Mine was actually my first trip to the BWCA. I had joined a foursome of guys and we had paired up in tents. One of the guys was in outdoor sales and had a bunch of eno demo stuff with. He slept in it one of the nights and I was intrigued. I asked If I could try it and on the last night of the trip on Oyster lake I put my sleeping pad into a hammock instead of on the ground. I was at first very afraid of the exposure and openness sleeping under just a tarp without walls, but didn't want to let that on to the other guys so I toughed through it. I had a 3/4 length backpacking thermarest pad, and struggled to stay on it all night. I woke up cold plenty of times. Around midnight a light rain began and persisted into the next morning. I stayed extremely dry, while one of our tents ended up in a puddle. I was amazed that I could eat breakfast and pack up my stuff while staying dry under the tarp and I was sold.

Ive come a long way up to now; I sew my own custom hammock/tarp/quilt gear, and it would be a special situation to get me back in a tent. But if anyone camping with me asks if they can try my hammock I am more than happy to say yes. (wife was the first person I converted)

How did you start?

I brought a rope hammock with on my solo to Quetico in 1988 and remember sleeping overnight in it on Isabella. I remember this because a mouse had climbed from the tree onto my hanging straps and scared me to death.

I bought a proper sleeping hammock with bugnet in 2009 and did a 8 night trip with my son out of Snowbank in the BW.

I slept in a nylon rope hammock in my barracks room in 1971-72, it was more comfortable than the bed provided. My first camping in a hammock was 09/2011in a HammockBliss with Noah tarp.

In 2009, I did a Royale Isle trip with a friend who slept in a hammock. Tried it out, loved it. When I got home, did some research and went down to my local Sportsman Warehouse, they sold Bliss hammock system with cocoons, bought it. Changed different types of rope & strap systems, trying to make it efficient & lightweight.
Found a good pillow finally, had someone sew me a second layer, since I use a pad.

The only reason I wont sleep in my system is if I am going into the burn area & there any trees to hang from

In 2009, I did a Royale Isle trip with a friend who slept in a hammock. Tried it out, loved it. When I got home, did some research and went down to my local Sportsman Warehouse, they sold Bliss hammock system with cocoons, bought it. Changed different types of rope & strap systems, trying to make it efficient & lightweight.
Found a good pillow finally, had someone sew me a second layer, since I use a pad.

The only reason I wont sleep in my system is if I am going into the burn area & there any trees to hang from

In 2009, I did a Royale Isle trip with a friend who slept in a hammock. Tried it out, loved it. When I got home, did some research and went down to my local Sportsman Warehouse, they sold Bliss hammock system with cocoons, bought it. Changed different types of rope & strap systems, trying to make it efficient & lightweight.
Found a good pillow finally, had someone sew me a second layer, since I use a pad.

The only reason I wont sleep in my system is if I am going into the burn area & there any trees to hang from

May 2013 Duncan Lake - a memorable trip on a number of fronts. Decided to purchase a Clark and see what hammock camping is all about after watching numerous Shug videos.

It was a solo trip. Planned on being at Knife Lake coming from Sag. Horrible weather - 3 days of strong gusty east winds with rain - not good. While getting a tow to American Point in 4' rollers ran across another party getting a tow that had capsized. Tow boat completely upside down. 4 individuals hanging on... barely. Retrieved their gear, took on water and almost capsized ourselves. This was immediately after ice-out and the water temp was 37 degrees 2 days later while I was on Duncan. I really need to do a trip report to tell the whole story - most frightening experience I've had in my life. Given that east wind, which continued for 2 days, as well as what I experienced that day I aborted and went to Duncan instead.

As a side note, the site I took on Duncan that trip is the one where the tree came down last summer, killing Craig Walz. Paddled by the site during a day trip last July and the white pine that came down fell right where my hammock was anchored. Just a really weird feeling seeing that - had a quiet moment for Craig and his family and moved on.

I did a few overnighters in summer 2011, but my first real hammock camping trip was Wabakimi 2011.
The video was made by my buddy. Unfortunately, he used some music that UTOOB won't allow...so it has been muted.

My first night in a hammock was in a state park. Also the first night I ever camped alone. Had an awful night sleep, and when I first heard the thunder in the predawn light, I gleefully broke camp quickly, just beating the storm by seconds, and drove home to sleep in my wonderful comfortable warm bed.

