A Wednesday Night Hammock Hang

There is nothing in this post about motorcycles (except that I didn’t ride mine on this adventure).  The hammock guys had a plan: After work we drive up to a beautiful spot, hang the hammocks, tell some stories, enjoy the scenery, sleep and then head to work in the morning.

A brief note about product mentions:  There aren’t any sponsors of this site.  All of the gear mentioned has been purchased by us.  We don’t owe anyone any favorable mentions.

There were four of us on this mini camping trip.  Since the names will be changed to protect the innocent, here are the intros with a brief gear list.

Mr. Cuben Fiber:  Mr CF owns everything Z-Packs produces.  It was inspirational.  The entire weight of his cuben fiber pack, tarp, jacket, ground sheet, various utility bags was actually -376 grams.  That’s right.  If you used his stuff, it reduced the weight of the contents!  OK, seriously, Mr. CF had some beautiful gear.  Given that no one makes a cuben fiber hammock, he was using a Hennessy hammock (bottom loader) suspended via home made whoopie slings and tree straps.  Most of his hardware was titanium from Dutchware.  Mr. CF had some great stories about bears.  He was the only one of us that braved a swim in the lake. It was my first time hanging with Mr. CF.

Mr. Gossamer Gear:  Mr GG has great taste in hammocks.  He sports an awesome Warbonnet Blackbird (whoopie slings and tree straps) and Warbonnet Superfly tarp. That’s a great setup.  He can’t be called Mr. Warbonnet as I also feature Warbonnet hammocks and tarp.  Could be confusing.  His pack is an awesome Gossamer Gear unit. Versatile and light.  Clearly not in the negatives like Mr. CF’s Arc Blast.  Last year, Mr. GG inspired me on our canoe trip to take my gear to the next level.  This year he upped the ante with his Tinny stoves. For the record, the stove is not on my must acquire list.  Sorry, Mr. GG.

Mr. Clark:  Mr. C (not to be confused with Howard Cunningham) is my hammock inspiration.  He is the one that introduced me to the beauty of sleeping in the air.  Mr C was hanging in his Clark Jungle Hammock with Clark Tarp.  Mr. C was showing off his new eGear Splash Flash light.  It was awesome.  Unfortunately Mr. C did not acquire one of these lights for me.  He does deserve a shot a redemption so I will let this oversight slide for now.

Me:  I’m a Warbonnet guy.  I have the Blackbird and Superfly just like Mr. GG, but I also have the most awesome hammock ever created:  The Warbonnet Ridge Runner.  This hammock is a bridge hammock and takes just seconds to “dial in”.  I have made plenty of whoopie slings but have reverted to the stock web suspension based on advice from Mr. C.  The Warbonnet Web suspension is ultra easy to adjust.  My hammock was setup and dialed in within a few minutes.  I really like the Blackbird but find it takes much longer to get “just right” to have the structural ridge line perfect and to eliminate calf pressure.  I was using my Hammock Gear Burrow 20 degree top quilt (over stuffed and 2″ wider than stock). Mr. GG has the same quilt.  I ordered mine after seeing his on the canoe trip last year.  My under quilt is a Warbonnet Yeti 3 Season.  I’ve added extra bungie so it works on my Ridge Runner.  I also brought my new Go-Lite Jam 50 pack.  It did not get nearly as much attention as the Z-Packs pack that Mr. CF brought, but I like it.  At about 1/4 the price of the Z-Pack and only twice the weight (still under 900 grams), I’ll stick with my Go-Lite.  I also have the Go-Lite Shangri-La 3 tent for when I have to sleep on the ground.

We had fun and the trees were beautiful.  Mr. GG mentioned how the sweet sound of Mr. C and I snoring helped him have a great night’s sleep.  I forgot to give Mr. GG some ear plugs.  Next time!

Special thanks to Mr. C for getting me into hammock camping and to the other guys for providing an endless shopping list for me.  Next virtual visit is to Dutchware.  Then I need some more Zing-It.

Here is some evidence.