Hammock camping is a unique experience and it lets you enjoy nature more closely. When you camp in a tent you get a personal space to put your backpack or gear inside but not in a hammock. So where do you put your backpack, boots, and other gear while hammock camping?
It is essential to secure your backpack and other gear from being dragged away by wild animals, getting wet in the rain, flooding, and insects crawling into them. But how do you do that?
Well here are 5 steps that we learned from our experience that works in different circumstances. Though each technique has its own advantages and disadvantages, they are worth trying.
5 Ways to Put Your Backpack and Gear
For a successful hammock camping trip, you require a few essential gear in your backpack. The hammock camping backpack generally consists of two types of gear sleeping gear and survival gear.
The sleeping gear takes the bulk of your space and it constitutes a Hammock, underquilt, top quilt, tarp, and a sleeping pad. The survival gears mostly carried by campers are an ax, lighter, chirp wood, water bottle, mug, plate, fork/spoon, etc.
Once you set up your hammock with the tarp on top and undercut at the bottom and sleeping pad or top quilt inside the hammock you are left with the rest of your backpack, your shoes, your water bottle, and some gear you may require at every step. Protecting your backpack, gear, and shoes is important.
Here are the 5 ways to put your backpack while you sleep in your hammock.
1. Put it On the Ground on top of a Cover
Most beginner campers like to put their backpack and other stuff near the hammock. They use a plastic cover to lay down on the ground mostly under their hammock with the backpack and shoes on the top. They keep it within the range of the tarp so that they are not wet if it rains.
Some use a small tarp of size 50 inches x 40 inches with pockets at each corner instead of a plastic cover. The pockets are there so that you can put some weight like rocks in them so they don’t get swept away by breezes.
Advantages:
- Your backpack will be within your reach if you keep it under your hammock. If you require anything at the night you can easily access it. You can access your water bottle to drink water or use the flashlight for going to pee.
- Your backpack and gear will be protected from snowfall or rain as they will be under the tarp.
- The chances of wild animals dragging our shoes and backpack at night are less.
Disadvantages :
Though this is our favorite idea of putting your backpack at night, it still has some disadvantages.
- There is a slight possibility of your backpacks and gear getting swept by the flood.
Tips & Tricks
- Zip or close all of the pockets in your backpack to ensure insects and reptiles not crawling into them
- Tie the shoelaces with each other and attach them to the backpack so no animal can drag them easily.
- Use the socks to fill or cover the mouth of the boots so as not to allow moths, insects, and spiders to crawl into them.
- Find two sticks of about 1 foot to 1.5 feet and pound them into the ground near your camp. Use them to hang your shoes/boots upside down.
- Use a backpack rain cover to protect it from any damage.
2. Hang it on the Continous Loop of the hammock
The second tip is to hang your backpack from the continuous loop of your hammock. You can use a carabiner or a stick to hang the backpack at the bottom/top end of the hammock. Many campers are under the impression that a camping backpack is too heavy for a hammock to bear. But the truth is that most single hammocks can bear weights up to 400 lbs (pounds) or 181 kg, so you can easily hang your backpack from the loop of the hammock without any hassle.
You can also use the ridgeline of the tarp to hang the backpack. This way you can move it back and forth to take out things from the backpack.
Advantages:
- The major advantage is that your backpack will stay getting flooded away.
- If you use the ridgeline to hang you can access it at any point in time by just pulling the cord.
Disadvantages:
- You have to get out of your hammock to access anything in the middle of the night.
Tips and Tricks
- Use the backpack rain cover to secure it from rainwater or snowfall.
3. Hanging from the Tree
The next and most common way to store the backpack is to hang it from a tree. You can use a paracord, hammock straps, or rope to wrap around the tree. Then add a knot with a carabiner and hang your backpack onto the carabiner.
Advantages:
- The major advantage of hanging your backpack with gear from a tree is that it is protected from getting wet from the bottom.
Disadvantages:
- It has two major disadvantages the first one is that you have to deal with sticky SAP of trees like Pine). This tree SAP can create a permanent stain on the backpack.
- Accessing stuff at night can be quite challenging due to the non-availability of light.
Tips and Tricks
- Use a rain cover to protect your backpack if it starts raining.
- Cover all the zips of your backpack to avoid insects, spiders, and reptiles getting into them.
4. Gear Hammock
Another way you can store your backpack safely is to use a gear hammock. Most newbies do not know about gear hammocks. A gear hammock is a small hammock that comes under the main one and can be used to store your gear and backpack. Attach this hammock with the continuous loop of the main hammock at both ends. It goes under the main hammock.
This gear hammock is mostly made up of nylon polyester with paracord polyester which is easily adjustable, durable, and can bear weight up to 200 lbs(91 kgs).
Advantages:
- Your backpack and gear lie safely under your hammock above the ground and it is easily accessible.
- Apart from being a backpacking hammock, it can also be used as a chair hammock.
- Store your food and other gear outside your camp.
- It can be utilized as a hammock for your dog or favorite pet.
Disadvantages:
- Storing food near the camp can attract beasts so if you are keeping food in the hammock, try to hang it far from the camp.
Tips and Tricks
- When you buy a gear hammock consider buying those with reflective cords or ropes, it will be visible even if it is pitch dark. It makes finding your stuff easier.
5. Use the Hammock Bug Net
The last option is to use the hammock bug net to store your backpack at the night. Use a large-size roomy hammock bug net like this Wise Owl Outfitter which will cover your hammock completely. At the bottom of this net, you can store some gear or your backpack.
Advantages:
- Your backpack stays close to you underneath your hammock and above the ground.
Disadvantages:
- It can not bear too much weight so you can store a very lightweight backpack not more than 50 lbs.
Tips and Tricks
- Travel with the least gear possible this will lighten your backpack. Once you remove your sleeping gear you will be left with a handful of gear. It can be stored under the net without breaking the net.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.1- How to hang boots on a backpack?
Answer- There are multiple ways to hang your boots on a backpack. The first one is to tie both boots with each other through the laces and hang them in the middle of the backpack through straps, loops, or shoe clips.
Q.2- How to store gear when hammock camping?
Answer- A hammock camping gear can be divided into two parts one is sleeping gear and other is survival gear. Once you set up the camp you are left with the survival gear. To store your gear which includes food, an ax, a lighter, a water bottle, cutlery, etc, you can use a gear hammock that comes separately with a hammock setup. This gear hammock is multipurpose in use and lies under the main hammock. It can take a weight of up to 200lbs which is more than sufficient for your gear and backpack.