Well howdy everyone. Ive been studying up on hammock camping for a year now and the posts here and there have been very usefull. This winter i bought a jrb bridge hammock with hope that I would be able to sleep in it. Well I set up some poles in the basement to hang it on and tried it out 3x. I found it is extremely comfortable and the shoulder squeeze that I was concerned about was not an issue. Im 5'11 inches tall and 185 lbs. I am a side sleeper and only time im on my back is to turn over. Well the first night the temp in basement was 50 degrees and I just used a sleeping bag and pillow. I had a hard time falling to sleep mostly from the thought that I wouldn`t be able to fall asleep and the furnace coming on every 10 minutes. I gave up at 3 in the a.m. Next time I slept till 5 a.m. 3rd time I was sleeping good when the air compressor fired up at 3 a.m. and blasted out of there. I decided that I had to get outside but still was below zero here in northern maine. So 2 weeks ago I set up outside in the woods behind my house and tried again. Temp was 28 degrees with a wind chill of 18 degrees. I find that a thermarest large camp pad fits perfect in the sleeve below the hammock. I use a -30 rectangular sleeping bag and temperpedic pillow. I found that a couple of bungie cords tied out to some trees from the ends of straps keeps the rocking sway to a minium. Well i was toasty warm all night and slept great till i woke from a dream that i had my head stuck in a freezer. When I came to my bare bald head was frozen and i made a bee line for the house. The next week was the same conditions but this time I wore a knit hat and that worked great. Now I must figure out how to use the sleeping bad so the cold doesnt get to my shoulders. During that night I did a pretty violent flip flop forgetting that I was in a hammock and dumped out on the ground. Only fell about 2 feet on semi soft ground. No injuries tho. Well i think i have found an excellent way to sleep now. Very happy. Also I think i figured out how to use the tri glides. The cat tarp is easy to set up as is the hammock. I must get better at picking trees that are the right distance apart tho. Well happy hanging all and maybe we will meet some day. Jim from maine.
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