Hillsborough River State Park not hammock friendly

[hangNyak]

I was invited by some friends to camp with them this weekend at Hillsborough River State Park. Naturally, I took my hammock. Luckily, I knew about the rules in Florida state parks, so I took my tent as backup. My hammock was set up for two hours before the ranger came by and left a warning on my truck to take it down. By this time it was nearly dark, so tearing it down and setting up the tent became a major ordeal. I did not have the restful nights sleep I was hoping for. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Here I am a native born Floridian, and all my tax dollars I have spent did not work for me. There needs to be a clarification to the rule. We are not talking about nailing things to trees. Think about the wildlife that scratches the bark off trees, and yet the tree survives. They don't seem to care that RVs and tents are destoying vegetation. If we humans are doing that much damage, why not stay out of the woods all together? Just my .02

[Shug]

It may take time to educate them. Write a nice letter. Let them know that they lost your business.....everyone wants funds these days. They could easily install posts for hanging.
Think about a home-made hammock stand. Wonder if that would be allowed?
Carry forth.
Shug

[hangNyak]

Shug, already one step ahead of ya. My first response was to the park service to let them know that they will not get ant more of my money until they serve ALL campers. I even suggested that they install posts at the sites, and that this would be a minimal cost to tax payers.

[PDA]

By the time "posts" have been designed by a favored engineer/architect at $85 and hour, cleared by liability lawyers at $150 an hour an installed by a ten man team at $30 an hour plus benefits, the "posts" will have cost the tax payers a small fortune. It is ludicrous that natures own posts should not be used in a responsible, LNT way, using straps and definitely no nails. Hammockers in Florida, and any other state which institutes such narrow minded laws should actively lobby for change.

[Pack Mule]

That stinks.

[Dos]

so this goes for ALL Florida State Parks?

link anyone?

[MAD777]

We can't hang in state parks but thank goodness we can in state forests and wildlife management areas as well as on Federal lands.

[samsara]

so this goes for ALL Florida State Parks?

link anyone?

The advice that I got from a FL state park manager was to call ahead and clear it with the manager before you go. Some will allow it, some won't, it's against the law in all of them but some managers understand that it isn't a problem.

The advice from me (a manager of a FL state forest)? Just don't go to state parks

Dave

[islander]

Still too much bureaucracy for my taste, and plenty of trees & forests not designated State Parks...
Good luck to you & others in the pursuit of changing things, seriously.

[obxh2o]

Interesting. I follwed the coast south in December, hanging without problems along the way. I considered heading down into Florida, but decided to stop at the Okefenokee Swamp instead.

I just did not want to deal with Florida's attitude torward hammocks. It cost the state my tourist dollars.