First Hammock Overnighter / onewind double layer hammock with underquilt / solo / without words

There is always a first time. After countless nights on the ground, on pads, in tents, under tarps, I finally talked myself into spending a night between two trees. My first ever hammock overnighter. No talking, no commentary, just the sounds of the forest and the calm rhythm of a solo trip.

Setting Up Camp Between the Trees

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Finding a spot for a hammock camp is a different exercise than picking a tent site. Instead of flat ground, you look for two solid trees at the right distance. Once I found mine, I pitched the double-layer hammock from onewind. The double fabric layer is key: it forms a sleeve for insulation from below, which makes the whole sleep system far more efficient than stuffing a pad into a single-layer hammock.

The key part, though, was the underquilt from onewind. Anyone who has never slept in a hammock should know: the cold comes from below, not above. Your body compresses any insulation between you and the hammock fabric, leaving the air underneath unprotected. An underquilt wraps the hammock from the outside and keeps a lofted layer of insulation right where it is needed. Together with my Carinthia TSS inner sleeping bag on top, the setup was surprisingly warm and comfortable.

I also had my Exped Synmat UL along as a backup. Some would call that overkill, but for the first hammock night I was not taking chances. Better to carry a little extra than to lie there shivering at three in the morning regretting your choices.

Simple Food, Honest Comfort

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This trip was nothing for gourmet cooking. The food was deliberately simple: fast food, forest edition. Quick to make, easy to clean up, more time to sit and take in the surroundings. I heated water for coffee in my titanium French press and ate with the titanium spork. No elaborate cooking, no washing up, just warmth in a cup and enough fuel to keep going.

The evening settled quietly over the forest. Without conversation or commentary filling the gaps, you notice things differently. How the light moves through the canopy. The faint creak of the suspension when you turn in the hammock. The moment your body finally lets the tension go and you sink into the fabric.

How Does Sleeping in a Hammock Feel?

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Did I sleep well? Better than expected, honestly. I had heard mixed things: people raving about hammock comfort, others complaining about feeling cramped or waking with a sore back. The diagonal lie in the onewind hammock gave a surprisingly flat sleeping position, and with the underquilt below and the sleeping bag above, temperature was never an issue.

For the morning chill the Hestra Fält Guide gloves sat within reach, and I wore the Helikon-Tex grid fleece as a mid-layer. Pants and boots held up on the damp ground during setup as always.

Waking up in a hammock is a different feeling. There is a gentle sway, a sense of being held rather than pressed against hard ground. I made coffee, packed up slowly and set off with a quiet contentment. First hammock overnighter, definitely not the last.

For anyone who wants to try it: start with good insulation from below. That is the one variable that decides between success and frustration. Everything else can be improvised.

This video was supported by onewind. With the code KAPPE you get 5% off all onewind products.