What made you a "hanger"?

**te-wa** · 12-30-2010, 23:13

Originally Posted by HWS

Te-wa great question, Enjoying reading these posts. I'm brand new and not a full fledged hanger as yet. (Just posted my introduction today). To answer your question about "What made you a hanger?" In my case intrested in becoming a one. I would have to say reading books and websites about AT through hikes and their sleep systems they used. WhiteBlaze articles about hammocking but the most influence for me was Shug's videos! Enjoy your Holidays.

thanks man!
it sure is nice to see people with a desire to hang. hammocks are really cool. ive never been on the AT but i understand there are a growing number of hammocks on every new season.
hang on!

**NickoftheWoods** · 01-02-2011, 22:26

I first gave thought to the idea after planning a trip up to the north woods of WI with a friend new to camping. He had no tent and after sharing some of my knowledge of the area he settled on his first hammock. I know the area that we would be camping very well and the trees are very thick with lots of roots on the ground so it is hard to find a good spot for a tent sometimes. This was to be a week long canoe backpacking trip and on the first night my 15 year old tent finally gave in when a thunderstorm blow the door in. I got flooded out and spent the night under a tarp by the fire while he lay cozy in his hammock. The next day I decided to modify my old tent and hang it too from the trees and used a ground cloth for a fly. The trip turned out to be a success and shortly there after I came across an HH ultra lite explorer at REI. I have been using it for about 6 months now in warm and cool weather. January 4th I will be taking it out for some winter camping in northern WI for 5 days and can't wait to try out some new gear as well.

daveridesbikes · 01-09-2011, 17:30

i am from south florida, and have done allot of camping in the swamps, and down there in the summer, if the ground aint wet, there are more than likely fire ants there. in the "winter" we just used tents. now i am trying to extend my my hammocks usefullness into fall and winter.

**JDR4Bama** · 01-09-2011, 23:03

I have been reading post in this forum for a few months. I wanted to build a hammock but I couldn't actually get motivated to do it. A post on a survival forum by Just Jeff and an invitation to this weekend's hang was enough motivation for me. Since receiving the invite to the Colorado hang, I have built a hammock, underquilt, wood stove and alcohol stove. Building the gear is quite addicting. I'm afraid it will get more serious once I get into the field and test it out.

**TheHangingTechy** · 01-11-2011, 11:57

First bought an ENO just for fun and portability for school and play. I started getting the burrito effect...stumbling across Hammock Forums looking for info on how to stop the burrito effect i found out what a structural ridge line is and the rest is history.

With all the info here i am 100% hammock all the way. In fact i just ordered some whoopie's from WhoopieSlings.com to cut some weight.

**Tinmar** · 01-13-2011, 14:32

Greetings:

I decided to buy a hammock after my son told me he had ordered a Hennessey. Began reading about them and got excited by the prospect of not sleeping on the ground.

My first hammock was many, many years ago when I got an Army surplus jungle hammock as a kid. Loved that hammock but it sure was a pain to set up.

The Hennessey arrived last week and even though it went into the 20s, we just had to try them out. It was fantastic! Haven’t slept that well ever when camping

**Fronkey** · 01-13-2011, 16:11

Originally Posted by daveridesbikes

i am from south florida, and have done allot of camping in the swamps, and down there in the summer, if the ground aint wet, there are more than likely fire ants there. in the "winter" we just used tents. now i am trying to extend my my hammocks usefullness into fall and winter.

I'm from South Florida as well. You can't forget about the Water Moccasins too. They are the main reason I got into Hammocking. Welcome to Hf!

Fronkey

**graciious** · 01-14-2011, 10:36

Hey, My name is Jamie. I am from Ottawa Canada!

I was on my way to Algonquin Park to do some summer camping for my honeymoon. My wife and I were not light backpacking campers but often packed up the car and took ourselves, our gear and our dogs to a campground each summer.

This paticular trip while doing some shopping enroute to the campground I saw a hammock and thought it would be nice to relax in. So I bought it.

I remember setting it up using the supplied rope and small "S" Hooks when I climbed in the first time it felt secure, then slowly it lowered itself to the ground as the "S" hooks straigtened out (due to my weight). I was lucky it didn't fall I wouldn't have had the softest landing.

I decided to find another way to hang the hammock and grabbed a pair of locking carabiners, I slipped them through the knotted ends of the hammock fully replacing the (now useless) "S" hooks and grabbed a couple of truck straps from my tool box. Since I only do car camping this is the fastest solution for me, I am not too worried about weight.

I have had the hammock for 5 years and still never slept a night in it.. just many afternoons in the summer when I should have been doing something else. I am going to try and find some way to evolve into a real hammock camper and plan on spending a few nights this June camping by myself.

I look forward to discovering more DIY projects on the forum, and then trying to figure out where I can just go buy the cool stuff I see you all make, I have never been good at DIY projects, I just like looking at them.

See you out there.

**roar-k** · 01-14-2011, 10:50

I remember when I first got to hang while camping.....

We were on our way with some friends from church to Big South Fork for a weekend of camping fun. When we got there we started to setup and noticed that there was not enough room in the one tent that we brought with us, and so everyone was trying to figure out what they were going to do when one of the guys brings out a net hammock and says someone can use it to sleep in. I immediately volunteer because I do not want to be cramped in the tent with everyone else.

So I begin the setup and at first I didn't really know how taut to hang it or how high so I needed help. Then we used a cheap blue tarp for my cover since it was going to rain that night.

Once I got my wool blanket settled under me and was able to wiggle into my sleeping blanket I had one of the best sleeps of my life. I was out in less than 5 minutes and slept soundly the entire night.

The next morning everyone woke up complaining about the cramped quarters and how it was horrible. When I was asked how was my sleep I replied, "I had to sleep outside in the cold and rain, how do you think it was?" I wasn't giving up the hammock to anyone....