Shug. The driver on Top Gear. :P
Shug. The driver on Top Gear. :P
Swinging in the air with a flair.
I watched cncswiss1 set his tablecloth on the front porch of his cabin, he let me try it. That raised the curiosity and he made me a set of whoopies, gave me enough instruction to make my own AmSteel slings and attachment rigging. He sent me some links to Shug's youtube channel and that sealed the deal. Got tablecloths ordered, and more AmSteel, Already have poly anchor slings from my day job, all since Sunday. I'm hooked now.
Hello all well I'm a newbie to hammocks.what got me interested in hammocks ?While killing time on you tube I came across a guy sitting in a hammock I clicked on to watch what he had going on after watching a couple of his videos I kinda thought that guy seem like he's having a good time so I thought I'd give it a try went out got a cheap hammock and here we go
The guys name was shug
I started to consider a hammock when I came across one of Shug Emerys videos on youtube...it all snowballed from there. I live in southern Illinois and most of the places I hike are very rocky and uneven. This limits your placement of a tent. Unless of course you spend some time clearing out a spot and even then more then likely your going to find that stone you missed or a tree root you didn't notice at 3:00am.Sleeping in a hammock, I don't have to worry about that. I sleep the same nomatter where i am. Just as long as there are a couple trees. Another major issue is that in wet weather I don't worry about that "low spot" that tends to collect water when it rains. everyone knows that waking up soaking wet really sucks, and then theres all the wet gear that needs to be dried. Weight is another factor. Hammocks are lighter then tents, pack down smaller and are easier to move around your site. Set up time. I can set my hammock up more quickly then you can prep a site for a tent...and I'm done. I can cook while laying in my hammock. I just set up my jet boil right next to me. Being a "hanger" makes my trips simpler by being consistent and eliminating some variables.
I did not learn about hammocks from Shug's videos (at least not initially).
I actually had to get "softened up" over a period of time before I decided to try hanging. it started with a friend when I was stationed in Kuwait who showed me some pics of hammock camping setups, and how he was going to start using hammocks when he got home from the deployment. I was intrigued, but also skeptical.
Then, on another forum dedicated to motorcycles, someone mentioned camping on the bike, and Law Dawg (Ret) started singing the praises of a hammock. He provided more detail than my friend, and made it seem more realistic. I still wasn't terribly interested, though, mainly because I didn't see myself getting many opportunities to get into the woods.
Fast forward about a year, and I was extended the opportunity to take a leadership position in the scout troop that my church sponsors. My excitement went through the roof, and being a natural gearhead, I started researching what equipment that I would need to start camping regularly again. I discovered ultralight backpacking and hammocking at about the same time, and that was when I was officially hooked.
I then got my Grand Trunk Ultralight hammock, a poly tarp, and figured out how to repurpose some of my military gear to work with a hammock. I'm still learning a lot, but I really enjoy the comfort and the head-turn factor that comes from hanging.
- We're never going to survive this!!
- Nonsense. You only say that because no one ever has.
Shugger's vids convinced me too.
Nothing to see here. Keep moving.
My wife... She came across the idea on the intergoogle or someplace and said "Hey honey, we should go camping... In hammocks." Naturally I laughed and said you're out of your mind. Then before I knew what was going on, we were at the store buying two. Ya know just to try them out. That's all it took. I now have a problem that I can't remedy very easily. Sleep with my wife in bed, or out on the porch in my hammock.
A couple of years ago a group of us went camping in a primitive area. We were hiking out to our site and saw a blob in the trees. Turned out to be a hammock. At that time, i hated hammocks because i always thought of the white net ones and the horrible experiences i had with them so seeing that peaked my interest. But nothing happened until a year ago when my boyfriend bought his first hammock. From there he became an addict which trickled down to me cause all i could think about was being like the guy back in the primitive area. So this is now our new hobby and we have been having a blast learning new ways/places to hang!
Not all those who wander are lost.
--J. R. R. Tolkien
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