Are we no longer “special”?

At traildays this year (07) I walked through the campgrounds counting hammocks, I counted 25 counting 1 that left Friday PM & 1 that left Sat PM. I counted just before the Billville “useless gear” contest started.
I know of at least 8 converted to “the way” @ TD, AND it seems to me, the membership here & on Ed’s site is growing rather briskly.
I do not “Preach” but if asked, I will expound the benefits. I did show my work partner the campsite selection benefits @ RRG a few weekends ago. The West part of the Osborne loop trail has almost NO tent campsites till you get about 1 mile from the road, I had no problem, Matt & his nephew had to look & look & look (etc), I finally got tired & set up camp, they went another ½ - ¾ mile & found a sloping but “Ok” site. There is an ENO w tarp & netting in Sportsman’s guide for under $200.00 & a Hennesy for about the same price, so he is looking. I may have also converted his 16 YO nephew

So, after all the above chatter: does anyone else think we hangers are growing at a phenomenal rate? Well, maybe not a phenomenal rate, but rather quickly nevertheless. Seems to me that only a few years ago someone (don’t know who, can’t find it) on White Blaze said that “I’d be surprised if we got to 5%” I nodded my head & thought that seemed right, now I’m not so sure we won’t pass that by quite a lot, & soon.

I am glad, but in a way I am sad, I liked being “Special”. But, if you have a good thing, share. I’m going to push Matt over the edge, going to loan him my spare hammock over the weekend to try a night in the air. I am soooo bad. :D


Doctari.

From the perspective of one of the converts you speak of at TD; I think the ground dwellers are trying to swallow all the crow they've been spewing about hangers for a lot of years.

I used to think they (hangers) were crazy when I was hiking in Colorado. "Special" was often replaced by "Freak". But, how long can you knock something that makes so much sense. I laugh about how ignorant I was of this "movement", but you only have to try it once to get hooked.

Everybody here can blame Rockstar, Hammock Engineer, Doctari, and Ghost93 for me being here. Rockstar told me about HF on WB; Ghost93 was the first hanger to speak to me at TD; Doctari took me to the hanging area to show me some set-ups; and HE sold me my first real hammock.

It's going to be awfully difficult to stay a "cult" when you have so many ambassadors out there spreading the word to idiots like me who they find wandering around campgrounds with a beer and a sore back.:D

Even my wife, who has refused to try sleeping in a hammock, made the comment that maybe it was time for her to try it out. This epiphany came from when she and my niece were sleeping in a tent while I was hanging in my hammock. They constantly were sliding down in the tent because of their sloping camp site and she woke up complaining about her back and neck. I told her my back felt great and I had a very comfortable night. She said, " Maybe I will try a hammock next time."

The last time we camped as a family I told them all that my camping days may be over unless I find a way to sleep. Laying on the ground was tough on my old bones. The choices were to give up completely or find something different.

Thanks to the information here and at WB, I found it.

TWS

* My wife now wants one (+1), my niece (+2) and my younger brother (+3).

Four season hanging and hammocking in general is definately growing...

Pan

Oh, you know as soon as I tied up my Hennessy, it hit the mainstream. The days are officially numbered to when you'll hear, "You sleep on the dirt? With the bugs?"

I thought most of us were already "special" :D :eek: :D

I thought most of us were already "special" :D :eek: :D

Just during the Olympics. :p :D

I think that there are still a few problems to solve before hammock camping replaces the family tent. They're easy to solve but I don't think there are commercial "solutions" that the average consumer can buy at their local megastore.

Hammocks are certainly becoming more common with the solo camper, even a solo camper in a group setting, but not so much with families.

Many family campgrounds are optimized for trailer and tent car camping with flat ground and open spaces. I'm heading out on my vacation tonight and have to take along a go-to-ground solution to deal with whatever I might find on the way.

Anybody want to market a portable change room that hangs from your hammock line? Yeah, I know you can change in your hammock, but what about getting out of your wet bathing suit at a KOA?

Anybody want to market a common shelter system so the family can hang out under the same roof for sleeping, changing, bugs, and bad weather? Maybe a 12x12 kitchen tent that doubles as a family hammock stand?

Anybody want to market a portable change room that hangs from your hammock line? Yeah, I know you can change in your hammock, but what about getting out of your wet bathing suit at a KOA?



