Hey all,

I started my whole camping experience as a new troop leader with my step daughter who had just entered the troop section (scouts - there seems to be a lot of us here).

I was totally and completely hooked on light weight backpacking - that was 10 years and many trips ago.

I was at PJ (pacific Jamboree '07 at Camp Byng - my son is now a scout/soon to be venturer) when I purchased and brought along a Peak double hammock, thinking I would use it to just 'hang around' the campsite it. The weather was plenty warm so I decided I would try sleeping in it. I woke up from one of the best sleeps of my life and my comment to my other leaders was "my back feels fantastic".

Now, I have no real problems sleeping on the ground. I actually have slept better on the ground than in my bed at home for years. (bed was old and needed replacing - I have since threw it out. My peak hammock hangs in my bedroom).

The local MEC store had Hennessey hammocks and I almost bought one back in '07 (and several times since) but I stalled on it because most of my camping is shoulder season and winter and I couldn't see the hammock, from my experience in the peak hammock, being usable in the temperatures in the local BC Coast mountains.

My ground comfort has been less recently (mostly I blame on an expanding waistline. I think admitting the age thing might be an issue) and I kept going back to thinking about how to make a camping hammock work. About 6-8 months ago I came across the Clark site, with it's promise of a 4 season hammock and I was sold. If I hadn't been short cash this year I would already have one.

A trainer with the local area training team (scouts, again) had a Hennessey set up at a recent training event and I got to check it out. Very cool - he had the whole Shelter system with the undercover and foam insert.

Soo, I am still sold, but haven't chosen which hammock to buy yet. The Hennessey expedition is cheaper but not so much after you add in the shelter - and the shelter and the slim foam pad don't go a long way to convincing me that it would really be effective. (but that is another topic - look for it soon as I have questions and hopefully can get some feedback before I commit money).

Cheers!
CoyoteWanderer