Bivouacking or wild camping with a hammock has several advantages over conventional camping. The biggest one is perhaps that unlike camping, it is allowed almost anywhere in Germany! When it comes to your equipment, you should consider the following:
1. Protect yourself against mosquitoes
A hammock with a mosquito net not only protects you from mosquitoes. You can also place a torch on the ridgeline (the cord that stretches the mosquito net), and stow a mobile phone in the pocket on the mosquito net. Apart from that, a net like this just gives you a feeling of protection at night.
If you don’t need a mosquito net, you can simply turn the hammock around and sleep without it.
2. Use a tarp as a roof over your hammock
When hammocking in the forest, you hardly want to be surprised by rain or falling leaves. That’s why you need a roof for your hammock when bivouacking, in other words a TARP. Whether ultralight and compact or particularly robust and large, we have a wide range of tarps for various outdoor activities.
Especially for cold nights, we recommend our WING TARP with closable side wings, which can almost replace a tent. By the way, you can also use a tarp without a hammock, as a kind of tent substitute above the ground – for example in what is known as a ground setup.
3. Make sure your hammock has sufficient thermal insulation
As your body can cool down considerably overnight, sufficient thermal insulation is essential when spending the night in a hammock. There are different ways to keep warm in a hammock. Depending on how cold it is, you can use these options individually or else in combination.
• A THERMO HAMMOCK has a compartment on the underside into which you can slide your insulating mat. This keeps the mat in place and protects you from the cold.
• An UNDERQUILT is a kind of sleeping bag that you can hang under your hammock. A normal sleeping bag that you simply place in the hammock loses its warming function on the underside because you flatten it under your own weight. By contrast, an underquilt forms an air pocket underneath your hammock and provides the perfect thermal insulation.
Our UNDERQUILT PONCHO, incidentally, can also be used as a warming drape for sitting around the campfire.
• A SLEEPING BAG in the hammock keeps you warm on top. Although the flattened underside does not offer much warmth, you shouldn’t be without it when the temperature drops to freezing so as not to lose heat from above.
From ≥ 5 °C you can use our TOPQUILT. This is a kind of half sleeping bag without the back section. This makes it easier to get in and out of the hammock. A closed foot section from the knees down keeps your feet warm.
4. Consider how your equipment is going to be stored
So that your gear doesn’t get wet or cool down on the ground, we’ve come up with just what you need! Our HAMMOCK FLOOR is the perfect storage option for your equipment. This hammock underneath the hammock ensures that you always have your equipment ready to hand. So you can keep your shoes and trekking rucksack clean, warm and protected from creepy-crawlies.
As an added feature, you can also use the HAMMOCK FLOOR as a real floor below the hammock!
By the way, hammock camping is also possible in winter!
Once you've considered all this, all you have to do is lie down properly, preferably using the Brazilian lying technique!
