What made you a "hanger"?

[thejungleisneutral]

One of these made me a hanger in the 1980s and 90s :-)
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Then I had a decade or so break from hammocking until Tom Hennessy started making his hammocks available in Australia in the early 00s and I haven't looked back.

[kllrbee]

A guy I met on a whitewater rafting/camping trip recently told me about a motorcycle trip he had just made to Moab with just a hammock and pad.
That's all it took....I had to know more. Within 2 weeks, I was hanging full time....haha.

[Mountaineer]

Hiking the AT SOBO last year I came in to the Liberty Springs campsite just before dark and had to pitch my tarptent on the trail because all the flat spots were taken. After a long day (26.90 miles) needless to say I wasn't happy. Stopped in North Adams, Mass and ordered WBBB 1.1 dl, Mamajamba tarp, Mamba TQ and Yeti UQ. Never looked back and never had a bad nights sleep for almost 1500 miles when I got off the trail at Fontana North Carolina. Heading back in the next couple of weeks to finish the last 160+ miles. Love the Bird but decided to take a WB Traveler this trip (going lean). Really looking forward to a week or so in the woods. Hike on. (aka Mdot) http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=439453

[SGood24]

Mine was after a failed attempt at a raised bed shelter in the torrential rain! Ended up being an up all night er just under a tarp on the ground! Should have had a back up plan! So then started looking at small light weight options but some of the tents were crazy expensive and a hammock ticked all the boxes! One Hennessy Hammock later and I am now a 'hanger' for definite!

[paintballpro2]

A buddy of mine introduced me to it as a backpacker survival option. It also works good in bear country if you are willing to climb a bit.

[Osulagh]

20 years of sleeping on the ground...

Half of those years in cheap Walmart tents that collected condensation like a steam room, with a floor that crinkled when you stepped on it and parents were hearty and stupid enough not to buy good sleeping pads.

And backpacking convenience.

[kc_joe]

My wife and I have always loved camping and hiking (really anything outdoors) and we have 2 young kids (now 4 and 6) so it's a nice family friendly, active, low cost activity (we won't actually tell my wife how much I spend on gear). We both however always dreaded the back pain after waking up from a night on the ground. One day we thought he would try a weekend trip hanging (with the tent near by) and loved it...never to look back.

[MadUncleAndy]

Have loved napping in hammocks for years. Just never really clicked that it was a viable option for camping until I went on a campout with my son's troop in February and half of the adults and boys were comfy in hammocks! Thought to myself, "DANG!" What is my wounded back doing on the ground if they can stay warm in a hammock?!?!

[Clyde]

I have been camping for years, uncomfortably on the ground...why I am just starting to hang baffles me.

[ampersand]

I've always wanted to camp more. My mom was super outdoorsy when she was young—backpacking, fishing, weeks long canoeing trips in northern Minnesota—but ruptured a disc in her back when I was a little kid. We went on a few road trips after that, but mostly we practiced the art of the staycation. Still, she always treated the gear in our closet with a special reverence.

I got more into camping in college, when a couple of roommates took me on off-roading trips. We pitched our tent (probably illegally) arbitrarily throughout the forest and the desert, and I slept in my crappy, slumber-party sleeping bag without a pad. It was freezing at night, and most of the sleep I got was probably thanks to alcohol.

Over time I upgraded to a nicer bag and a pad. Sleeping got warmer, but I rarely made it through the night. And packing up the tent in the morning was the worst. I mean THE WORST. I have a hard time explaining why (folding cold, damp fabric comes to mind), but I think it's one of the least pleasurable chores involved in camping.

Then, visiting a friend's apartment one day, I saw his roommate lounging in a hammock he'd just picked up. It was an ENO he picked up at REI, and it looked irresistibly comfy. I didn't even try it out before I decided I wanted one. Thanks to a trip to Southeast Asia the year before, I had a $74 refund at REI, just enough for a Doublenest of my own. I bought some high-test paracord and was on my way. Living in Los Angeles at the time, I walked to the nearest park, a tiny patch of green with a few well-spaced palm trees, and hung my hammock using paracord (sorry, trees) and nothing but bowlines, pretty much the only non-shoelace knot I knew how to tie at the time.

After just a few hangs, I got frustrated with knots and cord, so I went online and searched for better ways to hang a hammock. I came across HammockForums, and it blew my mind (people camp in those things?!). I learned just enough to buy a pair of Whoopie slings, then I used my hammock recreationally for years. It's almost always in the trunk of my car—just in case.

I brought it to the Eastern Sierras on a trip with a few friends, thinking it'd be a nice thing to have up for folks at camp. But when it turned out we were short on tents, I volunteered to sleep in my hammock. I had no idea what I was doing—no tarp, no knowledge that I should let some air out of my pad to avoid the constant wrestling with it—but the sky was clear and the stars were out, and it sounded like an adventure. Aside from struggling with my pad, I slept like a baby.

The next morning, when I packed up my hammock while still cold and groggy, I realized it didn't feel like a chore. It felt familiar. I was hooked.