Over the past few years hammocks have played an increasingly important role in my Rocky Mountain outdoor life. What was once a relaxing indulgence — typically reserved for beach vacations — has transformed into a reliable sleeping apparatus and one of my most important gear items.
My relationship to hammocks changed when I scored my first Eagle Nest Outfitters outdoor hammock — a yellow and green Doublenest.
The freedom of being able to basically hang a bed anywhere with two trees was a game changer for me and “hammocking” quickly became a heavily used verb in my vocabulary.
The Best Camping Hammocks
ENO is perhaps the most well-known outdoor hammock company, but I quickly learned that it is just tip of the iceberg. Companies around the world are jumping onto the outdoor hammocking trend — developing new and improved hammocks with added features like bug nets and tarp shelters as durable as tents.
These innovative designs are allowing backpackers, campers, hikers and even city dwellers to sleep in places they’d never have dreamed possible.
One such hammock is the Amok Draumr, a product from Norway which I was lucky enough to test out this past weekend.
Expertly Crafted Camping Hammock
The Draumr was designed through years of heavy product testing in the Norwegian wilderness.
It’s innovative design — it lies completely flat or can be adjusted to sit like a chair — and numerous thoughtful features are a testament to the work put into creating the product. The result is an adventure-ready hammock obviously built by expert outdoorsmen and women.
A Complete Camping Hammock Shelter
To test the hammock, I headed to one of my favorite hammock spots along the creek in Boulder, Colorado and recruited some friends to help with the setup.
Before we even set the system up, I was impressed with the Draumr because of how much gear is included in the standard kit. Each Draumr includes everything you could possibly need to make a complete camping shelter.
Hammock
Suspension straps
Bug net
Waterproof tarp (complete with stakes)
All of this gear is compacted down to a bundle smaller than my sleeping bag.
The only thing not included with the Draumr is an inflatable sleeping pad, which you will need to correctly set up the hammock.
I used my Big Agnes Air Core pad, which fit perfectly.
Check out Amok’s recommendations, to see if you’re current pad will fit.
Draumr Set-up
Setting up the Draumr took us a minute to figure out but in the end was relatively simple.
The first step, as with any camping hammock, is to find two trees 10-20 feet apart. Try to find trees without too many sharp branches or undergrowth that could damage the hammock or tarp.
From there, open the hammock bag and pull out only the suspension straps. The hammock itself should stay inside of the bag.
The straps are color-coded.
From the perspective of sitting inside the hammock, the red carabiner corresponds to the right tree and the green carabiner to the left.
Once you have nailed down your right and left (it may have taken us a minute) loop the straps around the trees and secure them in place with the carabiners.
Pull out the hammock and secure the final blue carabiner to the blue loop on the line.
From there you can insert your inflated sleeping pad into the slot opening at the foot of the hammock.
The hardest part about getting the hammock set up was adjusting all the straps so that it lay at the right angle. For the hammock to lie perfectly flat, you need to have the right amount of slack on the straps, and your line needs to be balanced.
We had to readjust the straps because our left side was lower than the right, which made it hard to lie flat. Once we did that it worked well.
Once you have everything adjusted correctly, you can play around with putting the Draumr into chair mode by pulling on the adjustment straps — marked with blue loops — located on the top right and left corners of the hammock.
The bug net fits into a left pocket and zips easily around the hammock, enclosing you entirely.
After enjoying laying in the hammock for a few minutes, we worked on setting up the tarp shelter.
To hang the tarp, simply drape it over the hammock and attach the ends of the main line, which runs along the tarp’s middle seam, to the same trees as the hammock.
Depending on the foliage around you, you can either secure the remaining four corners to nearby trees, or you can stake them to the ground.
Hammock specs:
Hammock weight (including straps and bug net: 2.96 lbs.)
Tarp and pegs weight: 1.41 lbs.
Total weight: 4.37 lbs.
Max load: 265 lbs
Accommodates people up to 6’3″
An Entire Camp Rolled Into One Hammock
It’s impressive, to say the least, that with just a few carefully placed carabiners and a few yards of material, you have a complete shelter to sleep in.
Amok product designers tested the Draumr in a range of different temperatures and conditions, adjusting the design accordingly so that the hammock could be used year-round.
The sleeping pad, for example, not only helps the hammock lie flat, but also insulates its user from the cold.
Backpacking with the Draumr Camping Hammock
You wouldn’t necessarily cut much weight from your pack replacing your tent with this hammock. The complete Draumr, including the tarp and stakes, weighs 4.37 pounds. REI’s best selling one-person backpacking tent weighs about half that.
Hammocks do have their advantages, however.
You have way more freedom when setting up camp with a hammock since you don’t need to find flat ground. Hanging from the ground is also comfortable, especially when you can lay flat.
Priced at $379, The Draumr is one of the more expensive camping hammocks on the market. However, most hammock companies sell tarps, bug nets, etc. separately so when you consider what is included in the Draumr for that price, it is comparable.
I will need to test the hammock out a few more times before I write off a tent completely, but so far I am impressed with the product.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll never sleep on the ground — or even my own bed — ever again.
Get a Draumr Hammock of your own
Interested in scoring a Draumr camping hammock of your own? Take advantage of an exclusive Glacier National Park Travel Guide reader’s discount. Use the coupon code “GlacierNational2014″ for a discounted hammock off the Amok website. Discount exclusive to United States residents.
Looking forward to hearing your reviews of this awesome product!
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