Hammock Camping

Intro

Have you ever thought about going camping in a hammock? All through my youth in scouting and even into my early adulthood, I can honestly say that I never even considered camping in a hammock. I had my trusty tent and took it with me every time I went camping. Boy do I wish I would have discovered the joy in hammock camping sooner!

In Troop 2319, you must be a First Class scout to camp in a hammock on scout outings. Additionally, Troop 2319 does not allow the stacking or swinging of hammocks for safety reasons.

Check out all the info below so you  are ready to start hammock camping!

 

Hammocks vs Tents – The Basics

There’s a lot of great things about hammock camping, but overall, the big ones are:

 

How to Start Hammock Camping and the Gear

One of the great things about hammock camping is that you can buy only the parts of the gear the you want at any given time. If you’re new to hammock camping, you might start out with just a hammock and a set of straps and only try sleeping in it when it’s warm and dry. Once you know if you like it, you can start purchasing a more complete setup until you’re able to hammock camp regardless of the weather!

Before we start try out this quick game to make sure you know what each part of hammock gear is for.

How to Pick the Right Gear

Wondering what you need? Already search ‘hammocks’ on Amazon feeling a bit overwhelmed? We get it! Let’s look at each part of a good hammock setup piece by piece and go from there:

Hammock: So, starting with the hammock itself. No in days, most hammocks are made of pretty similar material and pretty similar quality, so what should you look for? Make sure you look at the actual dimensions of the hammock, different brands will call different sizes “single” and “double” so you should know EXACTLY what size you’re getting. We recommend getting a decent sized “double” for most scouts as “singles” are usually only suitable for smaller scouts/adults. Other than than, its mostly just down to reading reviews, seeing what comes with it, and making the best purchase you can! An always trustworthy brand is of course Eno, but you won’t be saving any pennies there. If you want to get more for your money, try a lesser known brand. Spend the most time looking at hammocks, once you pick one, everything else falls into place pretty easily.

Straps: IF your selected hammock comes with ropes to hang it rather than straps, you MUST purchase and use proper hammock straps that protect the trees from damage. These are all basically the same, pretty much any brand will do.

Rain Fly: Again, pretty much any fly will do, just check the dimensions and make sure it is big enough to cover your selected hammock size.

Underquilt: If you intend to hammock in 60 degrees or below, and udnerquilt is a must. The wind whipping across an unprotected hammock can cause you to chill in even warmer temps. When choosing an underquilt, check its temperature rating, packing size, and decide if want a 3 season underquilt (good for 90% of camping we do in Troop 2319) or if you want to get a full winter underquilt. A full winter one will be bulkier all the time, but you’ll never be cold. A 3 season will be good almost all the time, and when its not, sometimes its just better to switch back to a tent for a single outing a year.

Bug Net: Some people love them, some people hate them, honestly, this is more of an extra item for most people. Here in Georgia, you can get away without a bug net most of the year.  They’re almost always more of a pain than they’re worth.

 

 

Tips and Tricks to Lower your Impact while Hammock Camping

 

 

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