Hammock camping is more comfortable, more enjoyable and even easier to setup and take down, without the sacrifices often associated with ultralight or minimalist gear.
The important thing for many people to realize is that leaving the tent behind and switching to a hammock isn't about roughing it more or sacrificing comfort for the sake of minimalism – in fact, it's just the opposite.
But, convincing yourself to head out into the woods without the one thing that has always been a part of your camping experience is no easy task. To get there, you'll need to understand the WHY behind hammock camping.
How many times have you tossed and turned at night in a tent because of a badly placed rock or tree root that you didn't realize was there when you set your tent up?
Or maybe you found the softest patch of ground around and didn't realize that it was actually on a slight decline, so you feel like you're sleeping on a hill all night. Snow Hammock Camping
With a hammock, you'll never again care what the ground looks like underneath you.
You can camp on a hill. You can camp over rocks, roots, stumps, and even snow and wet ground and have the exact same comfort every single night no matter what's beneath you.
People always ask if it's harder to find a spot to set up a hammock than a tent. The answer is an easy NO. Because the ground no longer matters, I've often got my hammock setup long before my tent companions have even finished looking for a perfect patch of ground to place their tent.
With a hammock hanging kit like our Rope and Carabiner Bundle, you don't have to look for two perfectly spaced trees, you simply adjust where you hook your hammock into the straps to accommodate the distance and hop in.
This is one of my favorite benefits to being in a hammock and sometimes the hardest to convey until you experience it for yourself.
Hammock fresh air. If you're a tent camper, you'll often feel a strong sense of pride when you see someone camping in an RV. “What's the point? "You think, “Aren't you supposed to be out here to get outside?” Real campers use tents, not big trucks with kitchens and bathrooms and beds, right?
But, the first night you fall asleep and wake up in a hammock you'll realize something instantly - you've been shutting yourself in a lighter, thinner, and more cramped 'mobile home’ every time you've camped in a tent.
In a tent you lose the air flow (even with the windows open), you lose the stars, you can't stand up to do anything and you can't easily see what's around you. You often fall asleep in a cold box and wake up in a hot and stuffy box and, if you're lucky, you didn't roll over into that puddle that's somehow accumulated in the corner even though your tent's supposed to be waterproof.
When you fall asleep in your hammock, you'll fall asleep breathing fresh air that's flowing freely around you and it's almost impossible to truly appreciate the difference it makes until you experience it yourself.
When you wake up, you'll feel the breeze on your face instead of the tent's sauna effect and you'll realize that you're exactly where you want to be.
You'll spend the first 20 minutes of your day listening and actually watching the wind rustle the leaves around you. You'll watch clouds filter by, birds hop from tree to tree and maybe even see a beautiful sunrise without doing anything but opening an eye.
You'll be comfortable, relaxed and ready to start your day when you're ready and not when you feel like you need to escape the tent.
What you should know about hammock camping?
