Technique: How do you Sit on the Ground (Comfortably)?

[Delmar O’Donnell]

I just realized I got an answer to my original question: How do you sit comfortably on the ground without a chair, a rock, or a log to lean against?

Few answers to that question, but loads of recommendations on how to improvise a chair, or recommendations on what chair to take. So I think I've got my answer by omission: there really is no agreed-upon comfortable way to sit on the ground. A few folks can sit lotus position. Otherwise, people are recommending: it's better to improvise a chair.

[Rex Sanders]

What's your solution to comfortable sitting on flat ground, sans chair, sans rock, sans log?

I take a cut-down chunk of an old Therm-A-Rest Z-lite pad, which also goes under my feet at night. That encourages me to sit at rest breaks, even if the ground is rocky or damp.

Rest breaks usually go like this: take off pack, set pack down, take out sit pad, extra socks, and water bottle, put those down, sit down on pad, take off shoes and socks, put the shoes on the ground a couple feet away, stretch out and rest my bare legs and feet on the empty shoes. If a tree or rock is handy, that's a backrest, sometimes just the pack laying on the ground is enough of a backrest, but usually I do without.

Resting with my feet at about the same elevation as my butt helps with recovery. I don't even like sitting on logs or rocks like a chair any more, my feet and legs definitely don't feel as good after.

In camp, I sit in a variety of positions, mostly on flat ground. Sitting cross-legged for a while helps me stretch, which leads to fewer aches, pains, and cramps.

SYOS.

— Rex

[Sumi Wada]

>> So I think I've got my answer by omission: there really is no agreed-upon comfortable way to sit on the ground. A few folks can sit lotus position. Otherwise, people are recommending: it's better to improvise a chair.

Take up yoga. One of the many benefits include improving flexibility so that you can sit on the ground comfortably. I'm perfectly happy sitting on the ground.

I take a small piece of Lawson's 1/8" foam pad; I use it as a sit pad, door mat, food prep pad, etc. Handy to have, washes/dries fast and easy.

[Steve Meier]

For 7 oz my 'sit on the ground comfortably' strategy is to hang in my Nano 7. It is super comfortable as a chair and provides the dual benefit of allowing me to swing my legs up and get some of the swelling out of my feet. 15 minutes and I am ready to go again. Best addition I've ever made to my hiking regimine.

[Dena Kelley]

Yeah, I never found a way to sit comfortably in camp without a chair. Logs and flat topped rocks are rare in the high alpine terrain I tend to hike in. I tried sitting on the ground and found it gave me both back pain and knee pain. I tried sitting on my BV450 but it was both short and uncomfortable. I finally broke down and bought an REI Flexlite chair, and find it to be worth the weight penalty to carry it for the comfort it gives me in camp.

[Jake D]

find in situ chair sources ;) hiking through ski country helps..

[Gordon Gray]

I also am unable to sit cross legged. Have been trying since I was a kid in elementary school during sotry time.

So I have been thinking…..

I wonder if it were possible to make a chair with trekking poles separated and then some fittings and a fabric sling. Dual purpose, ya know?

I understand that you would need some pretty burley poles, so, this is just a thought or topic for dicsussion.

Im talking about a lil chair like this:

You could use small, tough fittings similar to PVC pipe connectors. You know, kinda like the stuff that one your tent poles:

Hmmmmm. I know. I know.

[Franco Darioli]

Gordon,
I had a go at making a 'chair" out of trekking poles but failed to come up with something that wasn't too fiddly .
About the only practical solution that I came up with was something very similar to the ( pre-existing I think) Jerry chair.

[Steve M]

Picture yourself in a small shelter (Gatewood Cape) during a prolonged rain storm. After this experience I carry a chair on almost all my trips now–worth the extra 6.5 oz IMHO. I've modeled mine from a "Kifaru Field Chair"–although it's much lighter, a little bigger and much cheaper.

Lying flat–back side view

Setup and ready to use–back angle can be adjusted to a variety of positions

Stored–ready to be slid into pack or o/s pocket

[Delmar O’Donnell]

OK Steve, I admit, that's pretty impressive, and I'm feeling some odd emotion akin to envy.

Have any of youse tried the strap "chair" yet? I'm still chuffed about it. Likely not as comfy as Steve's but way lighter. Not sure it would get me through long rain storms, but probably good for 30 minutes at a time, which is 30 minutes better than what I have now, which is nothing.

I slipped a T-A-R Lumbar Pillow into the strap "chair" at the back, and it was obscenely comfortable. Unlikely to take the pillow though, as it's +3.6 oz.

[Phillip Asby]

I've tried to not use a chair – and just spent too much time too uncomfortable.

I might try yoga since my flexibility stinks (although my core strength is quite good – do enough full body strength movements and you can't avoid it…) but still think a chair is probably worth it…

I use an Alite Monarch

[jscott]

the Big Agnes cyclone chair weighs six ounces. You use it with your sleeping pad, and it is very comfortable. However, I'm always worried about getting a puncture in my sleeping pad, so I used to use the chair with a light sit pad alone. Still pretty comfortable.

In the end, I decided that I didn't want to carry the extra six ounces, so I don't use this chair anymore. but it was the best solution that I found for this problem.

If you take reasonable precautions, using this chair with a sleeping pad is safe and really comfortable.

[d k]

Franco and Steve – How did you construct your chairs with the crossed poles? I tried making something like the Kifaru chair for my trekking poles but only having an online picture that wasn't too clear, it was hard to tell exactly how it was made, and my version didn't seem to hold the poles in any fixed position (they tended to slide apart as I sat back on the chair).

