Since any time someone proposes a hammock as a possible camping shelter in a thread inhabited by tent users, the tenters frequently make unfounded assumptions based on... don't know what, either their time in a net hammock in the yard, or just having no real information.... Here is a list of myths and facts about the modern day, specially made camping hammock.

MYTH: I can't sleep on my side.

FACT: You can in fact sleep on your back, stomach, side, or some combination of those not possible on the ground or in your bed. You do have to have the correct model of hammock if you want to sleep on your stomach, but most camping hammocks it is entirely possible and often more comfortable to sleep on your side.

MYTH: I can't use a hammock where there are no trees.

FACT: Yes, you can. You may not always be able to hang it like a hammock, however. Fully bugnetted hammocks can be used as bug bivies, and the tarp you use with the hammock should be sufficient to pitch as rain shelter. And you can hang from things other than trees.

MYTH: I'll get motion sickness.

FACT: I've known folks who loved their hammock despite chronically suffering motion sickness when riding in autos, planes, etc. Some hammocks have tie-downs to reduce motion, but often once you get in, you don't notice the slight sway and it will quickly stop. I have found sleeping in a hammock in a wind is more stable than sleeping in a tent, if pitched properly. With your weight inside and a well pitched tarp of sufficient size, the hammock doesn't blow around.

MYTH: It's too claustrophobic.

FACT: I'm claustrophobic. I hate dark tents. A two person dome just for me was too confining. A bugnetted hammock feels less claustrophobic to me - I pair it with a nice large tarp that is pitched wide open, sometimes thrown back so I can wake to a view of a mountain range or lake, and watch for falling stars as I fall asleep. If it starts to rain at night I can be up, have the tarp set out, and back in the hammock in seconds.

The hammock I have is a type that does not constrict my movement at all, allows me to spread out and move, and has no shoulder squeeze whatsoever. So claustrophobes have a good chance of finding a model that works for them.

MYTH: I have a bad back so I can't hammock.

FACT: This is what drives some backpackers into hammocks. Bad knees, bad backs, and the ability to use the hammock as a chair and a bed, so they never have to get up off the ground. I had chronically sore hips that got worse over the duration of a pack trip. Soreness went away once I started hammocking, and I would wake earlier and have more morning to enjoy before I eagerly hit the trail again.

MYTH: You get cold in a hammock.

FACT: You only get cold if you're careless. You can use the same gear you used in a tent to stay warm. You'll need bottom insulation in a hammock from about 70-60F down, but it doesn't need to be complicated - a poncho liner suspended against the hammock bottom works for warmer temps, a sleeping pad, a cheap sleeping bag bungeed like an underquilt, one of those reflective truck size windshield shades, a poncho with some trash bags full of leaves -- this is one of those endless variation-on-a-theme DIY factories that the geeky backpackers love, because there are so many ways to get your bum warm while hanging in a piece of fabric that it gets fun to see how light and warm you can go. In a pinch, if you manage to go out without your bottom insulation? You might be able to pile up a ton of leaves, suspend the hammock over them, and lower the bottom into the leaves, and if it isn't freezing out you might be comfortable.

MYTH: Hammocks and all the gear gets too heavy for me.

FACT: It can, and frequently hammockers who are comfort driven go crazy with gear, but it doesn't have to be. You can hammock as light as you want to go. As mentioned before, all you need is the pad you would use anyway, the sleeping bag you would use anyway, the hammock and the tarp - bugnets are light and easy to add to any hammock. The nice thing about hammocking - you can take anything you want, and it's easy to mix and match gear to customize your shelter.

Considerations for hammock camping:

Where and when you are going - determines insulation needed and size of tarp. Winter hammockers exist and love their pulks, they can take a folding stove and hammock hut with a chimney jack, and sit inside their shelter drinking tea while it snows. Summer hammockers can get away with just the hammock, small tarp, and a Neat Sheet underquilt with a fleece blanket for a top cover. People heading over alpine passes might take some climbing nuts for a rock face hang, and a sleeping pad for if a night on the ground is necessary. Mix and match is where it's at.

Site selection - Anywhere you have a tree or two.



No one said you had to actually have two trees! An oak of sufficient age works.

Here we have obstacles to overcome:



Poison oak covered tree on the right, dead log, brush, and the open space for the hammock is within two feet of the other tree. But with the right suspension it worked. In this particular hang I threw a DriDucks poncho over the bugnet instead of using a tarp (yep, that's my hammock). I was sleeping without the tarp and enjoyed watching the moon rise, but around 2 am it began to freeze - woke to frost on everything! The poncho (with gaps at head and foot so I could breathe) provided some warmth inside the hammock. I didn't have a top cover with me. Beautiful hang in a steep sided river canyon on the California coast.

What if you want a nap without trees? Say, in the uplands of the British Isles? Are there rocks?

What if you are forced into a skanky hotel room and don't like the bed? Got hammock?

Hammock sites are only limited by your imagination and the length of your suspension, really. You do have to take into consideration that physics demands some really sturdy anchors at each end of your hammock. Don't hang from dead trees. Be careful of dead branches in the trees as well - this goes for tenters too, a dead branch can wreck a tent easily. Don't hang across obvious animal trails - elk and deer should have the right of way. But you can hang over almost anything, rocks, brush, roots, the side of a hill (not if you sleepwalk!) - my very first hammocking backpack, I managed to hang over poison oak. But I didn't get it. smile

Leave No Trace! Hammocks are ideal for leave no trace advocates - they literally leave nothing but footprints. If you get a hammock with ropes to tie to the trees, swap them out for polypro or polyester webbing/straps an inch or more wide. (Nylon stretches every time you use it; poly will stretch a little and stop.) Use trees of 4" diameter or bigger. A large branch of a too-large oak or pine will work, too.

Where to put the gear? Well, that's easy enough. Note the pack hanging from the hammock suspension above and the pile of stuff in the bugnetting? My clothes go in the shelf of my Warbonnet Blackbird. Other gear is stashed in the pack, still, and my food is somewhere nearby in the bear can. There were a lot of ticks in the grass and I didn't feel like picking them out of my stuff. The hammock straps are doused in permethrin.

If my rambling tangent-y summary has prompted any questions... odds are they have been asked at hammockforums.net. Other handy resources for the noob-to-hammocks can be found at:

Just Jeff's Hammock page

Risk has a cheap hammock you can make

Warbonnet Hammocks has some resources as well

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"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there are few." Shunryu Suzuki

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