If you're car camping then you always have the option of using this (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat20075-cat20097&id=0032659590796a&navCount=1&podId=0032659&parentId=cat20097&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20097&hasJS=true) from Cabela's. Not all that expensive and plenty of room inside for changing showering, etc.

Plus i've always been under the impression that the hammocks were always more for hiking than car camping. A hammock is a light solution to comfortable sleeping which is perfect for hikers and leave no trace people, but when weight is not an issue it's probably more effective to stick to a large tent.

When the word mainstream is used in this thread I don't think it's such as: "hey kids let's go to wal-mart and pick up some hammocks to "rough it" at a campground, but more like people who predominantly buy north face gear and drive hybrids...

i think we'll be seeing hammock stands for 2 or more hammocks sooner or later... commercially available that is.
i can easily see mom & dad side by side on a double hammock stand & the kids on an expandable hammock stand, made to support 2-5 hammocks.
all this in a cabin style tent w/ a divider between the two rooms for kids & adults.
they already make tents that big, we just need hammock stands that are user friendly enough to not take the fun out of it (no pipe wrenches please)<g>.

I am the lone hammocker in my area. I was thinking of going to a hammock get together so I knew there were "others". I am new here ( is there a place to go to introduce yourself?). Liam aka tanpuma

Welcome Tanpuma,
There are always campouts being planned around. You might have to travel a bit, but look around the site and see when the next "hang" will be.

We're still "special" however you cut it. Hammocks may have moved from "cult" to "niche" but they're still a ways from "generally accepted."

Consider the following list of companies:

Big Agnes
Black Diamond
Eureka!
MSR
Sierra Designs
The North Face

When you see a few of these 6 companies producing a camping hammock and it actually makes the Backbreaker magazine annual gear guide then you can say we no longer have to ride the short bus.

As it now stands makers of hammocks and accessories are supporting players, who may have graduated from cottage industry to niche manufacturer but are still the tiniest blip on the market radar. Hanging is still pointed to as evidence of being "eccentric" or "quirky." When the mainstream press starts referring to us as "cutting edge" or "early adopters" then you'll know the wave has broken.

I bet I could use a JRB Tarptent with my hammock stand with hardly any modification. Or with a big cabin tent, the hammock stand would fit inside.

I've been thinking that, when we get an RV around retirement time, I'm gonna screw some swing-out brackets into the side for a ready-made hammock stand.

I agree with seuss - the numbers are growing but the big manufacturers aren't carrying them yet.

We're still "special" however you cut it. Hammocks may have moved from "cult" to "niche" but they're still a ways from "generally accepted."

Consider the following list of companies:

Big Agnes
Black Diamond
Eureka!
MSR
Sierra Designs
The North Face

When you see a few of these 6 companies producing a camping hammock and it actually makes the Backbreaker magazine annual gear guide then you can say we no longer have to ride the short bus.

As it now stands makers of hammocks and accessories are supporting players, who may have graduated from cottage industry to niche manufacturer but are still the tiniest blip on the market radar. Hanging is still pointed to as evidence of being "eccentric" or "quirky." When the mainstream press starts referring to us as "cutting edge" or "early adopters" then you'll know the wave has broken.

Personally I'd just as soon the "big names" completely miss the hammock trend and I wouldn't mind if they never sold a hammock :D

That way, the small companies, even Hennessy, will get bigger slices of a bigger pie and will be rewarded for being there when it wasn't the "next big thing".

I like being able to call the manufacturer and talking to a real human being instead of listening to some crazy rock band for an interminable period. I'm the customer and my time is just as valuable to me as theirs is to them.

I know, I know, if the small get big, then they use the rock bands also, but until then I'll enjoy what we have.

...

I've been thinking that, when we get an RV around retirement time, I'm gonna screw some swing-out brackets into the side for a ready-made hammock stand.

...

Man that AF retirement sounds pretty good if you'll be able to afford gas at a gazillion $ per gallon :D

Heh - well, the retirement will pay enough for me to hike. I'll have to get another job when it's time to buy the RV, I reckon...and since that's the only way the wife will come along, I'll have to figure out a way to pay for gas! As long as I have a place for my hammock.

Or maybe I should tell her, "It's YOUR RV...I didn't even WANT the thing...so YOU pay for the gas!" :D Or maybe not...

