[pct-l] Hammock camping and bugs

[Brian Lewis]

FreeTheWeasel listed a lot of advantages and disadvantages of hammocks.  I
would add that as with so much else in the backpacking world, some of this
is of course subjective.  Many, perhaps most find comfort to be an advantage
of hammocks; I sometimes find that whichever one I'm in, I miss comfort
advantages of the other.  A hammock is a sort of guaranteed comfort level in
terms of no roots or rocks, and some find they can't sleep well in the woods
in any other way, but when I'm in my hammock I sometimes miss the simple
ability to lean on level & solid ground, spread my stuff out without it all
ending up underneath me, that sort of thing.

In terms of flexibility, I was really attracted to hammock camping for that
reason --- the idea of having an easier time finding places to camp (and
away from where animals are habituated to humans camping there). But it's
not the panacea I had imagined --- sometimes I'll actually find good tent
sites before I find a good hang site.  For example, if the only trees are
young trees with a lot of understory, and/or they're growing too closely
together, or there's too much underbrush. Or of course, no trees at all.

The temperature issue is for me ultimately a weight and bulk issue.  I had
initially thought I'd switch to a hammock sometime in California, but in
shake-down trips the year before I found that I just couldn't get "weight
neutral", i.e., to be reliably warm enough (under as well as over) I needed
to carry significantly more weight and bulk in terms of hammock & related
stuff than I would with a single wall tent and ground padding.  So I
ultimately did the whole trip without using my hammock, and was happy to
have done so.    For most of California and much of Oregon it was often
fairly easy to find places to put up a tent.  Only in WA state was there a
relative dearth of open space apart from cleared campsites, but I live in WA
and per above, even there sometimes I had as hard a time finding hang
sites.   YMMV, of course, and perhaps a lot --- I don't mean to argue or
refute anyone else's view, just to share my own.

I second the comment on learning curve --- of anything I've done in the
backpacking world, getting reliably comfortable, dry, warm, etc in a hammock
had the longest learning curve of anything I've tried, so I wouldn't suggest
converting to this approach at the last minute (!).

Dang, I don't mean to come across as a hammock-hater, there are times and
places where it's a very cool experience, and in particular I've sometimes
been able to setup camp at or near what otherwise would have been a "full"
campsite situation, a hammock just doesn't often compete for prime tent real
estate.


Brian Lewis / Gadget '08
http://postholer.com/brianle