How popular is it?

[Mobius_trip]

When I did the Ozark Highlands trail last Fall and Winter the mix was always at least 50% hammocks to tents. Usually more than that.

[jrmyh]

My friend and I are the only people I have seen in person sleep in a hammock.

[OneClick]

I enjoy watching youtube for product reviews, researching things before purchasing, how-to's, everything. It doesn't matter if it's a knife review, how to choose a backpack, building a fire, using a compass, or just a new boot shakedown...I don't remember the last time a person didn't have a hammock if they were spending the night. Seriously, tents have become so rare in person or while watching anything on youtube.

[trouthunter]

My .02 worth, but limited to my own experiences moving around the Southeast US.

In states like TN, NC, VA, KY, upstate GA & SC hiking and backpacking are very popular, these activities are further helped along by very nice trail systems, campsites, and the cooperation of private land owners, etc.
Most of the foot powered camping done in these areas is done in the Backcountry, not in neat little campgrounds at State Parks, or KOA's. Campgrounds are the last place I would look to get an idea of how popular hammocks are.

In other areas, such as the Coastal plain of SC there are no trails systems for hikers. The topography just doesn't lend itself well to creating trail systems. The reason is that the land is fragmented by creeks, rivers, and wetlands to the extent that it just makes more sense to travel by boat, kayak, or canoe, and you will find water trails in these areas, not foot trails. Most of the people traveling by boat have no need to be lightweight, or buy expensive lightweight gear like a hammock, although I do see a few hybrid kayaker / hiker types that use high end lightweight gear.

Most of the time that I'm out in the woods in coastal SC see no other people hiking or backpacking, much less using a hammock. I do see folks camping, but they are just casual campers mostly using traditional camping equipment that they brought in by boat to camp at a wooded area alongside a lake or river. There are extremely few areas here where you can just go into a wooded wilderness area and legally camp.

In mountainous regions of the Southeast it is a completely different story, there are lots of wilderness areas with trail systems for foot travel, and I see lots of people using hammocks or other light weight shelters which makes perfect sense because they are on foot and weight is a major concern.

In terms of climate....I use a hammock partially because they are more comfortable to me in a hot, humid, temperate or sub tropical climate, such as the southern coastal plain.
I suppose most folks on this forum use a hammock because they find them more comfortable than sleeping on the ground (based on the commentary here) however my main consideration is being comfortable when I'm in hot humid conditions. In very cold conditions I prefer a tent and sleep just fine on the ground with the right gear. The right gear for me is an air mattress that is at least 1 1/2" thick, definitely not a 1/2" thick CCF pad, that's just a loosing battle for most folks based on what folks tell me, and my own experiences.

So, in terms of quantifying popularity there are a lot of factors to consider I think. Where I'm at, and the conditions im in, such as topography and climate, make a big difference in the gear I choose to pack.
Regardless of how popular something is, that doesn't affect the gear I choose to use.

As far as existing data I think its helpful to look at sales and use trends that have been documented.
I enjoy reading polls, but I don't know how you get accurate data unless you can poll a very large section of people, and not limit polls to specific groups or web forums.

As a side note, there are also folks like me, (I know at least a few) that use lightweight gear as a way to partially offset the weight of carrying books or camera gear while hiking.

I don't know if that helps......just what was on my mind after reading your question.

[oldgringo]

There is much discussion on how expensive hammock camping is. Compared to what? As hobbies go, hammocks are dirt cheap.

[Biker Bob]

It may be because I now hang, but in motorcycle campgrounds, I am seeing a lot of hammocks some weekends. At a NC rally, there are at least three or four of us out of 150 tenters and at another rally, where I checked with the park to determine they had no prohibitions on hammocks, other said they would hang next year.

In Georgia many state parks have tent only areas with no trailers allowed because campers must park in a lot and walk to their site. The BRP has tent only loops and the Chattahoochee Forest has designated tent only sites in their established campgrounds while the Cherokee has some tent only campgrounds. I have been the only hammock at some of these, but when in Mount Rogers a couple of years ago, there was at least a couple hanging.

The last trip, my wife hung in her new hammock and the host stopped us from camping near a closed restroom, led us to a site across from the operable bath house and got out a hatchet to cut some weeds out from under a suitable tree.

Wal Mart now has a display of their brand of hammocks and accessories in the sporting goods section locally. ENO is everywhere.

Alabama only allows one tent in a campsite, (Yeah, a 60 motorhome is OK but two backpacking tents are not allowed) but told me a hammock did not count as a tent so we could hang two hammocks or a hammock and tent with no problem. In SC, at the state park office one person made a comment about having moved up in the world by using a hammock.

[Rat]

It depends on how good an ambassador for hammock camping you are!
I routinely have between 30-50 people on my yearly hunt. When I went full time hammock in 2002-2003 I was the only one. Last year we had 21 tents and 17 hammocks, and if you discount the people who were cowboy camping it was an even 17 to 17.

Every year a rookie shows up in a tent, every year they vow to return in a hammock.

Anyway, I see about 80/20 with my core group (80% hammocks), not sure about the rest of the world.

[Biker Bob]

Crossing a military post where training was underway, in the trees at the side of a tank firing range there were numerous hammocks with soldiers lounging. I have no idea if they slept there at night. If the live fire exercise continued all night, I doubt anybody slept.