What made me a hanger? Leave no trace and the fact that its a blast and different.
What made me a hanger? Leave no trace and the fact that its a blast and different.
Hello,
Let’s see, I started when I was in my late teens, I had one of those backpacking rope hammocks but ii left me bug bitten and looking like a waffle. Years later I upgraded to an army surplus jungle hammock but that didn’t turn out so well, first night out, after finally getting situated, I flipped in the hammock and tore off the mosquito netting and top ending up on the ground amongst the very loud laughter and mocking of my hiking buddies. There was a moment, right before the catastrophe, where I realized that it was so comfortable, I could possibly sleep for days. Peer pressure returned me to the ground which never gave a comfortable slumber, the rocks, roots, slope, it always amazed me how one little acorn underneath a foam pad by morning would feel like a large brick. A couple of years ago the backpacking bug was rekindled and somehow I stumbled on Jeff’s page and then I saw the Hennessy! With its unique entry and my fear of flipping it seemed to be the perfect solution. I will never sleep on the ground again.
I purchased my first hammock over 22 years ago, I believe it was a Coghlan's Sportsman's Nylon Hammock. My Scout troop was planning on hiking the Canadian West Coast Trail and my cousin and I bought them initually so that we could use them to laze in comfort after each day of hiking. Back then we weren't thinking light weight, though they were, they we're cheap and why not. As it turned out on the first day when loading our packs onto the ferry carrying us to the trail head, one of the other boys dropped the poles to our tent in the river, leaving us without a place to sleep for the next week. My cousin and I decided we didn't need a tent, we had a tarp and we had two hammocks, we we're set, the other boys we're stuck sleeping under us under the tarp. I've often thought how wonderful it was to sleep in such comfort but never really explored it any further. 22 years later I convinced my wife to hike this same trail again with me, we used a tent and every night I found myself irritated that I didn't have my comfortable hammock of yester-year. Since home from our hike, I have learned a lot about the world of hammock camping and have almost become addicted to this world almost forgotten. Thanks buddy for dropping those poles.
Last edited by The Wandering Canuck; 11-12-2011 at 00:50.
Took a quite few naps in backyard flat hammocks. I saw a few well-planned and executed campsites in my travels that incorporated hammocks, either as additional seating or a place to toss gear, and I was already a believer in tarps. Kept sleeping on the ground, though, and honestly it was the worst part of my camping experiences. I saw a Hennessy in an outfitters, and then I just waited until I could afford one. The gear proved itself well, and secondary benefits were learned. I saved a -lot- of time not looking for sites, not clearing sites, and not dealing with the consequences of a bad site.
While i don't yet have my backpacking hammock I have used them before. becoming more serious in trailing, i can't help but look to my comfort interest and know for me that the hammock would be "Above" the conventional competition /\ tent. In my experience i prefer to camp near the water when possible and sometimes its hard to walk on past a good looking area but cant really get a tent setup vs. a hammock. At least for me.
The hard ground had a little something to do with my conversion to hanging.
I still tent camp, but hammocking gives my yet another option. I love camping via: Tent, tarp, leanto, pop-up, cowboy style, and now hammock. I have been napping in them for years and I am a gear junkie so I can add to my collection.
Tom C.
Hello everyone. First off, I feel a mixture of guilt and release as I have (probably like countless others) been making use of the expertise, advice, and guidance of all you ham-heads for the past year or so without making myself known. So to finally and formally align myself with the source of so much coolness feels good.
So what made me hang?
I've always had a desire to be able to pick up a bag at the drop of a hat and go off into the woods to live off the land. I have dreams about some sort of end of the world scenario and not being able to survive and so, when I had some time on my hands (recording an album with my band) and some unexpected money (tax rebate of £700) I decided to get kitted up. I started by researching kit on "Survive the Zombie Apocalypse." It was then that I began to see more mention of hammocks. I was instantly sold and bought a Hennessey Deep Jungle. I went out into the woods the day it arrived, in the dark, and the rain, at about 11pm. I had a storm kettle and a sleeping bag and some tea and water. I got wet and was cold and woke up to find I'd pitched next to a path that folks were walking their dogs on. So a complete failure. BUT I loved it and went out the next weekend (in daylight) to practice and learn from that first experience. I found a nice campsite (in England it's illegal to free camp so you gotta be careful) and it was way better, though I still woke several times in the night from the cold.
I used that site a few more times and then explored a different part of the forest I was in. I tried several different locations before finding the perfect spot, which is where I still go now. But, although I use two pads, I still wake up cold.
My birthday present to myself (yes that's right, it's today) was an Incubator Underquilt, which, apparently, has just cleared customs in the UK. I'm going out next weekend to test it. But there's still so much more I wanna hone. My cook kit, for one. I still haven't been out for more than one night so there's that whole thing to go through. Exciting times.
So that's my story, without all the details. It's hard to find wilderness in this part of the world so any tips form any UK hangers would be welcome.
I'm currently looking into getting a set up in my 'yard' so I can practice.
It's good to be part of the club!
Cheers,
Sig.
The doctor pointing out my ruptured disk did it for me. I thought I was done camping for good.
My dad showed up with a Clark hammock to our annual camping trip about 3 years ago and went from being the first one up in the morning to waking up at 9 or 10 in the morning. Every morning he would then go into like a 5 minute talk about how comfortable it was and how his back didn't hurt. After years of just dealing with the uncomfortable ground sleeping, decided to take dads advice. One hang in (4 nights) and i am looking to use some of my tent for material for hammock accessories.
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