I've been practicing setting up my gear in local city parks just getting used to my gear, setting up tarps, general preparation kinda stuff for a big trip this spring - I don't want to be out on that first night and be figuring out basic setup stuff with a storm approaching . It seems like everytime I'm out there in the parks playing around, folks just passing thru stop and ask questions. I enjoy the questions because I find most folks are just curious in a friendly way. You gotta admit, hammocks in the woods do look unusual (especially with the tarp setup over it).
They ask me about the knots I use, the materials, is it safe, is it faster than setting up a tent. Most folks think I'm a naturalist doing experiments (Can't figure out the association with hammocks and natural science). One guy saw my HH and told me a hiking adventure of his with an early Speer hammock - how great is that? I tend to do the compare vs. contrast thing so folks can relate a bit better to why I hang vs. tenting. Other than that, I just keep to myself.
We hang because in our own experiences, that is what works best for us. We shouldn't concern ourselves with the opinions that others may have of our "suspended" sleeping preference - it is, after all, just another way to sleep at night.
You are a far calmer man than I. It was the unwritten rule that I saw on my thru. You didn't mess with someone else's gear. I can make no promises my response will be as calm as yours if that happened to any of my gear. Your gear is your every everything when your hiking. Most people I saw realized that.
Personally I had nothing but curiousity and good comments in person. I think all the negative online you see is from people that do too much online hiking and not enough real hiking, or online pack sniffers.
Is that too much to ask? Girls with frikkin' lasers on their heads?
The hanger formly known as "hammock engineer".
'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.” ― Mark Twain
Who cares about showers, gourmet food, using flush toilets. Just keep on walking and being away from it all.
There are times that the only way you can do something is to do it alone.
That's because I am probably the only tenter over here
But I have used a hammock before and will again but I still won't give up my tent either
Yeah it does but I just got back in a while ago from a nice 14 mile day hike on the Fiery Gizzard.
There is a difference about making derogatory comments about sleeping on the ground vs making the derogatory comment about a person who sleeps in a tent. I haven't seen you do that
I think anyone would get mad if someone cut the suspension on a hammock or put a hole in a person's tent. That is something that shouldn't happen. You can run into jerks who tent or hammock. Yep something would happen to their stuff overnight
'Classic.' A book which people praise and don't read.” ― Mark Twain
Who cares about showers, gourmet food, using flush toilets. Just keep on walking and being away from it all.
There are times that the only way you can do something is to do it alone.
I'm in the market for a tent with lots of mesh for the rivers.
In the next six months I'm going to pick up a killer deal on a used MLD or Oware tarp, like a 9x5 tapered one, and do the ultralight tarp/bivy thing for the cold months. It's not that bad, and is a lot cheaper than buying all those underquilts.
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