Greetings from Puerto Rico

Hi all, I have been lurking on the sight for a while and finally created an account. While I often carry a Grand Trunk Ultralight hammock with amsteel whoopie slings for resting when backpacking or trips to the beach, I have not yet slept in a hammock.

Now that our backpacking will be in El Yunque rainforest, the hammock makes a lot of sense since it is hard to find places to pitch a tent. However, with a wife and two kids (5 and 8), hammocking may not work quite yet... there would be significant gear investment and I'm not sure the kids would adapt.

Anyway, greetings from the Island of Enchantment! I have backpacked in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington State, and this is definitely a very different experience.

Marcus

Keep an eye out for the GT UL on sale and you can get one for everyone in the family. Or, you can order tablecloths from tableclothsfactory.com and make a hammock for your family members pretty reasonably. You may be surprised, the kids will probably catch on quite well.
Good luck to you and your family and welcome aloft from SC.

Welcome from Virginia! +1 on the tablecloths. It's an easy way to get someone's feet in the air without the large investment. For about $30 and 15 minutes of time, you can whip one together.

Good luck and happy hanging!

Welcome from near Puerto Rico (Florida). :)

Since you are in the tropics, you can avoid the biggest expense associated with hammocks, and that is the insulation. A blanket or cut down cheap sleeping bags will suffice.

You will obviously need a bug net for each hammock. Consider making them yourself. They are really hard to screw up and can be sewn by hand. Here is a link to an easy and popular design.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ghlight=bugnet

Greeting! My wife is from Puerto Rico....San Sabastian over on the west side of the island. I've only hammocked once in her families backyard. Next time I'm in PR perhaps I'll look you up. I'd love to hang in El Yunque.

Buena suerte, Miguel

Welcome to HF!

Welcome, hope you can get your family on board with the hammock thing. Sounds like the way to camp in Puerto Rico. Like was said before, diy hammocks can be cheap and work great. I would guess you would need bug netting to, there are several easy diy solutions for that as well.

Welcome from the jumping point to paradise. Been a long time since I was back on the Island, but I remember the beaches and the palms, oh the palms to hang from. My kids took to my hammock like a fish to water. Weekly, almost daily, I get asked by my kids to use my hammy and go to the backyard.
DIY your hammock and save money. It's very easy. Must now make a few more for the kids.

Welcome to the forum from Alabama. I used to live in P.R. a loooong time ago when my Father was in the Navy. I have always wanted to go back.

Welcome from Denver! The benefit of being in Puerto Rico is that your insulation requirements are much milder, which will definitely help keep the costs down.

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Originally Posted by breyman

Welcome from Denver! The benefit of being in Puerto Rico is that your insulation requirements are much milder, which will definitely help keep the costs down.

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1 thing to add. Remember, your in a Rainforest. Synthetic materials may be the best way to go and also some sort of climashield for under your hammock. Keeps the raindrops splashing up at bay.

Welcome to the forums from Utah. My in-laws live in Aguadilla and we come down every couple years. Been to El Yunque many times and hope to get the opportunity to hang on one of our trips down there.

Jay

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Originally Posted by mbirds

Hi all, I have been lurking on the sight for a while and finally created an account. While I often carry a Grand Trunk Ultralight hammock with amsteel whoopie slings for resting when backpacking or trips to the beach, I have not yet slept in a hammock.

Now that our backpacking will be in El Yunque rainforest, the hammock makes a lot of sense since it is hard to find places to pitch a tent. However, with a wife and two kids (5 and 8), hammocking may not work quite yet... there would be significant gear investment and I'm not sure the kids would adapt.

Anyway, greetings from the Island of Enchantment! I have backpacked in Virginia, West Virginia, Washington State, and this is definitely a very different experience.

Marcus

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The K-mart in Puerto Rico sells a zipped polar fleece sleeping bag for $11 which worked well for me the last El Yunque hang.
Spots to hang in El Yuque are very limited due to the dense underbrush, but it's well worth the hike.

http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ht=Puerto+Rico

Welcome to the forum from California. Please post pictures.

I always love to see a hammock in its natural habitat - the rainforest:)

Welcome from Texas :)

Thanks for all the kind replies... and sorry for the delayed response!

I really appreciate all of the advice as well, I'm going to look into DIY hammocks and bug nets.

I made it out for a solo overnighter near the top... A grassy observation spot... I brought my tent because I had previously found this flat spot and wanted to get a feel for camping there before introducing more variables... At dinner the clouds enveloped me and the air was misty, like nothing I have experienced. Even in the tent with the fly zipped shut the air was misty.... duh, I was inside a cloud... Unfortunately it fried my Kindle even though it was technically dry! But otherwise it was great. It dips down to the 50's up there, so actually bugs weren't an issue.

El Yunque closes to vehicle traffic at 6:30PM so it was a pretty neat feeling to have it all to myself at night... backpacking there is not very popular. Crime is high in PR, but I feel like unlike car camping, backpacking here is very safe, since someone would have to hike 6 miles or so, and then find you. Not a fan of car camping anyway.

I have a couple of Coleman fleece bags and I agree they would be perfect, and they are light (but bulky). I used a 40 degree Big Agnes summer bag and it was fine as well.

Unfortunately due to the moisture I did not get any good photos.

There is a small outdoor gear store called Acampa, if you arrive here and need fuel or anything. It is the only place I have seen isobutane canisters, but Coleman Fuel and Denatured Alcohol is widely available. It is a nice store with very friendly staff, but it did make me miss REI. Acampa also arranges tours and had a lot of climbing gear.

Anyway, if anyone comes to the island look me up and I can give you some tips or meet up.

Marcus

Welcome from south Texas... Going the diy route the gear investment monetarily would be pretty low...

Greetings from Mort in WI. Welcome to HF!