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Recently I was interviewed for the Hang Your Own Hang Podcast. A monthly podcast about hammocks and hammock related topics. You can find the episode and links to Itunes and Android versions here: http://www.hyohpodcast.com/ahe/ I really enjoyed the discussion and both Mark and Jonathan had a number of great questions. We talked about a number of topics with a good bit of the background of AHE. We also spent time talking about fishing, one of my favorite pass times both on and off the trail. Leave me a comment about what you thought of the the episode. Lost of folks have questions about how exactly to adjust how they pack their gear with hammock camping in mind. They find that the few different pieces of gear just don't seem to fit in with how they have been loading their gear for a trip. What should be done with the tarp? Where in the pack does my hammock go? How do I adjust the load distribution? For the most part, your core gear will remain in the same areas and the load distribution should be similar to your old groundling gear. But a few gear pieces like your tarp is probably unique to your set up now. Let's break things down into 6 main categories and discuss what gear goes into those categories and how to organize each. We will start at the bottom of the pack and work upward from there as that's the best way to load your gear. Sleeping gear - This will be your bulkiest gear items and the base of your pack as they squish down with weight on top of them. For a hammock camper this will be your quilts or sleeping bag. I also lump in any extra clothing items like a sleeping clothing such as thermal layers, Change of socks - shirt - pants and the like. Food, fuel and cooking gear - This is the heavy items. Your food and fuel tend to be the densest and heaviest items that go into your pack. They should be loaded against the back and from mid back to shoulder height in side of your pack. I tend to add in my cook kit to this area as well as I need both food and cooking gear at the same time and if in bear country both will need to be hung together out of reach with a Bear Line. Hammock and Sleep System accessories - Next outward from your food should be your hammock and any sleep system accessories. I pack my hammock and pillow, buff, together in this area to fill in around the food bag, stabilizing it from shifting. Insulation Clothing - Still in the main compartment of the pack above the food bag and hammock should be room for insulation clothing layers. This is stuff like your puffy jacket, warm hat and other light weight gear that you want access to without digging to the bottom. If you stop for a long break or lunch you may want to layer up with your jacket, hat and gloves in cool weather but you won't want to dig to the bottom of your pack to get them. Keep them near the top for easy access and easy re-packing when you get back on the move. First Aid, Hydration, miscellaneous accessories - In the top panel pocket of your pack is the perfect place to store things that you may need fast or regular access to while hiking. In this pocket I tend to keep my First Aid Kit, Hydration gear, Rest Room kit, photography gear, knife and fishing gear. These are things that I want to be able to get to without digging into the main compartment of my pack. Occasionally I will also have a snack stored in the top pocket so I don't need to dig to deep in the pack for something to eat along the trail, just remember to unpack any wrappers at camp and bear bag them with the rest of your food. Tarp and Rain Gear - For hammock campers our shelter is our tarp. It is what keeps the rain, snow and even the sun off our sleep gear night and day. Having it and the gear to set it up handy are important...as well as keeping a wet tarp separated from our insulation and dry clothing. Pack your tarp in the outer pocket of your pack along with any Ridgeline, Guy lines and Stakes. This makes it the first thing out of your pack at camp and the last thing in when your pack up again. I also like to put my rain jacket in that pocket along with my foot pad. On a break the foot pad becomes a sit pad on the log, and should a storm come up while hiking my rain jacket is easy to get to at a moments notice. Hope that these tips help you with your gear packing and organization for this years trips. If you have any questions at all please leave a comment and we will do the best we can to help you get the most out of your gear and trips.
Paul @ AHE If you have been following our site, social media feeds and forum posts you may have seen us talking about the Hangs we host. However if your new to the hammock world you might say "Hang?" and who would blame you. It's not a term you see used a lot but basically we are talking about a meet up. A hang is just a hammock campers term for a group get together. It's a social event specifically for hammock camping. It's a chance for hammock campers to get together, camp, discuss gear, and hammock camping technique. Some hangs are based around car camping so that anyone can attend. Some are based around backpacking trips. But the main idea is to find like minded folks that enjoy a more elevated life in the woods. We at AHE host a few hangs each year to get local folks in Idaho together. This year we have a number of events planned. Our Spring Meat and Greet is our big late spring/early summer event....and no we did not misspell Meat. As a car camping event we plan a big Pot Luck dinner. It's a chance for all of us to show our camp cooking skills and share a meal around the fire. Even if it's just a bag of chips everyone is welcome to add to the meal. See more about our hangs here: Hammock Hangs So join us for one of our upcoming hangs, everyone is welcome and all events are family friendly. After a very busy holiday season AHE is finally all caught up on old orders and we are back to our normal production time of 2-4 working days on most orders. We have a good stock pile of materials and we are ready for the spring camping season. On the horizon we have a number of new product ideas and we will be working to introduce new gear all year long. Be sure and check out our New items section on a regular basis as well as follow our social media feeds for whats going on week to week. If you are just getting interested in hammock camping be sure to check out our line of hammock kits, here's a little teaser video. Check out the full videos and the kits in the Hammock section of the store. |
AHE CrewWhats up at AHE, What Happening is our mini Blog about the day to day things that we are working on. Check back Frequently for updates, In Stock items, Specials, Trip Plans (yes that you can join us on) and what ever else pops up. Archives
January 2024
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