I sleep each night in a hammock at home. The thing is, to use a hammock
when hiking, you really have to arrange the trip differently. It's more
than just a mental adjustment in perspective. Ralph, as the leader,
gets to choose hammock spots. I may be the leader, in that the trip is
so I can collect data, but I'm rarely the one choosing the camping spots.
So, the biggest drawback I've found for using a hammock on hiking trips
is I'm not the one choosing the camping spots. My husband is tent
oriented. Sometimes, we have a guide and he is tarp oriented (he likes
cooking over an open fire, too). Not only that, but all trail and route
descriptions (used by my husband) and all memories (used by the guide)
are based on traveling from tent site to tent site. Trying to adjust
the trip to accommodate a hammock can get complicated (and this is
without considering the fact some nights will be in the sub-alpine zone
where trees are rare). My husband and guides, being much more familiar
with Taiwan's trails, are in charge of route planning. If I'm the only
one in a hammock, then I'm going to be at least 10 m away from everyone
else and usually 50-100 m away. Also, I like the bedtime chats that
come with sharing a tent with my husband.
If we did focus on identifying spots suitable for a hammock, then
they're not going to be suitable for a tent. Almost all the hikes I've
been on since I started paying attention to camping hammocks have decent
hammock camp sites, but very few would have had a suitable tent spot
within talking distance. In some areas, any camping spot not at the
shelter would have been illegal (i.e. in places where everyone is
supposed to use shelters). In this last case, I really wouldn't mind
being illegal because I, at least, would get a good nights sleep! The
problem is, legal or illegal, decent hang locations can be as much as
several hundred meters uphill from or below the shelters or tent sites
(so much for evening chats with my husband).
That said, we have had a problem in that many of our hikes have been
along disused logging roads. The process of creating the roads makes it
hard to find decent places to hang. I've had to do some real climbing
and add extra lengths of rope to set up hangs that cross the road.
Better places for the hang would be 10-30 m off the road, but in Taiwan
everything is so steep we do everything on the road: camp, cook,
cat-holes. Admittedly, the tents don't have it much easier. Even after
years of disuse, the rock rubble of the roads is usually so compacted
that it's often impossible to drive a stake. We usually scavenge for
large rocks to hold stakes (always a landslide nearby). On these roads,
tents also have a problem with flooding--if they're planted in the route
the water will take when it starts raining.
The next biggest drawback is weight. If my husband is already carrying
a tent ... then the lightest option for me is to carry a quilt and
sleeping mat. I've crunched the numbers. Actually, though, I end up
carrying tent, quilt, and both sleeping mats (large neo-airs) and he
carries most of the food. If I could ensure he carried the tent and his
sleeping mat AND most of the food... well, quilt and sleeping mat would
still be the lightest option for me.
The third problem is temperature. I'm cold any time it goes below 12*C.
I'm especially cold in the evenings. This mean that to stay warm in
the hammock requires more gear and that entails more weight. When the
temperatures drop below 5*C, it's like I can't get the underquilt
adjusted correctly. It is adjusted correctly, as I find when we return
to lower elevations, it's just me that won't warm up. In these
situations, I can feel warmth radiating back from my quilt, but not from
my underquilt. Also, if I carry a quilt instead of a sleeping mat, then
I've not got a 'ground' option for times when it's just impossible to
set up a hang (sub-alpine zone--whether Taiwan actually has an alpine
zone is rather hotly debated).
My husband agrees that I sleep better in a hammock. Sleeping well is
really important for being functional during the day. So we're still
trying to figure out our options. On the other hand, a lighter pack is
also important for being functional during the day. Right now, it has
really come down to the numbers: weight.
I've had a little of the same trouble when traveling: how to keep using
the hammock. I built a hammock frame at my in-laws, so that's sorted.
At my parents, I bought a US$25.00 folding hammock frame (from Target)
that I can also take on road-trips. This frame will only support a
7-foot hammock, making it on the short side, even for me (but it still
works better than beds and tatami). The problem is what to do when
visiting other relatives in Taiwan and when flying into hotel-stays.
None of these places will have ways to support a hammock (I can see
weird bondage questions coming up if rooms were equipped for
hammocks...). To get some sleep in these places, I've coped by using
my large neo-air and lots and lots of pillows (and sometimes my small
neo-air). Fortunately, lightweight backpacking isn't just for
backpacking: the neo-airs and my quilt very easily fit into my carry-on.
CL
who has come to realize that life is really just a long camping trip.