Paradigms, fools and their hammocks:)

[grok]

Every story begins with the hero ( In tarot... The fool).

I'm curious about everyones story. About the journey. About where it began. When and how did you stumble upon this odd niche of a lifestyle and how has it changed your paradigm?

Me personaly I would like to thank Kharma for accidentaly landing me on Just Jeff and Sgt Rocks' web sites, years ago. that opened the door to hennessy a bunch of tincan burners and never a dull moment

[Cold Butt Stephen]

Not so sure Karma landed me here, but I had gone on my first hammock hike because I was too cheap to buy a tent and when I got back (and thawed) I decided to google hammock camping and eventually arrived here.

[PuckerFactor]

I like to macrame stuff, and I was searching the internet high and low for information on making a woven hammock for lounging around in, and hammockforums.net kept popping up. I found that you could make hammocks out of cloth! Made my first hammock out of PU coated nylon and used a blue wally world tarp. My first hang was rainy, and in the 50s, but somehow I stayed warm and didn't get any condensation. Next one was a DL 1.1 and I still use it today! From there, it was UQs, TQs, sil tarps, stuff sacks, and splicing.
It's been awesome and very entertaining.

PF

[Bubba]

I started backpacking in the early 90's but then a hiatus from it started just before Y2K. After the need arose for a really good flashlight 5 years ago, I started collecting high tech flashlights after discovering Candle Power Forums.

Of course that forum led me to discover folding knives which brought me to Blade Forums.

While looking into fixed blades I came across Bushcraft USA Forums.

At this point I realized I missed going into the great outdoors and I resolved to start backpacking again and so through the Bushcraft site I stumbled onto Hammock Forums.

I remember clicking on a link for this place more than a few times and thought in passing "a forum for hammocks?". I had only ever seen braided hammocks that people kept falling out of. After lurking for a few days I realized hammock camping with all this new gear would be a great thing to take up. I bought a total ENO system without enough research but all I had to do was lay in the ENO double and I was hooked. After more research I sold my ENO slap straps, fly and bugnet without ever having used them.

Today I incorporate hammocking in my life on a daily basis. Beyond camping and backpacking I lay in one everyday because I find it simply more comfortable than any chair or couch for lounging around.

There is also something about laying in it that somehow connects me to the past the way building a campfire does. I think about my jungle ancestry and how maybe some distant ancestor laid in a hammock and stared at the trees and sky overhead and thought about the future as I do today.

Hows that for a paradigm change?

[Rilmoigan]

I wanted to get back into camping and backpacking. Was into Military-grade gear for awhile. Grubbing around on Youtube, I stumbled across Shug. And that, as they say, was that. (By way of videos by Grizz, Turk, and a few others as well.)

[L.D. Cakes]

Me personaly I would like to thank Kharma

Was it your collective Karma or was it Serendipity?

For me it was a series of Synchronicities, too many to list. In short, I had friends who had Blackbirds and Hennessy's. I bought an Eno on sale to just play with in the back yard.
Well it went viral and now I'm part of the epidemic.

[Jsaults]

I bought a Hennessey Hammock on a whim. So long ago that it was blue with a yellow fly, and bwfore the asym model.

I believe that HH's first came to my attention via a mention or an ad in SeaKayaker magazine, and it was in the early 90s.

I had used a WW-II surplus jungle hammock as a kid, and I guess the idea of a high-tec version piqued my interest. I have been tent camping since the 60s, and at the time was spending a lot of time in the WV Highlands near the VA border, so on one October trip I set up the HH and spent my first night in many years above ground.

Froze my tush off. That was before the term "CBS" was coined I believe. I used the HH as an adjunct to my tent camping, and gave the original model to my neice when I bought an asym. I had been active on Paddling.net, and on one thread the subject of hammocks came up. Someone there mentioned HF, and I lurked here for a year or so before joining.

I remember that when I first came here the high-tec fix for a HH was to custom machine a rope-locking device to eliminate the need for the HH hitch! That was before the days of Amsteel.

Jim

[Cranky Bear]

I have been camping all my life, but was not into backpacking, actually I had no clue about it! A couple guys at work began talking about hiking, so we went on a couple day hikes and then the thought came to try some backpacking! Now I knew nothing about backpacking, and my first trip was a great one, but painful as well (pack waaaayyyy too heavy) and on this trip I had a tent a very nice one and it leaked on me during a heavy rain storm! Well a couple of people we ran into and hiked with for two out of the four days we were out for were using hammocks! I was in awe, and couldn't believe that they were comfortable (and not tippy) as the only hammocks I had known were the huge cotton ones (which I have a habit of flipping)! When I got home from this trip I went searching on the net, soon I found Shug, Turk, and Grizz's vids on the tube, with a link to here, and that shall we say is that! It has helped me greatly in not only my comfort out in the piney woods (homage to Shug) but also in my pack load, and comfort in my gear, which has led to a much, much more enjoyable time for me while out!

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Many years ago Karma ran over my dogma and then crashed, killing both. I began to look to providence...

It was part of our (my wife and I) constant camp kit improvement. Two titanium knees led to wanting to get off the ground. It started with research into cots and chairs suitable for moto camp. Packs small and not too heavy was the idea. I saw a HH and the research led here...several hammock plus related purchases and the rest is ongoing.

I will have the Kermit chair someday BTW.

http://www.kermitchair.com/

[BillyBob58]

Who is this Kharma fellow anyway?

So, I was getting ready for another Wind River Mountains, Wyoming trip in September a few years back. I had been doing that sort of thing for many many years, and had a good working system. Then my friend Tom, from North Carolina, called to talk to me about hammocks. He was taking one on this trip. He had been using one at various Boy Scout campouts for a while. I had never heard of such craziness. One of the reasons he is gung ho this approach is – other than comfort – the weight savings of not having to take a pad. No under quilt mind you! He was just going to use no insulation underneath him.

So he refers me to the Hennessy hammock website. He didn't have a Hennessy, but he had seen the website and thought I should go there to learn about camping hammocks. So I did. The more I looked and read about it, the more interesting it seemed. After a week or so of reading up, I ordered a Hennessy Hammock. I talked with Tom Hennessy a while about insulation. He was leading me towards a windshield reflector. But when I mentioned temps possibly in the teens or 20s, he told me about the super shelter. So I ended up ordering that also.

So I learned to use everything in the field. (Lack of tree availability and temps near 100° made testing of the hammock and super shelter at home extremely difficult) The first night was an unmitigated disaster, at ~10,000 feet and 22° F, and at least the second worst night I ever spent in the woods. But things were better by the second night (despite my swearing I would never try to sleep in that hammock again, I did try again) and got better for the rest of the trip. Comfort wise, by the last night of the trip I was the only one comfortable. All that was left was a lot of paranoia about that little tarp and a big storm (I never really did learn how to hang that tarp right on that first trip). But I was sleeping more than warm enough, and oh so super comfortable by the end of the week.

By the way, my friend did not take a pad or anything else. Though I had discussed with him lack of insulation for his back. After the first night he borrowed one of my pads once or twice. But he was miserable trying to stay on it, and just did without. He had some cold nights, but thankfully the first night was the coldest for all of us.

A few months after this trip, I luckily found HF and then really started to learn about hammocks and associated gear.