What's up everyone? I've been on this forum for awhile but I've stayed quiet mostly because I never have time to jump on. I have a few pics on my gallery of my setups but that's about it so far.

BUT...

I love hammocks. I think I spend most of my down time researching different methods of...well.... everything! Tarps, knots, suspension, you name it.

A little about me:
I work in finance, and am studying for the CFA exams which monopolizes most of my time. But in my off time, I can be found spending time outside and tinkering with my hammock gear.

I got into backpacking years ago. I grew up car camping, as my family used to pack two cars full of every piece of camping gear imaginable to go spend a week in a campsite at a state park here in Illinois. None of my family members had ever backpacked before (as a matter of fact some of my family members think it's outright dangerous). Guess that was extra motivation lol. But there was something about the nomadic style of camping that caught my attention. That and the fact that I could haul in gear to a place a car could not reach and see different scenery at camp every day. I love it.

I slowly assembled a ton of gear, way more than I needed. But I've learned through experience over the years what is a necessity, a want, and what I can reasonably justify carrying. I'll never forget my first 5 day trip to the Porcupine Mountains of Michigan in the UP, with a 60lb pack that almost killed me out there. That was by far the most painful trip, but I made great memories and learned a lot.

I started out tent camping. Used a 2 person kelty salida 2 which weighs in at about 4.5lbs. Dropped down to a special edition Big Agnes Windy Point 1 person tent that was about 3 lbs. Still have both and use them when the occasion calls.

Then I got the chance to try a hammock and my whole perspective of camping changed. I realized tents and tarps are basically the same thing when I thought tarps were such a foriegn world to me.

I got some cheap hammocks and tarps, messed with each a lot. Learned about all the different types of suspensions and methods, pros and cons to each. I learned about going to the ground when needed. I learned to lighten my load. I learned about dyneema cordage and how to splice (and I'm way too addicted to that now!). I learned about all of the different brands of cottage vendors and what each one brings to the table.

Needless to say, tenting and hammock camping have both taught me a lot. I've gone through a few different setups and now I rock a 12x10 tarp, a ducthware netless hammock with the fronkey bugnet, and the hammock gear incubator. I have a lot of plans to upgrade my backpack, my hammock (I'd love a chameleon one day, works really well for going to the ground if needed), and would love to one day get a top quilt (I'm still using sleeping bags from my tenting days, and they are nice sleeping bags so that will probably be the last thing on my list.

Once I'm done with all three CFA exams I'm hoping I'll have more time and money for backpacking, but until then I'll only be able to swing some short trips here in the midwest. There are a few places I frequent in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And I have my gear/pack list really dialed in right now so planning is east. Lighterpack.com is a big help with that.

I do have a YouTube channel if anyone is interested. It doesn't have a lot of hammock camping on it...yet (a lot of the videos are my tenting and early hammock days) because I just didn't film much on recent trips. But enjoy if you are interested. I started out thinking YouTube was gonna be my thing, but now I only put up videos of my trips so me and my friends who go with me can look back on the memories. (Please don't laugh, some of my commentary on there is cringey lol). There is also a link on the channel to my instagram. Here's a link to the channel:
https://youtube.com/c/EscapingTheCity

Anyways, thanks for reading this long autobiography, and I can't wait to participate a bit more on the forum here!