In search for the lightest, most comfortable, bug protected shelter,
In search for the lightest, most comfortable, bug protected shelter,
Hi,
Am 60+ and retiring. Am tired of tent + ground, and stiff / sore mornings, but love being in the wild. Have been across Grand Canyon, 45 miles in backcountry of Yellowstone, etc. Spent this past winter exploring hammock options as alternative. Retiring in 39 days. Goiny to Sylvania Wilderness in the UP of Michigan this weekend just to hang & hike.
Condensing data left be with WBBB as THE BEST hammock, and will get Yeti + Mamba as funds allow. Spent one cool & windy weekend recently on 16 miler with underquilt made of double layer wool blanket. Have coleman stove, but made alky for fun. Have also made underquilt from a down comforter my wife let me have. What an experience working with down. Having made my own, now I see why the Yeti is worth it. Will continue connecting segments of the Colorado Trail this summer, as well as getting bagging my sixth "14 er" on CO. Plans are for Sylvania again in late June, and Boundary Water in MN in September.
Have had the BB for about a month, and it sleeps just like the forum says. I am very pleased with the improvement over tenting. !!!
Thank you to all of the people posting on HF that help newbies learn.
Tumbleweed.
hawkeyes been hanging around fesivals and concerts for a few years now but i'm still in the neandrathal stage in my hanging career. just stumbled onto this meca of hanging site. i hope to learn from all your cool tricks. got started camping at concerts. i just couldn't stand the summer heat and sleeping in a tent. so i found a hammock and tested in my yard and been hanger ever since.
cos raymond mears did it in the jungle and bcuk said we could do it in this country and well all you needed was extra insulation and i was sick of a crap nights sleep
drew
For me, I already knew hammock were a great sleep. That was Years ago. Recently got into kayaking, and the hammock camping is a natural fit. Compact, light gear, comfort and flexibility.
Came across the Forum through references on a few kayak blogs.
I've not been a member of the forum very long, but its addicting. now I'm just waiting for the next payday to come along and give Brandon my $$$ for a BB.
The friendship among hangers is also intriguing. Seems like a really close knit group of people. I like it here. Always something new and interesting in the posts too.
-Mark [islander]
I've been hiking since i was in my teens. However i rarely did any back pack trips simply because i have never been able to sleep in a tent. I just lay there staring at the tent walls all night. I've even tried over the counter sleep aids. (Yet at home i could sleep through Armageddon) The tipping point was Sept of 08. I planed a multi day back pack trip, the idea was to head up West Cady ridge to the Pacific Crest trail, then jump off to Pass creek, then to the North fork of the Skykomish trail completing a 23mile loop. I planed on taking two days with an option for an extra day just in case.
I hit West Cady at dawn. By the time i reached the ridge top meadows the temps were in the 90's with little shade, and nothing in terms of water. Except for a few stagnant tarns lined with poo used to water stock. The lack of drinkable water drove my decision to push to what i thought was my single day limit. Pass creek was well beyond the half way point, yet i knew water was plentiful. While baking in the sun on West Cady ridge i made decided to camp there. But after reaching that point, i settled down long enough to eat dinner...the though of "sleeping" on the ground sounded dreadful. So i shouldered my pack and kept going. I reached my car, via head lamp..probably an hour or two past sunset. Yep...i did a 23 mile hike in a day, hauling backpacking gear and three days provisions.
That was the day, i started looking for a solution. Now years before that i had thought about a hammock...but i had too many questions. What if it rains, how do keep the rain from running down the suspension? How do i stay warm? etc, etc. It was not until i saw a post on nwhikers.net did i have any clue that people were hammocking in the winter and in rain in my area. So took pulled the trigger and purchased a Hennessy.
Fast forward to today. Now i'm a proud Warbonnet Black bird owner. I take my hammock even on a day hike. Since it's light enough it does not matter. I set up the hammock when i take a break. I have the option to take a nap after lunch, even on a day hike. I might even set it up three or four times depending on length of day hike. Try that with a tent. On a back packing trip, if i can't find trees, i would rather continue hiking all night if necessary to find them, rather than sleep on the ground....there will be no going to the ground in my hammock.
I have also found, that in the rain, a hammock is far far superior to any tent.
Haven't started yet, but I basically bought a bivy after judging confinement, got on Wb.. heard some stories about hammock camping (I love laying in any hammock...) got referenced over here, decided that I would throw some money in the bank as soon as I got some, $36 in the bank today, waiting for some more and the WBBB and Superfly...
At heart I have been a hammock camper for about 15 years. I bought and old Clark hammock and spent a few nights in it but I always froze my butt off so I had to go back to tents for a while. While looking at videos on youtube I rediscovered Clark hammocks and shug, and the whole hammock hanger community and the rest is history.
I am definately a noob. I have a total of 2 nights off the ground. I have been napping in hammocks since I was a kid. (I started out with an army surplus shelter half). My son bought me a no name hammock at BSA summer camp last year. I am in the process of adding a tarp and suspension, all DYI. I'll find out how well it works when the son and I go backpacking with the scouts the 21st. I'll post a picture soon.
I 'took to the trees' to get off the ground and to not have to carry a sleeping pad. I was also hoping to forgo a heavy sleeping bag by using Hennessy's underlayer, but that only worked in warmer temps (>50 degrees at night).
Last year I walked all the way around Lake Michigan and I camped part of the way. My asym performed well and gave me a comfortable night's sleep. My back felt pretty good even after carrying 45 pounds or more for 15+ miles, hanging at night, then getting up and doing it all over again. And I'm over 40.
My hammock will go along on more adventures in the future.
Here's the blog of my Lake Michigan adventure (A 1,000 Mile Walk on the Beach): LakeTrek.Blogspot.com
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