No, winter hammock campers aren't crazy — they just really love being outside

There's only one real question for a group of people who sling up their hammocks to camp on a frozen hillside near Waupaca in the middle of January: Why?

"No bugs, no mud," said Steve Larson, one of about 20 campers at the Frozen Butt Hang, an annual event for winter hammock campers in Wisconsin. This year's hang was held on 40 acres of private land just outside Hartman Creek State Park Jan. 11-14.

For anyone who's contended with the mosquitoes and ticks of a Wisconsin summer, the thought of camping without them is appealing. But appealing enough to willingly sleep outside in temperatures as low as –41 degrees? Clearly this group of crazy campers finds something more in the winter woods.

"I reintroduce people to the outdoors in cold weather because there's six months of the year that you don't have to be stuck inside," said Nick Gordon, who started the event seven years ago after hearing about a similar one in Minnesota. At that event, held at a YMCA camp, Gordon said some people ended up sleeping in buildings.

"I vowed to start my own in Wisconsin, and I said it's going to be colder, and more backcountry, and not for beginners, and it has been," he said. "We've been colder every year."

The night before temperatures had dipped to –13 degrees. Two years ago the group set a record, -41 degrees. The wind chill hit –55 that year and the snow was 3 feet deep.

"We have never canceled an event due to temperature," said Gordon, who goes by the moniker Nick of the Woods and teaches outdoor and wilderness survival classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and to private groups. "When it's that cold, it's not that much fun. It's just a lot of work. But you get bragging rights."

Ah yes, that age-old reason many people do crazy things outside: to say they did — or these days, to post it on social media.

But this isn't a "do it for the 'gram" crowd. Gordon doesn’t even have a smartphone, and in the two hours I hung out with the group, only one person pulled theirs out.

Camaraderie seems to be a major selling point, as the group gathered around the bonfire under a repurposed parachute that served to trap the heat.

"I think winter camping is a lot more social" than summer camping, Gordon said. "There's so much communal time around the fire."

Larson removed a Dutch oven from its perch hanging above the fire and offered up its contents — a cheesy mix of eggs, sausage and potatoes — to the group. Someone else melted water from a frozen jug. Another added 3-foot-logs to the long fire.

This is how they spend most of the day — "we stand around and eat," someone joked. Gordon said he'll consume 6,000 calories a day when camping in the winter.

"People that really like to get outdoors, winter camping is intimidating, there is a smaller margin of error, but they can get out there and learn it's not life or death," Gordon said. "If you have the right stuff, the right footwear, you're not going to be freezing. You have to take precautions, you have to have the right gear. You don't have to spend a fortune on it."

In fact, the group — a male-heavy brigade, many with hearty beards — isn't sporting the expensive, high-tech gear you'd see in an advertisement in Outside magazine.

One after another, they bragged about finding bargains: wool sweaters or pants at thrift stores, 1970s canvas tents on eBay, used hammocks from other campers.

"I think it's funny that when you're with a group of people who sleep in hammocks, they talk about their hammocks," Gordon said. "When you go and sit around with a bunch of people that sleep in tents, nobody talks about their tents."

Everyone's setup is different, one of the perks of hammock camping, according to Gordon — you can customize your hammock like you would a Sleep Number bed.

All agreed sleeping in a hammock is far superior to sleeping on the ground.

"It'll change the way you camp," Gordon said. "I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if it weren't for hammocks. It literally was such a fantastic improvement from sleeping on the ground."

Karla Iseler, a Milwaukeean who heartily introduced herself as "Karla with a K," is a convert.

"I used to make fun of (Nick) for hammock camping," she said, "until I tried it one time."

"It was 19 degrees and it sleeted that night, and I was so warm," she said. Before 2015, Iseler had only camped a handful of times. Over the past two years, she's camped at least one night every month.

"I have to get out," she said, noting that a good friend had passed away a couple days before. "This is going to get me back into normalcy."

Most of the hammock setups have a down under quilt (essentially a sleeping bag in blanket form) clipped underneath for insulation, a top quilt inside, and a tarp over the top. An adjustable ridgeline helps with getting the desired tension in the hammock.

While you can get a basic hammock for as cheap as $20, the quilts can run a couple hundred dollars, and aren't readily available in retail stores. Most are produced by cottage outfitters like Hammock Gear, a producer that's so popular that he's more than 500 quilts behind on orders, Gordon said.

Some people, like Frank Humphrey from Marshfield, have a "hot tent." Traditional hot tents are big, heavy canvas creations weighing 30 pounds or more. But Humphrey's setup weighs just 6 pounds. Inside hangs his hammock — attached to trees outside through straps fed through custom zippers on the tent — plus a small stove tucked into the corner that keeps temperatures comfortable.

"You wake up, roll over, put your coffee on, go back to bed," Gordon said.

Humphrey said he had the inside of the tent up to 75 degrees that day. Coffee within arm's reach and 75 degrees? Maybe this winter hammock camping thing isn't so crazy after all.

More information: Nick Gordon will lead a Traditional Winter Camp and Skills outing in the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest Jan. 26-28. The weekend will include instruction on traditional hot tents and stove use; ax, saw and knife skills; sled packing; winter cooking and baking; and winter survival skills. It costs $255 per person, which includes a hot tent and all meals.

Gordon will also host a Winter Camping Overnight and Skills for Beginners Feb. 24-25 at the Waupaca location. That event costs $45 per person.

For more on those and upcoming winter camping events, see the My Wilderness Adventure Group Meetup page at meetup.com/My-Wilderness-Adventure-Group.

For more outings and classes from Gordon, see nickofthewoods.com.

Winter and summer hammock campers often trade information and post events on the website hammockforums.net.