Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Hammock Camping at Outpost Camp

Hello everyone, a few friends and I will be hiking Whitney in a couple weeks and will be camping at Outpost Camp. From a previous visit several years ago, I recall a fair amount of trees toward the "back" of this area, and a couple of us were considering bringing our hammocks to sleep in (with rainflys).

Does anyone know if hammock camping in outpost is feasible (i.e. enough trees spaced 15-20 feet apart)? Appreciate any input/suggestions.

Thank you!

It might be a problem, especially if there are a lot of tents set up near the few trees suitable for hammocks. Here is a short video of the area - taken during the off-season (now imagine the area crowded with tents):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0gUsZ21tes

I know this might set off a long thread of hammock vs. tent discussions, but leave the hammock at home. Use a tent or, if the weather is nice, just use your sleeping bag - the mosquitoes are just about gone now and you can watch the stars.

Whitney frequent Whitney hikers in this forum might give you a better idea about trees, etc., at Outpost. What do you say, Steve?

Bob, I think you are right with the potential for crowding and lack of trees. It could be a struggle to find the right setup.

I myself never use a tent unless there is a chance of rain.

Thanks for the input everyone!

We rolled the dice to try hammock camping at Outpost. We were fortunate to find several great places to setup. There were 3 hammocks in our group, and two in other groups. There were probably only about 12 groups in Outpost the two nights we were there, so it wasnt too packed.

Hammock camping was a first for me on this trip, but will not be my last. I slept like a rock (but to be fair, I was pretty tired each night when we got back to camp).