Hi everyone, I was quite fascinated with hammocks for some time now and finally decided to get one. Since many of the common retailers are a little hard to come by (especially on short notice) in germany, I went with an exped scout (not the scout combo). Upon arrival I tried it in a nearby park and had a lovely afternoon. Due to a scarce supply of suitable trees and minimal suspension equipment the hammock was extremely saggy but still quite comfortable. My only problem was that sometimes my head or feet slipped a little to the outside and hung off the edge. I guess this should be less of a problem if there is a little less sag in the hammock.
This weekend I went out for an 80km round-trip hike in middle germany. We started friday evening with around 15km in light rain and stayed for the night at a small bad weather hut. Again, the available posts were quite close together and I build an extremely saggy lay. Temperature wise it was not quite freezing and my -4C rated (top) quilt plus my thick closed cell foam mattress should have been enough. Of course I couldn't get rid of some cold spots even though it felt warm overall. It was a long fight to try to eliminate all cold spots and not really successful and after half an hour of wriggling I was so frustrated that a forced trip to the bush convinced my to stay out of the hammock for this night. It was warmer but immediately after putting the foam mattress on the ground and lying down my lower back startet hurting again ... as always. Anyways it was still a cold night but I did get some sleep.
[Next day, really nice weather, extremely sunny, very long, walked deep into the night]
We tried to find some other shelter that was on the map but apparently not in the woods. Thus after some discussion we decided against walking through the night and go to sleep without any weather protection (as we got rid of the heavy 3x4m tarp earlier that day) - the forecast promised a clear night. The setup for the hammock was a little better as we found trees a little further apart. My hiking buddy slept on the ground half under the hammock. This night I didn't put my mattress into the footbox of the quilt but simply put it in the hammock first and then the quilt on top, which made entry and wriggling a lot easier. It was extremely comfortable lying and also not too cold overall. At half past 11 we had lights out and I tried to fall asleep. Sadly, the weather apparently provided excellent conditions for some late night farming activities and thus there was a loud farming vehicle on nearby farm land (you see I'm an expert in farming terminology and procedures). Again I had to fight with cold spots but not as bad as the night before. My guess is that between 1 and 2 in the morning I fell asleep and shortly after woke up as my feet slide out of the hammock.
Intermitted sleeping kept me in bed(?) till 5, then I woke my hiking buddy and we broke camp. It was extremely cold and after leaving the hammock I started shaking uncontrollably. It was hard to put on pants and shoes. We packed up quickly and started walking out of the woods and slowly down a meadow covered with frost. The sun came up but still didn't provided too much warmth until around 8 when we had breakfast and started to feel human again.
So the first thing I did after coming back was ordering an UQ.
Now I'm heading to the city to get some 8-strand braided rope i guess :-)
Apart from the cold it felt really good to lie in the Hammock, lets see if I'll get from lying in the hammock to sleeping in it eventually ;-)
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You will find an immediate difference with the UQ. With the hammock, underquilt, and more versatile rope options, your buddy is going to be jealous next time you go out.
Originally Posted by Montanan
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