Different gear lists are a big reason why talking about backpacking is so fun for me. Four or five years ago when I first started hammock camping, I had gotten a 20$ Travel Hammock from my mom for Christmas. I'd never heard of hammock camping, and spent the next 5-10 overnights fiddling with a hammock setup that didn't take 45 minutes.

I absolutely loved the hours and hours of debate about hammock setup that were a part of this. Plus, I got to end up converting most of my backpacking buddies.

Imagine moments like when we "discovered" you could put a cheap closed cell pad in a hammock and eliminate the draft - or we learned online that there was such a thing as an underquilt.

We never did bring climbing equipment and try to set up a multi-day tree camp 40' in the air though.....