Are we becoming tent campers?

[te-wa]

while 4 of us "lolly gagged" around our camp(s) with our rigs fully employed a fella and his girl came strolling thru camp on their way to the spring up the trail. The fella stopped at Mike's rig for a moment of pause and then started to ask a few questions about hammocks. His main interest/concern/reply was that "i would hammock, but i can never find trees"
(now remember, there were 4 of us already set up and hanging)
i just gave him a side-ways look, and by his responsive stare back at me i dont think he himself even understood what he just said.

it reminds me of the time when Barry Goldwater commented that once on the South Rim of GC, he watched in amazement as numbers of people turned to watch a polaroid photo develop when the whole canyon in it's real-life majesty is right in front of them.

about tents or tarps, i too started tarping before hanging. it seems like a natural progression, as one HF'er put it "if i can sleep under a tarp on the ground, i can sleep under a tarp above the ground"
still, i dont agree that a full sized, fully enclosed hammock tarp is a tent. far too many pitching options for the tarp that a tarptent or real tent (floorless or otherwise) cannot match.
im surely aware that my winter tarp in "enclosed" mode might look like a tarptent to a passerby, but they may be unaware of the wonderful, hidden gem that is my hammock tucked up inside. Priceless!

[dejoha]

One of these days, I want to try hanging my hammock through my 8-person mega tent when my little family wants to car-camp with the pack-and-play crib. I guess it _is_ a tent, but I'm off the ground!

[drewboy]

No contradiction for me. You're either on the ground or off the ground. Tarping techniques apply to either application. Hangers may have an inherent advantage since they can always secure their tarp to a tree on both ends and get a bulletproof pitch more easily.

[Trout]

Just my two cents.

I believe that a hammock is more of a difference between sleeping cushion/comfort, for example: do you have a z-pad, neoair, bluepad, or hammock. The tarp versus tent is an issue of shelter from the elements. Usually, a tarp goes with a hammock and a tent goes with a neoair. You can camp without any shelter and you can camp without any pad - either is uncomfortable most of the time.

[mbiraman]

As a relatively new guy to hangin i made the switch because , as Hawkeye said," i don't want to be crawlin on all fours any more".
I too have a slight aversion to seeing the all enclosed hammock, ascetically its not pleasing to my eye, but who cares. If your in sh*t weather you've got to be practical and winter type tarps and beaks are just that. Like someone else said, you've got the flexibility to open it all up in good weather , COOL

[Rat]

The tent is nothing more than the natural (skewed) evolution of the tarp. long before there were tents there were tarps and they were used in some pretty tough conditions. Tents are just tarps with poles designed to be pitched the same way every time.

So, by using tarps, even enclosed tarps, we are not abandoning our camping roots, but rather, returning to them.

to answer the original question, "Are we becoming tent campers"? My answer would be no, we are just rediscovering all the many attributes of the beautifully simplistic (and highly adaptable) tarp.

[Knotty]

This is a great conversation. Enjoying seeing people's perspectives.

I can't believe Pak-Man even dug up my old quote about "the beautiful simplicity of a hammock..."

[Pak-Man]

This is a great conversation. Enjoying seeing people's perspectives.

I can't believe Pak-Man even dug up my old quote about "the beautiful simplicity of a hammock..."

What can I say, it really made an impact on me when I read it months ago. Since then I have been striving to have a less complicated backpacking experience.

Once agian, thank you for the conversation.

"dirt"

[Roadtorque]

Are we becoming tent campers? Not as much as we are just extending our camping season in to more extreme temperatures, conditions, and locations which only a fool would go into unprepared (without a large tarp). But then again that's coming from a guy who has a 14x10 tarp and wouldn't have anything else

[thomas533]

For me, in the Pacific Northwest lowlands, most areas don't have much room to pitch a tent as the entire forest floor is covered with plant growth (not to mention is soaking wet much of the time). Hanging, regardless of the size/configuration of my tarp, opens up a much greater variety places I can sleep. I don't need a cleared area to sleep, just a few trees (Something that we are in no short supply of around here)