What made you a "hanger"?

[hanggirl]

Whoooooo Buddy......I learned a ton on JustJeff's site. It was the site I found that spurred me on. He is inventive. I'm just a passer-on-er)))))
Shug

Well Shug if it weren't for you and your youtube vids I wouldn't be a hanger today. I "found" you, watched and was enamored with the hammock and with your ability to teach while entertaining me so well. I'm a tree hugger from way back. I slept in a tent once about 45 years ago and it was not a pretty sight. Swore I'd never sleep on the ground again and bought a pop up camper. I am now living full time in a 35 foot RV but still have a longing for the trees. So I bought a walmart hammock and loved it, bought a wbbb xlc and loved it more. I can't thank you enough for all you do and for sending me to check out HF.
Thanks so much. Sooz

[KYHiker]

I bought my first hammock at Allied Sporting Goods in Louisville KY in 1986 or 87. It was a blue diamond nylon net material that was rolled up to about the size of a softball. I was already an avid camper and thought this would be great for summer camping and keeping cool. It worked well but I had to buy a new one every couple of seasons due to tangling and the general quality of the material. I used a poly tarp I bought at KMart with yellow ski rope as a tarp ridge line to keep the sun and rain off. I had a tent for the other three seasons but soon realized I was more comfortable in the hammock and of course they are lighter to carry. Life happened and I got married in 1992 and as a result camping did not happen as much. I only recently have had time to get back into regular escapes to the woodlands and stumbled across hammocks for sale on eBay by chance. Doing some online research into the subject I was directed to a video by Shug. He so reminded me of some of the jokers I used to go camping with that I watched all of his videos on hammocking. He mentioned this web site multiple times in those videos so here I am, searching for the perfection that is the ultimate hang. I really am enjoying the learning process and people here. You folks have got some of this stuff down to a science! You haven't lived till you wake up in the morning with a diamond impression print from a net hammock on the back of your legs, your arms and across half your face!

[vioshi]

I remember the first time I slept in a hammock was outside on my uncle's porch. It was fairly warm but that was my first experience with CBS. That was probably 20 years ago. In high school I bought a string hammock on a mission trip to Mexico. It was a novelty and lasted a few years until too many bodies exceeded its weight limit

My first serious hammock experience was when my college roommate declared,"WE NEED HAMMOCKS!" A trip to walmart, a few dollars of fabric from the discount rack, and I made my first gathered end hammock. I spent most of my time hanging in my hammock doing homework with a wireless keyboard.

Fast forward a decade and now I'm old. After having several air matresses go flat on me during my annual campout, I vowed to not sleep on the ground again. I have two trips planned this year, a car camping trip and a 1-2 backpacking trip. I will probably be making my own gear.

[Patmannd]

Well, I bought my first hammock two years ago. I bought myself an ENO Double Nest Hammock, with the bug net and rain fly for summer camp for boy scout camp. I have really enjoyed my time, but have struggled while putting the bug net up because I think it is only designed for the single nest. If anyone has a suggestions for a bug net, that would be nice.

[HammockTown]

For me it was family tradition in Brazil nearly everyone that has a house has a traditional cotton hammock. When I moved to the United States I ventured into ultralight weight, and now own several hammocks including Grand Trunk, Elevate Hammock Company, ENO, and some hammock tents from the folks at Lawson and Tentsile.

Yep pretty much obsessed.

[ShooTa]

i dont remember if ive already posted in here.........

but here it goes again...

after many wonderful camping trips as a kid and then teenager blossomed my love of the outdoors in tents, it followed i wanted to do a job outdoorsy - so i thought i would join the army...
going from the comfort of camping from cars and the occasional long mountain walks to killer tabbed marches and having to dig shell scrapes with tarps bungeecorded to death only inches from the ground
(which would invaribly end up piss-wet puddles) and having to do the (ill now call it) the shug shoe shuffle in crapped wet and usually dark conditions, combined with the paltry weights of 40-80lbs packs + weapons
after i left the army i still have that love of the outdoors, but by jove i wanted to travel fast and light.

im wonderfully blessed to have my own woodland, of which has made me choose forestry as a new career
so if you take all of these and mix them with some wonderful videos both of sintax, shug and many others combined with forever seeing hennessy hammocks in my local hiking shop
you get a hammocking wannabe
add HForums into the mix and the wealth of knowledge contained therein and here i am now better informed (i never bought a hennesy as its just too expensive for its sum parts)
and a true believer ..

[irondog]

I started hanging waaaay back in my misspent youth. I'd threaded/woven hollow core, poly-type rope through the short sides of a huge cargo net, larksheaded with some very suspect steel(?) rings. I'd most often hang from the inside corners of the fences on the family ranch. Eventually started hanging under bridges over the Missouri River. None too many suitable trees, in Great Falls MT. One learns quick and early, the dangers of lying on the ground. The experiences of my youth have well served me, all of my days. I've long since upgraded to "real" hammocks, but, perhaps incredibly, I still use a simple, rugged cargo net hammock as my break-fall on high hangs. Also serves me most admirably as a fine above-the-dirt stowage area. That's my story, and I'm stuck to it.

[b44mag]

well im brand new have not hung yet but soon. im getting my stuff together. wanting to do my 1st hang mid next month for trout season opener. I started canoeing the slow river a few years ago. staying at friends camp on the river you know on the couch the floor ,deck in a tent on the ground and thinking this just aint it. never thought of the hammock ? so i was watching a few canoeing vids on camping on the river over the winter and saw a few guys hanging next to the river and thought yep that's it. so the how is youtube vids ( ol shug cracks me up) the why is wanting to be comfy and warm off the ground where ever I am. the when over this cold PA. winter. almost ready for 1st day of trout on the bass river under and over quilts are in the making. and a big THANKS lots to learn.

[TheKro16]

I have had an account on this site since 2012 but that was mostly for DIY gear and I was just curious about the hammock community. I am from Michigan and I love the outdoors. I have a couple of friends who have been hanging for a while now and they were the ones that turned me onto the idea of camping with hammocks. After talking to them I went onto YouTube and found Mr. Sean "Shug" Emery and I couldn't stop watching his videos. Within the past couple of years I have started to dive deeper into the bed above the ground.

[Angus]

I found Shugs youtube channel and since then i have been in the trees. I saved up and bought a Hennessy and from then on I haven't slept on the ground once