I’m planning to carry my new jungle hammock on the AT this summer. Are there any regulations against using hammocks anywhere?
ATDreamer30
Hammocks on the AT
system
#2
Many hikers use hammocks on the AT, I saw them everywhere. The only place where there might be a problem is in the Smokies, they’ve got a lot of strange rules.
Old Goat
system
#3
The AT is perfect for hammocks. Lots of trees to hang from. I do not know of anywhere that they have regulations against them. In the White Mountain National Forest rangers I talk to prefer them due to their lower impact. I would suggest getting straps to wrap around the trees such as Hennessy provides. The ropes can cut into the bark of some trees and damage them.
Big B
system
#4
I used a hammock on the AT, loved it. Cold in the early season though. The AT is prime hammock territory.
No hammock specific regs exist, but the AT is a bureaucrat’s dream so expect them soon. The Smokies, the short annoying stretch in Connecticut, and the Whites are the most regulation heavy. But those are general camping regulations and in the Smokies and Whites they make sense given traffic, so try to abide by them. CT is nothing more than rich folks paying scratch to college kids to pose as Ridge Runners when they are nothing more than parking ticket drones.
As far as straps, I’d skip them. Straps makes sense when you hang from the same trees for days on end, but you move each night, you won’t damage a tree.
Jason
system
#5
i used the clark jungle hammock for several seasons on the AT and still it is my only “tent” i use. I guess i have well over 2000 actual miles of hammocking along the AT.
I’d also reassure you that hammocking is very practical along the AT, however, in the smokies, you do have to use shelters unless they are completely packed, which i never really saw. I’d recommend that you get some climbing micro wedges to stick in cracks in rocks for times when you would have one tree and nothing else but a rock to hook to. I carry 2 so i could lock into rocks and stop for the day.
The solitude that hammocking affords is unprecidented. I have pictures of places i hammocked with just this idea. I would set up on hills and rocky areas so no one could possibly camp near me. One of my best sleeps was at laurel falls near Kincora. I also hammocked inside an anchient abandoned corn crib near the keffer oak during a particularly rainy night by running my hammock ropes thru the old barn wood.
tray mt has 2 trees just outside the shelter you can easily hammock and still enjoy the company of your new friends.
I am told that due to the restrictions to camping within the whites that you will have to carefully plan your camping and have a fair sense of timing for when to stop if you plan to bypass the lodge mentality. Even if you do follow the “rules” which seem to change from time to time be prepared to gracefully move to a new location when someone who wishes to appear “official” asks you to move locations due to the sensitivity of the environment.
I was asked not to hammock at springer mt due to the fact of heavy impact of camping anywhere except designated camping sites…even tho, i had zero impact on the mt since i was suspended above the soft loam. i moved as there were 40 or 50 people there when i arrived.
adapt, improvise, overcome!
burn 2004