Hey all I'm Jeff, I live in upstate NY and go to the Catskills and Adirondacks quite often. Seems the there is not to many places that I go to that is not mostly rock. I started hanging approx. 6 yrs ago(bad year 2 open heart surgeries) Ok maybe not so bad still here doing what I like!! Love hanging!! Putting my foot in my mouth and just having fun! Love this forum but have not posted hardly at all but starting! I feel I am a newbie and know that I am never t old to learn!
have been using hammocks since i was a little kid. my dad got me one of the nylon mesh ones. after i joined the navy i picked up one in the south pacific island that i used during my (rare) free time. have been camping and a little bit of hiking with my kids and was looking for a lightweight hammock to carry to lounge in. found ENO, and got just the hammock, since that was all i wanted. later got the fly and netting to go with it, and haven't looked back. i have had a grand trunk (used to hold insulation for colder weather), a diy gathered end with a sack of down sewn to the bottom (i can't find it, which make me mad cause i can use the down) and currently have the ENO set-up, a HH Exped Asym (that has mods in the planning) and a HH Scout that one of my sons use.
Thomas
Hey, I started hanging when a broken back ended tent camping for me. Hiking was out of the question because I couldn't sleep on the ground anymore. I lost a couple of years of camping with the exception of some car camping with a cot (that didn't fill the need) until I visited a friend from Argentina. She had an old homemade hammock that she used as a bed until she moved to Canada. I tried it out on her deck and I knew I had found my solution. A short youtube session later and I had found Shug and a wealth of other people that had pioneered the hammock way before m.e So, here I am learning all I can before my first big trip with a hammock in April-May.
Matt
It began for me as a means of weight savings...that turned into realizing how comfortable it was. Now I simply see no reason to sleep in a tent on the ground :-)
I drive a bus for a living, and most of my workdays involve driving somewhere, then waiting around for a while, then driving back. I bought an ENO on impulse because I thought it would be cool to hang out in while I was waiting around and was amazed at just how cool it really was. I found that it complimented my outdoor activities, then I found shug and the hammockforums, and I was hooked.
with two m's, like "hammock."
First heard about people hammock camping on the BWCA website and thought it was for those extreme lightweight backpacker types, you know, the kind that saw their toothbrush in half to save ounces? (I know you folks are out there =)) I thought it was interesting, but was worried about being cold and having space to put your gear. Clearly I didn't think it through very much.
Not sure how I came across Shug's videos, but he was the one who got me REAL curious. You make it look good, Shug. It's no wonder all the companies want to get you on their advertising leash, er, payroll.
Anyway, haven't got to hang yet, but I will as soon as I can get me first hammock!
Being from soggy Florida I used to camp in a hammock all the time as a kid. We either bought the cheapos from Wal-Mart, or just rigged a quickie out of canvas. Either way it was a way better way to sleep in the swamp. Now I'm middle aged and getting back into hiking/backpacking, and I'm happy to discover a whole culture of hammock campers! The gear sure has changed, but I'm glad to see the attitudes are still the same! =)
I heard about a hammock with a bottom entrance and I had to try it. As a scoutmaster, I was tired of setting up a tent only to get wet anyway. Since buying my Hennessy, I have been dry and comfortable. I have been inspired by Shug and have made my own tarp and a hammock for my daughter. She loves it, but I "borrow" it to hang my pack in.
It was last February When my brother and I decided to go winter camping. This being the first time we ever camped in the winter we did some research and packed what we thought we needed. We had wind up lanterns hand and foot warmers, 0 degree sleeping bags, portable stoves, you name it we had it. We took everything except the kitchen sink. We loaded up a sled strapped on the snow shoes and headed out... It was a nice mile and a half hike to the camp site, The temperature was low 30's and being out doors snow shooing was incredible. After a couple slight mishaps with the sled and having to re pack it on the fly- We made it to a nice clearing and set up camp. Quickly cleared the snow, collected pines, made a insulating pile for under our TENT started a fire and all the must do's for camping. Things were great- then the sun went in- And good old Murphy's law set in. The temperature dropped almost 20 degrees instantly ( During the course of the night the it dropped as low as minus 4.) We could not cook on stove as we lost regulator during a repack somewhere along the line, The inside of the tent collected condensation and became a sheet of ice. *(Our shelter was an ice box) *The wind up lantern we had could not light up or hold a charge, *the 2 foot stack of pine needles did little to insulate us from the frozen ground, actually just made the floor lumpy and incredibly un comfortable. Everything was frozen canteens, vegetables, the tent our boots the ground the air you name it it was ice! The fallowing morning In order to get our boots on we had to cut the frozen laces off. From 10:30 pm to 6:30 am the fallowing morning we FROZE! It was the longest coldest most uncomfortable 8 hours of our lives.
** * After we finally got home and thawed out we did more research on camping, Winter camping especially and learned about the comfortable world of hammock camping. I purchased my Hennessy Hammock about a week later. *I have since been camping a number of times and will never sleep in a tent again. Any day above ground is a good day! *I'm Hangin'on and thats my story.
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