Stand out, or blend in, and why?

[Mumbles]

In the woods I blend. In life I choose to stand out.
Shug the Full of Hisself

Understatement of the year?

I mostly blend. Tents come pretty bright, glad hammocks are more reasonably muted.

[webhanger]

I like to blend. I go out to neither bother or be bothered. Blending gives me the choice of being friendly or keep my solitude. But I do carry a couple of signaling devices for emergency needs. I have yet to loose my base camp so I don't bother to mark it.

[Demeter]

This is something I put a lot of thought into, since I think women in the woods have a little more to consider regarding safety. I like to be seen by hunters and have some type of visibility in the event of an emergency, but I prefer to blend when I am by hiking by myself or at campsites at night.

My daypack has a bright yellow rain cover built in, so when I am out this time of year I use that for visibility. I traded up my silverish cuben tarp for a camo one, and changed out the lines from nite-ize reflective to non-reflective zing-it except for the lower foot of the line. That way I won't trip over lines at night, but someone scanning the woods at night with a headlamp is less likely to see my camp. I frequently backpack with a large group, but really like my privacy at camp and this set up really works well.

[Meggark]

I like to blend. Stealth isn't necessary here but I like peace and quiet and don't want people coming over for a look. I don't intentionally hide though. Plus it's nice to have the option to go stealth when traveling in areas you aren't really allowed to camp. I always have a big orange survival bag in case of emergency, plus if doubles as an emergency bivvy if the hanging or tent options really suck.

Edit: I don't use camo unless doing hunting that requires it, which isn't often.

[tri-pod bob]

I try to become 1 with my surroundings...thus natural, muted colors....including camo where/when appropriate.

[Wanderlost]

I do my best to blend in, so my gear has a lot of greens, blacks, and browns. The blending in isn't totlaly for me though. While I do like to find the quietness, including visual, I'm usually looking out FROM my hammock, not necessarily at it. The view is always better when lying down anyway. I also try to blend in for others. Having been on the viewing end of a gawdy setup and having it ruin my experience in the woods, I like to try to blend in so that I don't ruin someone else's solitude.

Thatg being said, I always wear my dingy orange ball cap. It's good to have something bright for rescue purposes and hunters usually won't shoot orange....usually.

[Beast 71]

I think that blending in is courteous to other campers. I figure people are there to look at nature not my tarp.

[bmwrider]

Ok well first off.
-Most backpacking camp sites are designated, so blending does not prevent being noticed when the trail leads to camp sites.
-If you are camping in non designated areas then blending can be preferred, and can reduce chances of being disturbed.

I do both, I love the military look but I also own bright colors, standing out is a safety advantage when camping in less populated areas, in places that getting lost is a possibility you want search and rescue to have a better chance of finding you.
Only a fool thinks he will never need help in the back country.

I teach backpacking and this is just my 2 cents

[Beast 71]

Not all camping is backpacking. In paddle camping camp sights are often visible for quite a ways across the water. It's a good idea to have something vivid and flashy with for signaling, but I don't need to be signaling all the time with bright gear.

[altruistguy]

I generally like standing out as much as possible -- just the kind of guy I am.

BUT ... when I went to buy my first HH, I found that I could get it in any color that I wanted -- so long as that color happened to be "Coyote Brown", or whatever their color is called.

At first I didn't like that (again, due to my preference for bright colors and generally standing out). But then I got to appreciating the benefits of "blending in". Among them:

- Often, when I'm hanging, I'm doing it in a place which isn't really intended for any sort of camping. I'm thinking that folks are less likely to complain if they don't notice my rig at all!

- Many of us are getting fancy expensive equipment. I'm thinking that it is less likely to "walk away" and/or be vandalized if folks don't notice it in the first place. On the other hand, the sort of mega-bright colors which otherwise attract me effectively "dare" folks to "do something" about it -- and many of the possible responses thereto negatively affect the hammocker in question.

So, (somewhat reluctantly and disappointingly) I'm officially on the side of muted colors for hammocks and hammock-associated gear.