile. I ditched the alcohol stoves for a canister stove. I sought comfort.
I found I loved tarp camping....until the bugs came out in the spring. So I got a small tent. That worked to keep the bugs off because I could enclose myself in with a zipped shut bug net door, but as the weather warmed up, I learned that tents are hot and block the view and they're heavier than a tarp.
The last time I went tarp camping I was very uncomfortable: the bugs drove me crazy, the ground was hard, the roots grew during the night and moved around under me no matter where I lay. I came back home and started reading about hammocks.
Then serendipity struck. I won a bit of cash in a contest at work and knew what I had to do: buy a hammock since this was fun money and thus off the budget. I've found that my Hennessey Expedition was probably a pretty good choice for a first hammock, but I can guarantee you it won't be the last. The hammock is not as comfortable as my bed, but until they invent some sort of Tardis style backpack that lets me take my bed into the woods, the hammock looks like the best bet to get me off that ground that's become too hard and uncomfortable since my age has stubbornly continued to increase and my body lets me know it.
Thus I find myself somehow with a 5 as the first digit in my age, literally hanging out in the woods (and tonite in my back yard) trying to find that golden mean that gives me comfort, with minimal gear. The pendulum is swinging back towards less gear, alcohol stoves, and so forth, but I've decided that within those parameters I'm going to find the best comfort compromise I can.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a rainfly to put up since there's a 60 percent chance of a thunderstorm tonite - perfect!
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Originally Posted by 2ply
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