# Roughed-it last night



## slinger (Sep 13, 2009)

Bought a 6-man tent on sale and set it up next to the house, Close enough I was still able to get wireless, cool beer from the house and back porch light let us see all night

I slept on a ground pad and a sleeping bag.

At 3a.m. I gave-up HOW IN THE HECK ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO SLEEP IN A TENT WITHOUT PERMANETLY HURTING YOURSELF???

My daughters did OK my wife too.

I've had several back injuries but still, What are the tricks??

Air mattress?


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## Adkpk (Sep 13, 2009)

Air mattress, cot, and foam rubber pads. I have a thremo rest which is for backpacking and rolls up nice and small. I also keep close celled foam rubber up at my camp to add a little more padding. And if my car is close enough I might grab some furniture blankets. There's nothing like a comfy night sleep in the woods.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 13, 2009)

I gave up sleeping on the ground.


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## deeker (Sep 14, 2009)

CaseyForrest said:


> I gave up sleeping on the ground.



A USMC jockstrap????


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## clearance (Sep 14, 2009)

CaseyForrest said:


> I gave up sleeping on the ground.



Wait till some one takes off in the truck! Lol.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 14, 2009)

deeker said:


> A USMC jockstrap????



Yes.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 14, 2009)

clearance said:


> Wait till some one takes off in the truck! Lol.



Not likely in the middle of nowhere... We didnt see anyone in the way in, the way out or all night.


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## little possum (Sep 15, 2009)

SLEEP in the HOUSE. lol. 

I like the air mattresses. My buddy likes his hammocks, Me being a bigger fellar, im kinda scared to fall on my back from 4 feet off the ground. 
I slept in a leaky, wet, damp tent for a week this summer. It rained 5 days outta 7. Even had to pack up in the rain. 
Also had a bear raid the camp site one mornin bout 430. Needless to say, I enjoyed the heck outta bein back in my bed.


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## M.R. (Sep 15, 2009)

little possum said:


> SLEEP in the HOUSE. lol.
> 
> I like the air mattresses. My buddy likes his hammocks, Me being a bigger fellar, im kinda scared to fall on my back from 4 feet off the ground.
> I slept in a leaky, wet, damp tent for a week this summer. It rained 5 days outta 7. Even had to pack up in the rain.
> Also had a bear raid the camp site one mornin bout 430. Needless to say, I enjoyed the heck outta bein back in my bed.




I gave up on the 'air mattresses' several decades ago, got tired of the wrestling match to stay on top off one, sleeping cold, & going flat.

A cot & 4" of foam is pretty darn hard to beat & the pack mule can carry it in. :greenchainsaw: 
Then theres been several nights or two for one reason or another, before I could get back to camp & a sleeping bag....that's more along the lines of 'Roughing It'.


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## slinger (Sep 15, 2009)

I tried the air mattress sevaral years ago with same results... Flat rolling around...

I Casey's setup

A cot would be cool as well. I've got plenty of room w/ 4 people in a 6 man tent...


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 15, 2009)

little possum said:


> SLEEP in the HOUSE. lol.
> 
> I like the air mattresses. My buddy likes his hammocks, Me being a bigger fellar, im kinda scared to fall on my back from 4 feet off the ground.
> I slept in a leaky, wet, damp tent for a week this summer. It rained 5 days outta 7. Even had to pack up in the rain.
> Also had a bear raid the camp site one mornin bout 430. Needless to say, I enjoyed the heck outta bein back in my bed.



Im 6'3 and 260. No problems with coming in contact with the ground. Heck... Most of my hammock suspension is 1/8" Amsteel. Ive changed it since I took those pics.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 15, 2009)

slinger said:


> I tried the air mattress sevaral years ago with same results... Flat rolling around...
> 
> I Casey's setup
> 
> A cot would be cool as well. I've got plenty of room w/ 4 people in a 6 man tent...



Once you get the set-up figured out and whats comfortable for you regarding the amount of droop you need in the hammock, its extremely comfortable. Some people have sworn off sleeping on a mattress since finding a decent hammock. Laying diagonally in the hammock you can darn near lie flat.


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## little possum (Sep 15, 2009)

Well, im 6' 2" and 235+. So guess i need to check out the hammocks, although i felt a little safer in the tent when the bear was around, then I would have in the hammock. My buddy says tents suck. Worse part is our camper was 15 feet from my tent. LOL.

The cot is a good idea too. It cant go flat, and some eggshells would be nice.

I dont guess we really rough camp it. Its in a campground, but no power, or water hook ups. Just a bath house and a couple bath rooms. Just the way I like it. Been going since I was a tot.


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## little possum (Sep 15, 2009)

BTW nice lookin spot Casey


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## Toddppm (Sep 15, 2009)

Slept in the tent at our property near the river last weekend and slept on the ground. Hard as a MFr, if the rest of the family wasn't there I would have been on my cot but I didn't want to be the only one comfortable
Have slept in my regular hammock camping before with a tarp over it and was comfortable as could be except for having to get in and out to pee several times.

Went by myself in a 2 man tent that I was touching both ends earlier this summer and every noise woke me up thinking a bear was going to be around........neighbors said there has been 1 coming through the last couple weeks too, although I didn't find out until we were getting ready to leave last weekend:censored:


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 15, 2009)

little possum said:


> Well, im 6' 2" and 235+. So guess i need to check out the hammocks, although i felt a little safer in the tent when the bear was around, then I would have in the hammock. My buddy says tents suck. Worse part is our camper was 15 feet from my tent. LOL.
> 
> The cot is a good idea too. It cant go flat, and some eggshells would be nice.
> 
> I dont guess we really rough camp it. Its in a campground, but no power, or water hook ups. Just a bath house and a couple bath rooms. Just the way I like it. Been going since I was a tot.



