Hanging between two trees in a forest below a tarp is your camping hammock, suspended on either end by two bits of webbing. You climb in under your quilt, curl up nice and snug and eventually drift off to the lullaby of the woods. After the most comfortable night’s sleep you’ll ever get, you wake to sunshine streaming through antient trees, the song of numerous birds and distant taps of a woodpecker looking for breakfast.
Why hammock camping is so good
Cocooned in your little woodland nest, nice and warm with your under-blanket, you wake to unfamiliar sounds keeping you company for the next hour or so before you ‘really must’ get out.
You’ll get closer to nature when you hang from two sturdy trees in the woodland. What you see and hear from this perspective will always make you smile and having the right gear will keep you very comfortable in your little haven.
You light a fire or put the stove on for some breakfast, peace wrapping you in an unbreakable barrier and a deep feeling of belonging.
There’s nothing like it and a few pieces of kit, and the knowhow, has made it all possible.
Pitching your hammock
This will be a bit different to tent camping, let me tell you. Your camping experiences will change forever! When do you ever sleep hanging up?
Get in the habit of hanging your tarp first. If it were raining this would be more obvious. Make sure your ridgeline is taught so the tarpaulin doesn’t blow around with any breeze, and any deadfall from the trees you’re hanging from will be deflected. Beech is a bugger for dead branches just waiting for a bit of wind, learn how to identify the species.
When you’re sleeping in a hammock, you don’t want it raised too high off the ground. You want to be sitting down into it like a camping chair, slowly, so as not to tempt a rip, and so you can get out easily. To position it at this height, you should play around with the position of the hammock suspension straps on the trees, which should be at the same height as each other.
With a decent suspension kit, everything is straightforward. Practice lengthening and shortening the whoopie slings before you head out into the woods, there are plenty of videos showing this. Shug (see video below) is the best teacher of this that I’ve found.
Look into fitting your own ‘structural ridge line’ underneath the main ridgeline. This will not only give you something to hook your bug net on, but it will change the shape of the hammock by shallowing the angle of the suspension (should be about 30 degrees) and allowing a decent hang, making your position inside more comfortable.
The video Shug made on the hammock ridgeline is the best one I’ve watched. If you’ve been hammock camping a lot, you may not have thought of using a ridgeline but it really makes a difference, I suggest you try it out and see if it suits you. If you do, after reading this blog, please let me know what you think in the comments below.
Look after the trees you’re hanging from
Never hang straight off bare rope or cord. It’ll cut straight into the bark and leave a scar that lasts years, and on a thinner tree it can do real damage. Always use proper wide webbing straps, at least an inch across, they spread the load and the tree barely notices you were there.
Pick a sturdy, healthy tree, at least six inches across, and give it a good look before you commit. Steer clear of anything dead, hollowed out, or with obvious nests, and remember what I said about beech, dead branches waiting for a bit of wind are a hazard whether they’re above your tarp or your hammock.
Getting into your hammock
Gently does it. If you go for the ultralight option, or go cheap and buy an Argos hammock to try, you don’t want to be bouncing around in it, take things slow, relax into the hammock. The last thing you want in the middle of the night is something breaking or ripping; it’s really quite shocking when you’re dropped onto the ground even from 18 inches or so, I know!
Sit down into the hammock and then turn. The experience isn’t like you’d see in a Carry On film — you may gently rock, but the material will hug you, part of the beauty actually. Most people lie in line with the hammock at first, but I’d recommend you try lying diagonally, you’re a little flatter and end up more comfortable. It takes a little getting used to, but you’ll work your way into the best position as you sleep time and again.
Keeping warm hanging in the woods
Camping in cold weather will have its challenges.
To stay warm while wild camping you really need to eat as late as you can. Your gut is what produces ALL of the heat during the night. If you want to stop that heat from escaping, you need insulation. Of course, usually, you’ll think of a sleeping bag, but when you squash down or synthetic material, it won’t insulate you very well.
Hanging an underblanket underneath your hammock stops the insulation from being compressed, so it keeps the heat where you want it. A mat just moves around and escapes out of the opening — that can be a nightmare.
Where can I camp in my hammock?
Wild camping for the first time in a tent, you can get up into the mountains and not see a soul. You wake at six and think ‘nobody will be up here until 9’. Things are often different when there are trees; you’re usually closer to civilisation for a start.
Camping in the woods means people might be nearby, so if you’re wild camping without permission you want to keep well off the beaten track.
Of course, there are plenty of small woodlands that are open for a camp. Take a look on social media and you’ll soon find somewhere not too far away. A quick search in a wild camping or bushcraft group for ‘where can I camp?’ or something similar will soon reveal a few sites.
Just like camping in a tent, if you pitch without getting a nod from the landowner you are trespassing. If you’re asked to move on, just do it, and half an hour later try somewhere else. Don’t cause any hassle or give anyone reason to follow you or keep looking out for you.
What if it’s windy or the weather is bad?