[Justin Baker]

takes a bit of work, but very comfortable.

[Cesar Valdez]

"What is your preferred way to sit on the ground (with no chair)?"

Depends on the weather. If it's not raining, after my internal "take a break" alarm goes off, I'll begin to scout around for a nice spot to sit down. By nice I mean moss, grass, a log, a tree stump, or a flat rock. My favorite is probably a big mossy log or rock where the moss from the ground has grown like a big rug over everything. I'll check for bugs and such, then I'll just plop down right on the ground. If it's sunny and dry out, I won't get wet at all. If it's cooler and maybe rained the day before, it might be a little damp, but I usually don't care. I wear either thicker nylon hiking pants or thinner nylon running pants, so at worst the seat of my pants will be slighly damp, and this dries off after like 5-10min of hiking after my break.

If it is my ideal spot of mossy ground/log, then I use the log as back support. Otherwise I am fine without back support sitting cross-legged or with my legs propped up in front of me. If I need to rest my body more, I'll lay on my side with one elbow as support and alternate between elbows–but it's rare that I am this tired. If I am really tired, which again is rare, then I will break out my ground cover(s)–cut up garbage bag (40g) and/or small foam pad (57g or 40g depending on what backpack I am using)–and just lay down, maybe take a nap, and use my pack as a pillow.

If it is raining or if I am in a location that is less than ideal (i.e. no moss or grass), then I will look for a big tree to sit under. I big pine tree is usually the choice, and will have a bed of old pine needles under that helps with padding. I have found trees big enough and with enough branches to eat lunch under during moderate rain and be fairly dry. On some rare occasions there are other natural shelters I have also used to sit under, like under cliff overhangs or under lop-sided boulders. Depending on how soaked the ground is or how wet I already am, then I may or may not take out my ground cover–it's about 50/50.

If I am in an area, like a big hill or very rocky terrain, that lacks these more ideal rest stops to sit on the ground, then I will just sit on bare stone. If the stone is rough or of my rear end gets cold in cooler seasons then I will take out my foam pad–this is also about 50/50. If it is raining and I am stuck in this less than ideal terrain for a break, I'll just keep hiking until I'm back in the woods again–which is usually not that long, given my location.

Then of course there is just plain good luck. Sometimes on marked trails here there are trail shelters or benches, and I will pass them around the same time as I want to take a break.

In the winter when there is snow on the ground, well this makes things all the more easy. I just look for a spot that is flat, poke around for anything that might not be good to sit on under the snow, get out my small foam pad and sit down. I suppose I might as well explain my two different foam pads while I am at it, since I've already given a complete breakdown of my sitting on the ground routines and preferences. So my go-to packs are a Zpacks Zero (frameless, obviously) and a Zpacks Arc Blast. My foam pad for the Zero is a smaller foam rectangle that acts as my pack's support and so I don't feel my gear poking me in the back, and also acts as a sit/kneel pad as well as supplimentation to my sleep system (e.g. under my legs or as a stand-alone torso pad). My foam pad for my Arc Blast is slightly larger so that I can roll it up a bit and strap it to the base straps. Same applies to how it functions, only that with this pack I don't need any back support, of course.

This concludes the most detailed account of how I sit down out in nature I have ever written (or thought of at once), because what else am I going to do with a toddler that is taking their afternoon nap right next to me? Moving might wake them up, and I've already checked my email and reddit, so this will suffice as the next best time killer I guess?

I have never felt the need to own a portable backpacking chair, and consider my breaks to always be very comfortable in general when they are spent on the ground. No feeling sore or stiff or uncomfortable… well, ever, that I can recall.

[Owen McMurrey]

"I take a cut-down chunk of an old Therm-A-Rest Z-lite pad, which also goes under my feet at night. That encourages me to sit at rest breaks, even if the ground is rocky or damp."
What Rex said, except mine acts as part of my pillow(along with a stuff sack with stuff in it) when side sleeping, and gets pushed up out of the way when I switch to my back.

Re-cut it to fit the stretch mesh pocket on my latest pack:

[Steve M]

In response to dk and a few others that PM'd me:

Here's a close up of the back of my 'Kifaru-like' ground chair–please excuse the crude hand-sewn stitching :( ….but so far this chair is holding up pretty well.

I experimented with using trekking poles, sticks and pack for supports but ended up preferring fixed length flat stays–salvaged from an old thermarest chair kit. Unlike the Kifaru support poles, these stays are riveted into an X shape–easily fold up for transport.

Normally I try to multi-use almost everything. That said, I found that a stand-alone chair is well worth the slight weight penalty–especially when trekking poles and/or pack are in use elsewhere.

[spelt with a t]

Guess I'm even more of a wierdo than I thought for preferring to sit cross-legged (all the time, not just in the woods. Such as right now as I type this.).

[Billy Ray]

I can't get comfy on the ground… my old geezer legs won't allow it…

I sit on rocks or tree stumps.

Billy

[Jeffrey Wong]

I don't remember sitting on the ground much for the last 20 days out in the woods. While preparing a meal, I might sit on my 2.5" air mattress, legs in front, knees slightly bent, but soon find myself lying down if late in the day or breaking camp if early.

I too have a physical therapist of the same mind as yours. Maintain posture of the entire spine. Being mindful of posture during the day.

And after a day on the trail, the feet want up to drain their fluids back to the pump.

[Author]

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