What do non-hammockers think?

[Pavel]

Pendule, no it wasn't meant as irony but I won't post anymore while drinking beer! I regret how lopsided the post was and the fact is that I am still interested in hammocks, but this time I will not assume that one can "just do it" ... that I need to learn a few things in a careful way first.


I took the first hammock with me a while after I bought (too soon - a classic mistake I guess) it and just simply struggled with my lack of understanding of knots. I cycled a part of the Atlantic Coast trail and discovered several aspects of hammocking that I had not counted on.
For example, I would go to bed in temperatures in the high nineties and found myself wishing that the tarp on that hennesy could be raised higher above the hammock because it felt stiffling. I'm sure an experienced person would have known how to do that but to me the dang thing was attached in a way that I didn't know how to change. So I'd go to bed in only shorts and slept as well as one does inside a sauna. I'd eventually falls asleep only to wake up when the temp dropped to the seventies to put on a shirt and then wake up again a few hours later from being wet from the condensation that seemed to wick through the bottom of the hammock.

I know I'm just simply not versed in the "ways" ... but despite my one sided post, I'm still game to try it again - though with more respect for the level of skill this time. I've grown up camping (in Europe) from the time I was three. I guess I didn't realize how much one learns over the years, to take for granted, until last year when I took a friend camping and watched him do things that I laughed at. Well you guys would sure be laughing at me and my newbie hammock ways. Just about the only dumb thing I've probably not done is hang the thing completely upside-down. (but give me more time)

So while I did and do perceive that information here is, shall we say "enthusiastic" about hammocks, you are right that that is to be expected and it still is the best place for information, for sure.

So just skip that post of mine. Too one sided, too sour ... for sure. Sorry bout that!

[cataraftgirl]

My rafting buddies refer to me as the "floor show" when I put up my hammock on river trips. They line up in their camp chairs to watch me set up my hammock, then wait for me to climb in and fall out. I guess the fact that the first time I used my hammock I forgot the back-up half hitch knot with my ring & webbing suspension and ended up on the ground didn't help my case very much. Now they think there's a chance for a laugh at my expense whenever I set up my hammock. I wised up and went to cinch buckles....no more pratfalls! Mostly they think it's just a fad that I'll out grow.

[Joz]

Took me three years, but I've got a buddy at work, one of his friends, AND my boss, converted to hanging. Not aggressively, just by hanging and talking about how awesome the sleep is.

Camping and such isn't uncommon here, so the usual comments include the prejudice that hammocks belong in the back yard and are made of canvas.

Biggest eyes I got was after the winter SKAHO this year when we dipped to -18 C.

But mostly, the reaction I get is "Well, Joz, you aint like everyone else, that's for sure."

[MuseJr]

After they see the hammock and lay in it, I don't get much of strange look at all. I have even had a few people admit they prefer to sleep in a hammock, but they didn't go off the deep end like I did. I catch more grief from saying I want to walk 5mi or so to get away from people. The typical response is "why not ride, we have horses for that stuff". I guess someday I'm gonna have to learn to ride.

[Catavarie]

My wife only looks at me like I'm crazy when I run out in the backyard with bad weather coming. Thunderstorms, snow, subfreezing temps, etc.

Of course I try to explain that its practice for when I'm in the woods and bad weather strikes. Then I just get the eye roll that I've gotten since we were dating and I would say something not quite normal.


Otherwise most people find the idea of sleeping in a hammock intriguing, but the camping part seems to weird them out.



Pavel send me a PM and let's see if we can get together to help resolve some of your hammocking problems.

[MAD777]

I think most folks that I encounter mostly think it's weird to be out in the woods. The hammock part of that is just a sub-set to the total reaction. They invariably want to know "why" I would want to be out in the woods when I have a bed at home. As I try to explain that, I see their eyes just glaze over with no comprehension. I guess there are backpackers and there are TV watchers. Whatever floats your boat.

[olddog]

Mike, that sounds like my best friend of 35 years. We spent 10 years tent camping in the Smokies but since he bought a motorhome he has no desire to 'camp' anymore.

[Jsaults]

Last fall I was camped at Raystown Lake in PA. Late in the afternoon one of the rangers (a lovely blonde woman who can cuff me any time she wants.........Did I say that out loud??) was driving through the campground looking for unregistered campers.

She slowly came to a halt at my site, and said to me "Looks like you win the 'Roughing It' award!". I had no idea what she was talking about, and I must have had a thoroughly dumbfounded look on my face. She motioned toward my CJH NX-250 and I realized what she was referring to.

I explained to her why I was actually going to sleep in the lap of luxury, but I don't think she was convinced.

Jim

[ernesthemmingway]

I dont think the fact that I enjoy hammocks is what people find strange, instead it is the enthusiasm. People dont understand why someone could be so interested in a piece of fabric that you sleep on. They just dont understand the addiction. I get lots of rolled eyes from the girlfriend, but hey there are much worse addictions out there.

[oldgringo]

...I get lots of rolled eyes from the girlfriend...

My wife's attitude was a mixture of loving indulgence and humor until the day I was working on a sock, and needed a crash test dummy to weight the hammock. About 2 minutes in, she sez, "Now I get it. I totally get it."