Or maybe I should tell her, "It's YOUR RV...I didn't even WANT the thing...so YOU pay for the gas!" :D Or maybe not...

I wonder how long you would have to wait at the end of the trail for her to pick you up after you said that :eek: :D

IAnybody want to market a portable change room that hangs from your hammock line? Yeah, I know you can change in your hammock, but what about getting out of your wet bathing suit at a KOA?

You may be able to change in your hammock, but how about getting out in your Kilt? Sorry Doctari, I just had to say that :)

As every female learns early on, the trick is to keep your legs together and tuck the material around each side. If you move your legs together in one move, then it is possible to stay modest in many unusual circumstances.

Then again, I think it must be amusing to watch the male of the species try to maintain modesty when he isn't used to doing so:D

On the hammock camping group there was a lot of talk about "lungi's" a while back. Might be worth looking into. Maybe someone could look into making a hammock sock, out of some real light dark material, that would double as a lungi.
Google "lungi" to find out more.

when i began camping in a hammock 30yrs ago nobody in my neck of the woods used them...every time i put one up it drew flack from the other campers....today..when i say i camp in a hammock...they just say" oh i have heard of doing that..sounds like a great idea.."" thus begins a 2 hr talk on the joys of hanging... who knew we were the wave of the future

Plus i've always been under the impression that the hammocks were always more for hiking than car camping. A hammock is a light solution to comfortable sleeping which is perfect for hikers and leave no trace people, but when weight is not an issue it's probably more effective to stick to a large tent.

I do it for comfort, not weight. I actually have to carry more weight, currently, to hammock than I did to lay on the ground. I had spent years getting all of the lightweight stuff, and now I'm having to start over. I had a 23 ounce tent, a 5.9 ounce pad and a 24 ounce sleeping bag. I'm nowhere near that level of weight yet for sleeping at as low of a temp. I've been in that earlier rig down as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. I can't do that in the HH yet, and when I do, it'll weigh more.

I showed a friend my HH Explorer. I let him lay in it for only a few minutes one Saturday and now he has his own HH Desert Rat. I made a hammock and then ended up giving it to my brother after he slept one night in it and wanted to know where he could get one. I just made another DIY hammock for myself. If I can get my dad into a hammock I am sure I could get him out of his tent.
The fact that people look at us as "special" or "eccentric" or whatever is FINE with me! :) I would rather be comfortable and weird than chiding and making fun while struggling with a back/shoulder/hip ache.

I definitely hammock camp for comfort. I am always amazed at how good Ive slept when I wake up in my hammock. It took me awhile to figure out how to get comfortable, but once i found that place.... its darn near perfect.

We (my son, two of his friends and I) were in a commercial campground in Myrtle Beach this weekend with all four of us hanging. (State park messed up our reservations for primative area)
We did set up a small tent to change in and hold our "stuff".
We had many people "look" and look some more.. ask alot of questions and the such... Man!. did we feel "special" :) But we still had a good time...kinda warm though...

We (my son, two of his friends and I) were in a commercial campground in Myrtle Beach this weekend with all four of us hanging. (State park messed up our reservations for primative area)
We did set up a small tent to change in and hold our "stuff".
We had many people "look" and look some more.. ask alot of questions and the such... Man!. did we feel "special" :) But we still had a good time...kinda warm though...

i guess they let you hang from the trees w/ no problem. that's good to know.

I only know of 5 people that actually backpack in my county of 45,000. Hiking, and especially backpacking, is pretty rare in my neck of the woods, even though we've got the local trails. Out of those 5, two of us are hammockers, and I think another has had a Hennessy for several years.

i guess they let you hang from the trees w/ no problem. that's good to know.

Actually, it did not appear to be a problem. They do not allow rope to be tied (in the form of a clothesline ) A few managment types did stop by at one point but seemed to be more on a fact finding mission than a wrist slapping mission. I made sure to talk up the straps and they seemed to be satisfied.

I had one gentleman stop and spend about and hour asking questions, looking at the hammocks and watching us fix dinner "in" the fire etc. When he left, I had to visit the restroom and I kinda had to walk his direction. He proceeded in going a few sites up and go in the $500,000.00 version of the "Taj" on wheels! :eek:

Could not figure that one out...;)