A majority of the hammocks available have a weight rating of 250-300#. The ENO hammocks have a weight rating of 400#. You can also go buy some, IIRC 1.9oz ripstop, cut it to length to fit you, tie a larkshead in either end and string it up. Or if you can find some parachute fabric....

Tent Cots are nice, I almost picked up a double prior to getting the hammocks. I wont go back to the ground, ever. All of our camping we do out of our vehicle so weight and carrying "stuff" isnt a concern. Im pretty self sufficient... I have a portable shower I made out of a 2 gallon stainless steel bug sprayer. Add water, throw it on the stove and I have enough water for 3 hot showers. Stove, food, clothing.

As for bears... A tent isnt going to keep you any safer than a hammock. If they want you, thell get you. I did have to bear proof that site as there are a few black bears on the island.



little possum said:


> BTW nice lookin spot Casey



That was on the east side of Drummond Island, MI a few weeks ago. We got there around 4pm and didnt see anyone from the time we started the trail till 12 noon the next day when we hit up a restaurant.


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## little possum (Sep 15, 2009)

LOL, Casey, I know the tent wouldnt have helped, just gave me a false sense of security. It was just after food. Which we had left out in the coolers, and rubber maid containers. Dad hasnt seen a bear up there in over 30years of goin there. So I guess we got what we deserved.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 15, 2009)

little possum said:


> LOL, Casey, I know the tent wouldnt have helped, just gave me a false sense of security. It was just after food. Which we had left out in the coolers, and rubber maid containers. Dad hasnt seen a bear up there in over 30years of goin there. So I guess we got what we deserved.



Yeah... the hard core hammockers have a term....

Bear Taco. (referenced to sleeping in a hammock)

There is something to be said about the sense of security. Being in an open hammock all night in bear country can lead to a lack of sleep. The coyotes were out in full force the night in those pictures. My 6yo wasnt not a happy camper. That coupled with the constant rain and mosquitos lead us to sleep in the truck that night.


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## Snowchief (Sep 16, 2009)

CaseyForrest said:


> That coupled with the constant rain and mosquitos lead us to sleep in the truck that night.



Is that a cap I see on the truck there or some kind of truckbed tent?

I use a campright truckbed tent when I'm out in the boonies, I wasn't aware of any comfortable way to camp until I saw your hammock setup. Years ago when I moved downstate from the U.P. of Michigan it MYSTIFIED me how people viewed "camping" as the purpose of a vacation. My usual response was something like "Camping is miserable! It is not a destination, it's something you do when there are no hotels. Nobody sleeps when camping, they just take a series of fitful 20-minute naps." They always answered with a story about how they once woke up during a rainstorm in a sopping wet, 35lb sleeping bag because their tent leaked. 

I'm still a bit puzzled why people go camping voluntarily, I agree that a hammock is nice. I set one up indoors under a ceiling fan in my sunporch. Camping only takes place when I'm at some troutstream two hours from humanity.


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## CaseyForrest (Sep 16, 2009)

Snowchief said:


> Is that a cap I see on the truck there or some kind of truckbed tent?



Its a Softopper.



Snowchief said:


> I use a campright truckbed tent when I'm out in the boonies



I had a camprite truck bed tent at one time too. The issue I had was removing everything from the bed of the truck to set it up. When we are out, we have to carry all our supplies for several days. That takes up a good portion of the bed. Im actually looking into a Roof Top Tent and mounting that above the bed rails.



Snowchief said:


> I wasn't aware of any comfortable way to camp until I saw your hammock setup. Years ago when I moved downstate from the U.P. of Michigan it MYSTIFIED me how people viewed "camping" as the purpose of a vacation. My usual response was something like "Camping is miserable! It is not a destination, it's something you do when there are no hotels. Nobody sleeps when camping, they just take a series of fitful 20-minute naps." They always answered with a story about how they once woke up during a rainstorm in a sopping wet, 35lb sleeping bag because their tent leaked.



LOL!! Camping for us is part of the trip. Its not _the_ destination. Theres something to be said about silence in the outdoors other than the wild critters running around.



Snowchief said:


> I'm still a bit puzzled why people go camping voluntarily, I agree that a hammock is nice. I set one up indoors under a ceiling fan in my sunporch. Camping only takes place when I'm at some troutstream two hours from humanity.



Different folks. While I agree I dont set out on a trip for the sole purpose of camping... But to some its an escape from reality and the humdrum of daily life.


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## Snowchief (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks Casey, those softtoppers look good and I like that they're USA made but WOW are they items to budget for. Not cheap. You get what you pay for, I guess. I'll wait till I wear out the camprite before I try one.

By the way, the campright that I have does not have a floor, you can leave the truck bed full and still set it up as long as you can get to the tie-down loops in the bed. They must have changed the design since the one that you describe.

I don't fault anyone for the "let's go CAMPING!" thing, it really is that I just don't understand it. It seems like a lot of "camping trips" appear to have been planned in a bar at happy hour somewhere, and a group of hippies pour out of the bar and into a campsite somewhere and whoop it up.

In my mind, they should have saved their gas money for a taxicab and gone to the bar two extra nights that week, it would be way easier, more comfortable and fun for them. And they'd have aspirin and their own bed to sleep in the next day. Maybe it's just because I was weaned from the U.P. in my early 20s when all the people I knew seemed to do what I just described.


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