What made you a "hanger"?

**BumpJumper** · 01-16-2009, 07:54

I had just started hiking with Trailtalker and Bluegill and one weekend we took off to Mosquito Lagoon for a camping trip via our kayaks when I had Trailtalkers HH hammock. I tried it for the weekend. I loved it. Just bought my own this December.

**WrongTurn** · 01-16-2009, 15:41

October 31st Tent flooded with condensation soaking my bag and the temp dropped to 7 degrees. I got hypothermia and almost died on Mount Rogers summit trail. Temp was down to 93 and blood oxygen was at 70. I swore I'd never set foot in a tent again, and I was ready to quit camping, but I saw a thread on WB about hammocks and decided to give it a try and loved it. So now I hang.

**Cannibal** · 01-16-2009, 15:43

Glad you're still with us mtnkngxt!

**Preacha Man** · 01-16-2009, 16:00

After I started hiking again about 3 years ago, I slept on the ground under my tarp. I had piled up a bunch of leaves to sleep on, but in the morning,it took 4 mils for my hip to stop hurting. While limping along for 4 miles, I started thnking of ways to sleep better on the trail. I came across Jeff's site and started emailing him. He led me here, and the rest is history.

Dwight

**Greg Dunlap** · 01-16-2009, 18:01

Back in the last millenium, 1964 actually but the way I said it first sounds longer, I went camping with neighbors to Bass Lake. They only had one tent and a hammock. Seeing as there was the two of them, two boys who were spoiled brats, and a very young daughter, I opted for the hammock. I strung it between two trees over looking the lake, put my bag on it, and pounded in a stake that I attached a length of line to.

When it got late enough to retire I would climb into my bag, grab that line and start myself rocking. I don't ever recall it ever stopping the rocking before I was fast asleep. Been hanging ever since.

**te-wa** · 01-16-2009, 18:28

wow! what great responses - keep 'em coming!
you gotta love it

**riverkeeper** · 01-16-2009, 18:52

One of my brothers used one a bit in Nam 1967-68 I crawled into it a few times.

I had plans to work in Olympic National Park backcountry in 2004 where quite a bit of physical trail work is required. Rather than take a tent that requires some site selection decided to go with a Hennessy. I did not anticipate the fantastic comfort or the theraputic effect on my back.

**hikingjer** · 01-18-2009, 22:06

A few things got me into hammock camping in 2007. While backpacking the loop around the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness in western Virginia (2005) it was getting dark and I had to find a tent pad. I had to pitch the tent up on a rocky ridge and on a slope. It was lame night for getting sleep. That was the last straw.

Then Campmor had the Crazy Creek LEX Crib on sale and it seemed like a good deal so I bought it. I was hooked after the first night.

Finally I am still traumatized from waking up in a tent with a saturated floor and puddles in the Blue Mtns of northeast Oregon (1998) and the Boy Scout camp near Little Orleans, Maryland (1986). Even with a ground sheet underneath, there's no such thing as a waterproof tent floor.

**Tales** · 01-19-2009, 02:57

Back in the 1950s my dad was in the British Navy. From then till 07 he would sling one of the navy hammocks, frequently in summer, in the back yard between trees. 2007 my parents entered retirement homes and my younger brother had always wanted the hammock(we thought there were two) so he got it. Last year I was cruising thru Google and typed in Hammocks and up came the forum. After reading countless pages I got stuck on Neo's stuff. From there I puchased a Claytor and am now enjoying a new direction.

Tales