What made you a "hanger"?

[holantr]

I bought and read " The Ultimate Hang", and was immediately addicted. My wallet has never been so light, but I've never been so comfortable sleeping outside.

[Burning_Daylight]

Seeing ENO hammocks around campus(they are the must have accessory for the 18-35 set you know). They seemed pretty straight forward to make then I found HF, caught the DIY bug, and now I hooked my wife.

[olddog]

Just checked this thread and realized that I had never posted here.

I had ran across the Forum while searching survival threads late in 2010. Then on January 1,2011 we lost our 33 yo son to an accident. With everything going on at that point I knew that I needed something to occupy my mind and time to keep my sanity. Thankfully the Forum was there. Joined the forum on the 13th and immersed myself in learning and building and getting ready for my first group hang. Went out in March and spent the weekend with about a dozen people whom I had never met before but most of which I now consider friends. As the hammock thing progressed I ended up becoming a fulltime hanger and as most who have been here awhile know hammocks and the forum have become a major part of my life.

[rpd2459]

I decided to try a hammock because being on the ground hurts my back. To be comfortable I would have to pack in quite a lot of crap. A coworker of mine brought up hammocks so I did some research. After quite a bit of looking I decided to buy a Hennessy Hammock. I also bought one for my daughter since she enjoys backpacking also. We have made some trips and enjoyed hammocking. I am now going to attempt to take my dog. I am planning on doing 40ish miles on the AT in Shenandoah Va in October.

[jcnick34]

Just got into the hammocking thing after discovering camping hammocks on the internet during a *hard* day at work. I always liked the idea of camping but HATED sleeping on the ground. No matter what mattress or pad I used my joints were sore and stiff in the morning.

Not to mention the snakes and bugs and stuff on the ground! Yuk!

[jcnick34]

I bought and read " The Ultimate Hang", and was immediately addicted. My wallet has never been so light, but I've never been so comfortable sleeping outside.

That is such an awesome book! For a newbie like me it was a lifesaver and told me anything I needed to know to get started!

[JasonByers]

About a year ago I got really into lowering my pack weight went from what I thought was light at 20lbs down under 10lbs then to under 5lbs. I've alway used tarp tents or tarps and never considered "heavy hammock setups" until 2 months ago. My buddy got an eno and replaced the heavy suspension with whoopies and bought a smaller hammock tarp. He was just as light as me since in the middle of summer he didn't use an underquil and slept better than I did on my ultralight pad. I bought a Bias weight weenie to try it out and will never sleep on the ground again. My setup now is lighter than what it was on the ground and in the summer I'm able to break into the 3's on my base.

[GregB]

I was researching ultralight backpacking and came upon Jason Klass' videos. Jason is also into Tenkara fishing and I ended up also becoming a Tenkara fly fisherman for it's lightness, it's simplicity, and the fun.

Through Tenkara and ultralight backpacking videos I found John the Intense Angler. John had a video about trying out a hammock and one of the commentors mentioned Shug's videos. I watched Shug and decided I needed to try the hammock thing so I built one. Now I'm hooked. After the next paycheck I'll buy my materials for my bug net and tarp. I'm even considering building my own top and under quilts.

[snare]

Been pondering hammocking for years now. Even researched a lot, including this forum a while back.

But what finally made me make the jump was a recent 4 night, 5 day backpacking trip in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area here in the mountains of southern Appalachia.

Literally thousands of places to hang as compared to literally a handful to set up a small footprint 2 person tent. It's steep here !

Minimizing weight and bulk were HUGE benefits too.

I also ride a dual sport motorcycle and for those who are honest with themselves and pack well (meaning not having stuff tied all over the bike...) the actual space available is really not much different than the capacity of an average backpack. Yes, you can carry more weight easier, but the available space is about the same....it's about bulk.

And the benefits of reduced weight and bulk apply for bicycle trips too,

So, ultimately, it just made sense.

[aidanb]

I saw hammockers on YouTube and I never really thought about hanging in a tree but I found a Byer of Maine hammock at a thrift store for 5 bucks so I bought it and I love it