How did you get interested in hammock camping?

[Jazilla]

I blame Sgt Rock, JustJeff and Risk. In the summer of 06 I took my first camping trip since getting out of the Army in 02. I started reserching that spring on getting what I thought I needed and came across Sgt. Rock, JustJeff and Risk's websites. One of the items for that trip was a New Army jungle hammock. I knew I didn't want to sleep on the ground any longer. When I got back from that trip I ordered a Hennessey and haven't looked back since.

I took a 2 year or so break from the forum and camping when my son was born but never stopped testing my gear in the back yard. Now that my son is getting a little older I am happy to introduce him to hanging around.

[DivaB]

Pure accident! I'm not a backpacker, and I was looking for a way to get my son out and camping that was female friendly without having to deal with all of our heavy duty camping crap....and I mean heavy duty! I also didn't want to sleep uncomfortable and wanted some kind of luxury while laying down. I bumped into the Hammock Forums. Never even knew this possibility was out there let alone the wonderful community that went with it. Thank you "Google" for eventually sending me here!!! I've never looked back.

Now if I could just convince my husband to sell all of the heavy camping gear. He just is not there yet.

[taylo]

Started out something like this for me. I was lured in.

[Stormstaff]

Think of all the hammock gear you could fund by selling the "ground gear".

Pure accident! I'm not a backpacker, and I was looking for a way to get my son out and camping that was female friendly without having to deal with all of our heavy duty camping crap....and I mean heavy duty! I also didn't want to sleep uncomfortable and wanted some kind of luxury while laying down. I bumped into the Hammock Forums. Never even knew this possibility was out there let alone the wonderful community that went with it. Thank you "Google" for eventually sending me here!!! I've never looked back.

Now if I could just convince my husband to sell all of the heavy camping gear. He just is not there yet.

[Spurr]

I come from the tent car camping part of the world. My girlfriend and I enjoy the state parks and hiking trails and a daily shower. We have a Springbar canvas tent that works well for car and cart in camp sites and enjoy it very much.

I've always been interested in hiking and backpacking but didn't know a thing about it. So I googled backpacking gear to learn about what kind of gear I would need to buy and so forth. In my surfing I ran across a Shug video and liked the idea of getting off the hard and often times muddy ground. I'm still in the research stage and will make my first hammock purchase with in weeks, but I'm sold.

As for car camping, my gal and I will still do that as well, as she won't be a hammock camper...

[Acer]

I had visited this forum off and on for a couple of years, then last year, while backpacking and ground camping in the GSMNP, we ran into a couple of young guys in college, that were backpacking, and watched them setup in in 5 minutes, their hammocks and tarps, and when they went fishing in a nearby creek, me and the wife kinda snuck over and scoped their setup out as they were using WBBB hammocks and tarps,,,really looked trick as all get out,,then they and we packed up and hiked later that day another 8 miles or so, and darned if we didn't run into them again at the same campsite we were hiking too, they beat us there and already had set up, and went trout fishing as we hiked in, later that nite it rained, of course we were high and dry in the tent as I always pack a super light weight tarp to hang in front of the tent, and next day, again, 5 minutes they were packed and gone, and 45 minutes later we were packed and gone, so then coming out of the pack trip..first thing I did when I got home and on Monday back to work, called around to a nearby pack shop and went out and bought my first hammock without thinking a thing as to what size, weight, what it consisted off. I just did it spontaneously as I knew I wanted to hammock hang, got home that nite, found 2 trees outside the house, and hung it and tried it in front of the wife and we both have been hooked ever since..Its the only comfortable way to backpack in my book.

[Jayson]

Went canoe camping last spring with a buddy. Woke up so stiff and sore, we basically swore off any form of backcountry excursion. Then on the second day while out fishing we ran into some guys that said they were hammock camping. Had never even heard of it before.

Here we are 9 months later, two new hammocks are ordered. Hiking gear is assembled for me and my Girl, so far 2 trips "Up North" are planned for the spring. I have our estimated pack weights down to roughly 27lbs for me and 20 for her. Thought that was pretty good for a long weekend trip but carrying food for 7 days (i am paranoid).

Should be fun, gonna test run the hammocks in the backyard the weekend before.

I sure do hope it is as comfortable as everyone says!!!

[BodhiKnight]

Back in 2000 I got into the RayWay cult following and drank most of the cool-aid but I disliked ground dwelling with a passion.

So, I bought a $30 double layer olive drab hammock from sportsmans guide and winged it from there. One day I got cold so I used my pad that was working as my backpacks internal frame, slipped it between the layers and the rest is history.

[kobold]

yeah, shug on youtube. his channel is exactly that, channeling people here! i don't remember which vid, just the subtitles and him saying the magical words 'hammockforums dot net' at some point. i was lurking for maybe two days in total...

[kgbenson]

I was looking up stuff on the Bush Craft USA Forum and someone posts a link to, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it: Shug's videos. I watched them, Chuckled a lot, thought he made a heck of a lot of sense, and then found this forum. Did my research, and bought a black bird, a super fly tarp, a bunch of amsteel and zing-it, some Dutch-ware and so forth. So far it has been a hoot, though I use the gear far less often than I would like to.

Keith