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I get asked this question often and depending on the audience, I’ll answer it in different ways.
My big three standard responses are comfort, cleanliness, and staying dry.
For me and many others, the experience of being suspended in a hammock is akin to being swaddled or gently cradled and swayed.
Positioned properly, the body’s weight is distributed across the full length and width of the fabric. A properly designed camping hammock will offer support in just the right places. Absent are the pressure points or protrusions common to sleeping on the ground, a cot, or a similar mattress.
Being comfortable also means staying warm, and I’ve found no better substitute for keeping my bum toasty than an appropriately attached underquilt–such as is included in our Journeyman Hammock Camp.
Setting up and sleeping in a hammock leaves dirt where it belongs–in nature. There’s no floor to make contact with the ground. And if you’re careful when removing your shoes, there’s little opportunity for sand or soil or leaves or grass to make their way inside to the bed. With the Journeyman Hammock Camp’s integrated bug net, those pesky little insects stay outside with the dirt, too.
One of my favorite aspects of hammocking is how it keeps me dry. The shelter system or tarp sheds rain in much the same way as a tent’s rainfly. However, while in a hammock, any water that runs across the ground passes along instead of stopping to make a pool in your home. There are no sides on which falling Godzilla drops can splash dirt and debris, either.
Best of all, when breaking camp, the entire bed stays protected from the elements as it can be stuffed into its sack while the shelter remains in place.
In my experience, these are practical reasons to choose hammock camping. They make sense to most people and can be quickly and easily demonstrated.
There are other, less tangible reasons to hang though, too.
Hanging, while definitely popular in certain circles, is still a fringe activity. It doesn’t commonly appear in the ubiquitous mental image elicited when one mentions “camping.”
Quite often when introducing hammock camping to a crowd of people, there will be those who envision a woven net-style hammock on a dangerously wobbly metal stand that they recall from their grandparents’ backyard.
When these same people are shown the glory that is the camping hammock, they are typically shocked to have had no idea such a thing existed.
The challenge of finding a good hang is also a major attractant for me. The inevitable and valid question of “what do you do when there are no trees” provides an opportunity to showcase some of the more creative problem-solving that makes a hammock adventure memorable.
I’ve gone to extremes to find ways to put my butt into that comfy sling, even if an easier alternative was available.
An old child’s playset discovered along the edge of a truck stop. The exposed posts of an abandoned and derelict building. The load rails on the inside of a U-Haul box truck. The frame of my motorcycle. I’ve employed these and other non-traditional anchors in the service of keeping me off of the ground.
Further, it’s just plain fun. The idea of going against the grain and defying gravity appeals to the playful part of me that still relishes in the idea of rebelling against authority. “Who says you can float and sleep in the air?”
I do, that’s who. And I’m doing it. Right. Now.
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