One way to camp in the winter is to use a hammock. \u00a0A hammock has the advantage of getting you off the ground when sleeping and thus it reduces the chance of getting wet – if you do it correctly.<\/p>\n
The first thing you need is a suitable hammock. \u00a0This can be a lightweight polyester\u00a0system like the\u00a0Grand Trunk Ultralight Camo Hammock<\/a>\u00a0or something more fancy. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Next, you need a suitable sleeping bag that’s rated for the low temperatures you expect to see when you are camping. \u00a0You can use any bag, however, \u00a0the bottom will be compressed by your body weight and will get cold since it’s suspended in the air. \u00a0There are a couple of solutions to this problem. \u00a0One is a special hammock sleeping bag like the Grand Trunk Hammock Sleeping Bag<\/a>. \u00a0This bag and others like it are designed to wrap around your hammock so that the bottom of the bag is below the hammock and your body is not compressing it. \u00a0A second option is to use a regular sleeping bag with the addition of \u00a0an underquilt like the Vulcan Underquilt<\/a>. The underquilt wraps around the bottom and sides of the hammock providing insulation in addition to that provided by your sleeping bag. \u00a0Either approach should keep you toasty warm, but if not, \u00a0you can also add an overquilt<\/a> and\/or wear more clothing.<\/p>\n Finally, you need a way to keep falling snow off of you. \u00a0This can be a tarp or other tent-like covering or something like the\u00a0Hennessy Deluxe Size Cover for Camping Hammocks<\/a> or HouseFly Rain Tarp<\/a> if you want even more protection.<\/p>\n With a set up like this, \u00a0you should get great, warm sleep while winter camping, but, before you set off on your wilderness trek, be sure to test your hammock system as well as your other winter camping gear in your backyard to identify any issues. \u00a0It’s always better\u00a0to fix a problem at home than to try to deal with it when you are far away from civilization.<\/p>\n Please share your experiences and questions in the comments below or by replying, if you got this post via email.<\/p>\n