Camping and Backpacking GEAR thread

3 lbs

 

Got my first backpacking trip in the books this past weekend. Surprised how much I liked it. 11 miles, 2000 ft of climbing, one night. George Lake in CA. Subbed in here for some gear recommendations

 

Welcome to your next addiction. As a long-time backpacker, I will give you 3 bits of advice.

• Ruthlessly reduce your base weight. "Grams mean ounces and ounces mean pounds" is a true saying. The lighter the load, the more fun the hike.
• It doesn't have to be expensive. There are an insane amount of perfectly good, lightweight, equipment options out there today. The selection has never been better.
• Switching to a hammock was the best decision I ever made.

I am more than a bit of a gear hound if there is ever anything I can help with advice wise...

• Bonus advice, always ask if you REALLY need something before throwing it in the bag.

 

Why hammock out of curiousity? I've had my ENO for years and have been all throughout Europe and the states with it but I don't think I'd consider it as my sleeping situation for backpacking. I've done tons of hammock camping and I guess my biggest concern with it and backpacking is a wind screen. We were up at 9000 ft and it got cold and windy at night. Even with a 15 degree down feather sleeping bag, I still think I would've been cold in the hammock. Do you use another sheet between your sleeping bag and the hammock? A screen on top for whatever bugs, mosquitoes, etc.?

The lady friend and I sleep in a Nemo Hornet Elite 2P tent which is about as light as you can get, tent wise. Plus I have a inflatable pad and she has a foam pad, both from Nemo.

 

An underquilt can go a long ways for hammock camping in the cold. I've slept outside in the zero degree range with my hammock and no complaints. When it's really windy I just set myself way up in my rain fly.

Not the coldest of night got down around 20 with a steady 10-15mph wind coming from the left of the photo. Slept quite nicely in the hammock on the left... The guy with the green fly, not so much.

 

What underquilt do you use? And rain fly? The lady friend is getting a puppy soon so we'll be switching up our tents anyway, so she can sleep with the dog. Rather keep the tent we have since it's still new, and me sleep in a hammock, over buying a new 3P tent

 

I regularly camp at 11,000' for work/fun and use a hammock much of the time. Homemade underquilt, ultra light bag and a good tarp come to about the same weight as my ultra light tent set up, but more comfortable for me, especially for sitting out the afternoon rain squalls.

 

At 50, I find that sleeping on the ground, regardless of pad, sucks. I find my Hammock even more comfortable than my home bed but there was a learning curve. Hammocking is a system though. If I was starting over, (I'm 10 years into Hammocking) I'd do the following:

• A basic gathered end hammock 12' long hung from whoopie slings at a 30 degree angle
• A down under and over quilt at the temp rating that works for my body temp and weather (90% of the time I use a wide long Hammock gear 40 degree set with 2 oz overstuff)
• A Fronkey style bug net rather than integrated net.
• A "winter" style tarp.

 

I'm a cheap bastard and this was a short hike (<2 miles) in so weight wasn't a concern for me at all. That rain fly is a tarp from harbor freight and the underquilt was home made out of a comforter. This trip was very much unplanned. I mostly canoe camp at this point and have upgraded to a nylon rain fly off Amazon. Nothing Fancy. The home made underquilt remains though.

Canoe camping is the best IMO. I used to do quite a bit of backpacking but beer was too heavy to carry. Cooler fits nice in the boat. My SO and I paddle into different places a few times a month and set up. Distances range from an easy 10 miles a weekend to around 40, but never much past that.

Edit: We also just bought a new REI Half Dome 2+ tent also with the intention of a puppy. The dog will come shortly...

 

This.

Before you pack make two piles. One for needed and one for wanted. Once done take the wanted pile and get rid of it. Now do it again. You don't need 90% of the shit people bring.

I'm not a hiker but I do backpack a lot to reach either fishing or climbing objectives. My fully loaded alpine climbing pack with food and overnight gear ways less then most peoples basic backpacking set-up. Keep in mind I'm carrying a rope and a rack. lol

 

Man this thing keeps popping up in my FB feed and is quickly gaining my interest. I don't have a shell but some dude posted a pic of extending it out perpendicular from his Tacoma tied to the driver's side door/roof. That looked awesome for a shade structure or rain cover.

 

That is the one configuration I haven’t tried yet! But I believe they posted a photo of it with a Jeep on their site. It is essentially a side awning at that point, but more versatile and affordable.

I’m not sure if they’re still on sale, but I am very impressed for the price. Now that I have done the setup and my lines are set to a general length and all tied in, I can have it up in 5 minutes or so

 

What do the clips look like? Something that would work with a prinsu?

Is it just the things that go around the wheel?

 

The taco was in the comments section

 

They have clips to go around stokes of wheels but they also have three clips between those that are made specifically for racks. Those come standard, so they would work just fine!

 

That is an awesome setup!

 

If you get the hammock nice and tight between the trees, slap an inflatable thermarest in there, youll be good down to about 15 degrees. At least I am and I only rock a 20 degree bag. Like said, just make sure when you hang the tarp, you just have it touching the hammock if its going to be windy that night. Itll keep you up under the tarp and out of the wind a bit better.

Ive never actually used a underquilt on my hammock but ive never camped in the north or west where it gets significantly colder than it does in the appalachian mountains.

 

The pad thing works pretty well it is just a little less convenient. Shug on Youtube has a great video on pads in a hammock. He covers ways to make pads work better in a hammock that you probably wouldn't think of on your own. A double layer is better for that (I have made some with an opening between the layers to insert the pad but a single layer works. JUST a sleeping bag is basically useless since you end up compressing the lower insulation and freezing your tush off unless you use it around the hammock like a 'peapod' but that is generally reserved for REALLY cold camping. Here is the video I was talking about from Shug. He is an acquired taste but has awesome info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mekhYiSaNz4

 

Sweet. Gonna save this video for later

 

Shug will get you right!

I switched to a hammock last year and have never slept better while camping. Down quilts are well worth the money and are less hassle than a sleeping pad used with a traditional bag IMO.