Play around with different tarp setups. Your tarpaulin is there to protect you from the elements — this includes wind as well as rain. You rarely see photos of a tarp acting as a windbreak because the trees do such a good job, but if you’re at the edge of woodland or by the beach, that practice may come in invaluable.
The rain on your tarp, of course, is beautiful and will shake off easily in the morning; all your other camping gear will be dry and put away, so a waterproof bag might come in handy for the only thing wet.
You can replace the karabiners with twigs when hanging your tarp, if you need to.
You’ll obviously need a sleeping bag or quilt, but don’t leave out the insulation underneath. For me, an underblanket is perfect because when your sleeping position is across the hammock, corner to opposite corner, a sleeping pad in the hammock’s slip goes wonky and is a pain in the neck.
Get out there
The best night’s sleep I’ve ever had was in a hammock. They’re very comfortable. You’ll love it.
Being out in the forest is amazing. Once you’ve got the pitching sorted and you’re warm, the rest is easy — and getting the right kit from the start makes all the difference. There’s always lots of talk in the forums on ultralight gear and that comes with a price, it’s always made of a weaker material of course and therefore takes a lot of research to get the right stuff. I won’t go into that here because what’s important is getting out there. I assume you’re not doing the AT anytime soon so the gear I’ll recommend is perfect for the job at hand. I use it all the time and it’s my standard kit for taking clients out with before they buy their own stuff.
Here’s exactly what I use, no messing about.
Product links here will take you to something I actually own, use and trust — not stuff sent to me free or paid to plug. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases so if you buy anything on Amazon (or another site) after clicking through and I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — you pay the same price, they just share a slice of what they’d have made.
Shelter
- Tarp – DD Tarp 3×3
- Cordage – Paracord
- OookWorks mini carabiners x12 (for hanging stuff up)
DD 3×3 Tarp
My standard kit includes this tarp for shelter. I’ve been using this for about 10 years and it’s ace for the money. It weighs 790g plus the Whoopie Suspension.
The lighter version of the DD tarp is excellent (I have 4 in different colours that I also use for wild camping and they’ve never failed me). It weighs 500g plus suspension.
550 paracord
For your tarp ridgeline paracord is strong enough to trust and cheap enough to buy a good roll of it so you can carry some spare lengths for guying out in bad weather.
Who doesn’t love to have a roll of paracord in a box waiting for you like Woody waits for Andy to ‘need him’? That’s a Toy Story reference by the way!
If you don’t mind spending an extra £20 to have a stronger line, get an extra length of Dyneema (that have have listed for the structural ridgeline) below.
OookWorks mini carabiners
I’ve not stress test my carabiners so don’t use them to hang your hammock on them, but they’re perfect for hanging bits to your ridgeline or having a few on your ruck sack.
I’ve used them for about 8 years and haven’t had one break yet. In a lovely orange they’ll show up at night if you drop one on the ground
Hammock
- Hammock – DD Frontline Hammock
- Suspension – Complete Whoopie Suspension System
- Cordage – Dyneema 5m (non-stretch)
- Sleeve – DD Hammock Sleeve
- Underblanket – DD Underblanket
DD Frontline Hammock
Best value option going, and it comes with a mosquito net built in, which you’ll thank yourself for on a still summer night. I think it’s amazing for the money which is why I have four.
Complete Whoopie Suspension System
Great value instead of making up your own. Everything is straightforward — practice lengthening and shortening the whoopie slings before you head out into the woods, and you’ll have it sorted in no time.
Dyneema (for ridgeline)
For your ridgeline, you should really use something that has no stretch. Dyneema is the perfect material, it’s not cheap but a 5 metre length of it is definitely worth having in you kit for other uses.
DD Hammock Sleeve
Convenient to stop your hammock getting dirty when it’s packed away, but not essential — leave this one off the list first time round if you’re keeping costs down.
DD Underblanket
A good investment, or use some old sleeping bag in the hammock’s slip if you want to try before you buy. The underblanket is perfect for me because when your sleeping position is across the hammock, corner to opposite corner, a sleeping pad in the slip goes wonky and is a pain in the neck.
Everything above is kit I’ve used for years and would happily buy again — the links are affiliate links, but that’s not why any of it’s on this list.
Not ready to buy your own kit yet? The Hammock Wild Camping Experience gives you the chance to try out hammock camping first — over a fortnight I’ll teach you everything you need to know about wild camping to get you started, we might even cook over a real fire, and I’ll lend you all the kit above for the night if you don’t have your own. Just get in touch if you want to discuss this.
Happy hangin’.
READ NEXT
How to stay warm at night camping
Cold nights don’t have to mean bad ones — the routine that keeps me warm whether I’m in a hammock, a bivvy or a tent.
worth knowing
Why is wild camping illegal?
Wild camping law in England, Wales and Scotland isn’t the same everywhere, here’s what’s actually legal, and where, before you pitch up.
YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN
Wild camping workshops
Come out with me and learn hill skills, navigation and wild camping properly, with all the kit provided.