Hammock refresh…

HammockForums.net

Has been way down in traffic in recent years but seems to be trending back up as people get frustrated with Facebook (like me).

Sadly, most forums have died off thanks to Facebook, although facebook groups are a terrible replacement.

I was one of the early Hammock Forums members.

I was the 21st person to join after HF came on line and hammockers started moving there from White Blaze. That was in 2006. March I think.

Believe it or not, I was able to read every post on every thread for a while. But as membership continued to grow it became impossible.

AT Troll is the owner of Hammock Forums.
Just Jeff was the on line face in charge in the early years.
I was the first person that Jeff asked to help moderate.
As the military took Jeff over seas and the membership grew, I asked Jeff if he would ad more moderators.
And he did.

I stepped away from moderation after several years.

I don’t spend a lot of time on HF now. Mainly checking/ planning events in the Southeast and a little research.

I was on hammock forums first, before getting on backpacking light.  Early on I really liked the marketplace, but at some point the moderation of HF became a thing onto itself. Maybe there were issues being solved, but in my experience I felt it was overly legalistic. I dealt with that and used it a lot. Then HF made a change where I was getting inundated with ads, some of them offensive. You could pay to eliminate them, but I wasn’t willing. I moved my gear shopping and selling over to BPL and never looked back. My HF forum use dropped over time. I don’t know if they still have the issues. I will login and check it out, but I’m pretty satisfied by BPL and what little I use FB/Insta.   Just a note – Next weekend is the SoCal Hammock hang, and I should have posted it here before, but here are the deets thanks to our SoCal Hangers leader Addam on FB (maybe HF too?)…

SCHEDULE FOR THE HANG

Thursday 15th:
2:00pm – Site opens

Friday 16th
6:00pm Knots Clinic with Mike “Salted Plum” Truong

Saturday 17th
11:00 Pine Needle Baskets/Crafts with Margie Amos
12:00 Talk with Derek Hansen, author of “The Ultimate Hang”
6:00 Potluck Dinner then raffle

Sunday 18th
1:00 Check Out

Firewood: Please bring a few bundles of wood

Potluck: Please bring something to share with everyone on Saturday night. We will likely end up with 17-20 people by the time we get there. If you want to post what you plan to bring below, that would be helpful

Water: The website says the water there is safe to drink but I usually bring my own just in case. I’ve had too many cases where a site said it was safe and ended up with the rusty faucet blues.

Pets: Dogs on 6’ leashes are allowed

Adjacent Site: It looks like we will have neighbors at the Oso site on Friday and Saturday night. Hopefully it isn’t the Scared Straight program like the one year at Blue Jay, IYKYK

Directions:

From the 10 Freeway in Redlands…
Exit at University Street and go northbound onto University Street.
Turn right onto E. Lugonia Avenue/SR-38
Follow it for about 22 miles to the campground entrance on the left a few miles after Barton Flats Campground

This group site is fantastic. There are flush toilets, parking for 19 vehicles, a huge fire pit with plenty of shade, several bear bins, multiple grills, lots of picnic tables, and has lots of trees. The camp host at Barton Flats down the road said with that reservation we can roll down there to use showers if we would like.

Nearby Activities:

The Rio Monte Trail is accessed from the campground and ends at the Rio Monte Panorama, which overlooks the deep gorge of the Santa Ana River Valley.

It is close to Jenks Lake which is stocked with rainbow trout, as well as largemouth bass, bluegill, sunfish and catfish. Rowboats, canoes and kayaks are permitted.

Elevation is 6,400 feet and the average daytime temperature will be in the low 70s with nighttime temps in the high 40s as of today. Bring your warm stuff!

Looking forward to seeing you all!