3 months later my first trip with a hammock in WCPP. By then I had worked out the bugs (mostly) and never ever want to sleep on the ground again.

In 2007. Backpacking in the Santa Catalina mountains just north of Tucson, AZ where I lived at the time. Did a two day, one night solo trip into the Pusch Ridge wilderness area. Had a Byer of Maine Cocoon that I had previously used for car camping. Had never known or talked to anyone that had hammock camped, so I was completely surprised in the middle of the night that I was literally freezing my a$$ off in AZ with a down sleeping bag at a middling elevation on what seemed like a decently warm night. Luckily, I had thrown my tent footprint into my pack at the last minute "just in case". About half way through the night I pulled out the footprint and slept on it over a patch of rocky sand because that was better than freezing. The sand was initially cool, but warmed up and retained heat much better than in the hammock.

Abandoned hammock camping for several years, but eventually came back around. Have used pads and variations of homemade under quilts. Got a WBBB last year before our BWCA trip and had my best backcountry sleep ever. Completely sold on hanging, especially in BW where the tent pads are often marginal.

around 1990 or so, Quetico trip, used a fish net hammock that United Stores sold at the time for about 8 bucks, it was October, the previous two days it had snowed, it warmed up, Northern Lights were out, crawled out of the hammock in my underwear the next morning, threw a lure onto the water and caught a 5 1/2 pound smallie, caught one just slightly smaller on the next cast

best Quetico trip ever

Right after college in the early 90's. I had bought a cheap nylon netting hammock for a couple of bucks to use for naps. My buddy was snoring so loudly one night, that my only choice was to punch him in hs sleep or get out of the tent (we later referred to the tent as "the sawmill" for the rest of the trip). I crawled out of the tent, pulled out my bag and slept in the hammock. Didn't get serious about it until almost 20 years later when I started having back trouble that made sleeping on the ground for multiple nights a miserable experience.

About 82. Had a nylon mesh I'd picked up at Big K (showing my age there).

Had no concept of padding, just a down sleeping bag. Froze my young a*** off!!!

Tonight! Okay - okay its not camping...

Basecamp Dad tied off our Kamok Roo Hammock with Python Straps on studs in Basecamp Kids room.

Basecamp Kid has been sleeping in her hammock since Tuesday night, and tonight is my first full night in a hammock. I'll let you know how it goes!

September '15 BW trip. Since then, any time camping w/o the wife (which is the exception) I'm in the hammock.

Probably 20 years ago. Bought a Hennessy Backpacker UL Asym. I still use that hammock on occasion. I always used the tarp that came with it and only got wet on one night, on a trip into WCPP. That was my fault for not positioning the tarp correctly. Been through a lot of other storms and stayed dry. Since the beginning, I've bought one under quilt and have made two top quilts (45* and 30*). Never had much of a problem finding places to set it up and have really enjoyed it on backpacking trips. Now, for a price, one can pack just as light with a 1.5 person tent, pad and bag or quilt, so often I am back to tenting instead. My latest system is -
A Lightheart gear Solong 6 tent. (Love the view!)
A Thermarest NeoAir XLite Long and wide pad.
A Enlightened Equipment Enigma top quilt.

How I started was that buddy of mine and I had gotten back into hiking and camping after years of family, kids, etc. One time while at a gear fest type thing he came over and said "Come look at what I'm going to do" and he showed me a hammock and said he was going to use it to camp with. Lights and bells and whistles went off in my head and I got an ENO. I soon found Hammock Forums and ended up with a different hammock which I then used to camp.

First time hammock camping was when I switched from tent to hammock on our yearly Winter outing. That's a Warbonnet Traveller when the owner still worked out of his college dorm (I think). I purchased an ENO Emberquilt for my UQ (since replaced). I used a blue Walmart tarp. I was a bit chilly and ended up wearing my Winter hunting gear in the hammock but I had a great time.

After watching several of Shug's videos and suffering from a bad back, I decided to try it out on the Superior Hiking trail. It was going to be a 2 night 3 day hike, so I thought that would give me a good test. Well, I forgot the tree straps and had to use paracord. By morning, my butt was about a half inch off the ground. I have since gotten much better at hanging.