New from Southern Colorado.

[Pithecanthropus]

I moved out here at the very beginning of August in 2016 after living in CT for six months, two and a half years in New Jersey before that , and the first 24 years of my life I lived in South Florida. Moved out here because my girlfriend won the principal horn spot in the Colorado Springs Philharmonic and Pikes Peak just spoke to me, I swear I heard it say "Live here! This is the place for you!" I myself am also a musician, upright bass to be specific. I freelance around the area, and I play with the Wyoming Symphony in their bass section. I hold a masters in classical bass performance. But I also have a day job working security at an art museum.

Love Colorado, moving out here got me to fall in love with the outdoors all over again since my stint with the Boy Scouts way back. Was going to be strictly a ground dweller but this winter I decided I didn't want to spend most my day clearing snow when I can just hang my camp site above it. What made me decide the switch was a hammock chair I got from Terrapin Outfitters as an ultra lightweight solution to a camp chair. I sat in it and I fell in love and knew I needed a full size hammock right away. Have not been disappointed since. Still waiting on my Phoenix UQ to arrive, but when it does I will be ready to hammock in the winter.

I've been lurking for a week or a little under a week, now. Been absorbing and learning a lot from these forums. I feel I made the right choice with my underquilt and have taken the necessary precautions for my legs and feet because it is a 3/4 length. After I bought it I must have combed these forums for any and all information I could about how to properly use partial underquilts.

So yeah, thank you everyone who is an active member on this forum and for your discussions and support of each other. It is very educating alone to just lurk the forums!

[Peppy]

Welcome from Northern Arkansas! Lots to learn, but it sure is fun! Enjoy!

[johnspenn]

What's up Java Man? (I enjoy a good cup of java myself lol.) Hello and welcome from Marietta GA. It's a loooong way from FLA to CO, and not just in miles haha! Happy hanging!

[TrailSlug]

Welcome to the forums. Let us know if you have any questions and congrats on getting off that hard ground. I envy you as that area sure is some beautiful country with more outdoors to explore than one could accomplish in a life time.

[Slowanderer]

Hello and welcome to Hammock Forums.
Glad you are enjoying Colorado. MANY great places to hike and hang there.

[Pithecanthropus]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. Colorado really is an amazing place. There is every excuse in the world to go outside and very little reasons to stay inside out here. I really love it. With that said, the wilderness out here is breathtaking and amazing, but don't let it bother any of you that don't live here. Even in Florida, when I did go out, I had a blast. My first ten mile hike in South Florida, in the scrub of north Palm Beach County, that was a trying experience in the heat, but man was it awesome. And that was flat and boring Florida with heat, humidity, bugs to spare, and not a mountain or a foot of elevation gain in sight.

One of my favorite hikes ever was actually on paved roads. That too was out in the Florida Everglades, at an abandoned rocket testing facility. I'm sure if you got creative, you could hammock in one of the buildings out there, but have fun with the horseflies and mosquitoes! It's a fun place to see how nature reclaims what was once man made structures. You can see trees growing straight through concrete, some even on the roofs of the buildings (If the building still has one). If anyone down there is interested, send me a private message and I can relay information about it and how to get there. It's at the tip of the state, on the mainland still. You essentially get off US 1 by taking the last right you can take before you're stuck driving all the way to the Keys, but the directions to the actual place are a little involved after that. There's also a great little restaurant on the way that serves some really tasty alligator in a variety of dishes.