"I started before you"

**Peter_pan** · 12-08-2015, 11:24

Smiling fondly at this thread....

Note: except for Gunner76 who joined in 2009...all poster are 2012-1015...The odds are you will meet many who "started earlier"... And like most who visit HF who come to enjoy HF and all things hammock, it is likely everyone of us will at some point annoy someone with this favorite subject.

Pan

**OneClick** · 12-08-2015, 11:43

Originally Posted by TallPaul

markr6 - it's cold enough for you to be in the woods?

LOL! Absolutely not!! I'm patiently waiting for El Nino to give it up. I don't think it's going to happen though

I should have some free time in January...I'm heading out either way.

To be clear, noone ever got snooty with me. It was just something I noticed people say, like it was a standard response or something. I always enjoy checking out other peoples rigs.

**ccartertn** · 12-08-2015, 12:14

I invented Hammocks

**sidvicious** · 12-08-2015, 12:22

i know of what you speak but i've not run into very much of it. our specialty outdoor stores started getting eno hammocks about 6 years ago, i'm estimating.

i hear more of "oh; i camp in a hammock"; only to find it's the car-camp-eno thing.

i see a few tenters, younger and eager [mid 30's and below], that look at me as if i'm a secessionist. they don't quite seem to get it that i don't camp in "sites". at the trailhead the question is always "where'd you camp?"

when i answer i try to be sensitive to what they want to do. problem is, you can't camp off trail/site in a tent in most of my stomping ground. i gently try to save them some misery without appearing arrogant. most are good spirited. i'm also sensitive to those that have their gals with them.

i do give them water advice. i always ask them if they've actually used their filter, before suggesting they can shed some weight and water up on down the trail. they seem appreciative. at the same time i can see that they'd never considered it.

but i've not yet run into the hammock jockey that wants to engage in a bathroom urinal contest.

but one thing that i have noticed. in our specialty stores the workers there seem a bit contemptuous and/or intimidated because i backpack with a hammock. part of it is that i don't buy the big ticket gear items from them [we all know why that is...]. the other part of it is pure animal envy; its easy to sense. they try to act knowledgable, pushing eno products and trangia stoves.

we're an odd lot, it seems...or; maybe i'm more than a bit of a prig

sv-

sv-

**sidvicious** · 12-08-2015, 12:24

Originally Posted by locknload

My first hammock was made of stone.

best post award!

**bmwrider** · 12-08-2015, 12:25

I must admit I tell people all the time I haven't slept in a tent for 5 yrs.
But I work at REI so it comes up a lot, I always tell new backpackers its great way to save money and weight when getting started, and far more comfy than the ground, I can't say I did it first because my friend Brian introduced to the idea.

**OneClick** · 12-08-2015, 12:50

Originally Posted by Peter_pan

Smiling fondly at this thread....

Note: except for Gunner76 who joined in 2009...all poster are 2012-1015...The odds are you will meet many who "started earlier"... And like most who visit HF who come to enjoy HF and all things hammock, it is likely everyone of us will at some point annoy someone with this favorite subject.

Pan

Yes that's the point. No matter how seasoned, some people just seem to have that "I started before it was popular" phrase canned and ready to go within the first few seconds to talking.

I also don't look at:
1. Post counts: for example, 80% of mine personally are BS anyway
2. Some people I've met are on here, but never sign in or signed up years after starting

**Dead Man** · 12-08-2015, 13:07

My hammock can beat up your hammock....

Just gotta laugh people. Ain't life grand?

**Gravity** · 12-08-2015, 13:09

Originally Posted by Peter_pan

... Note: except for Gunner76 who joined in 2009...all poster are 2012-1015...
Pan

Well, there was life before Hammock Forums... I only joined in 2013, but in 1979 I spent half the year sleeping in a hammock (remote farm in Venezuela).... before it was cool.

**WalksIn2Trees** · 12-08-2015, 13:10

I've never run into hammocking hipsters on the trail, but I've encountered hipsters other places,

I've had to take over for a salesman or two when I happened to be near when a customer asked them about hammocks and they struggled to come up with some kind of pitch to spin at them. Like you guys say, the only hammocking equipment sold by Dicks or Eastern Mountain Sports is ENO, so I always wrap up with a plug for HF. "Check out Hammock Forums, you'll learn more than anyone ever needs to know about hammocking!!"