Hi from Eastern Connecticut
My wife and I decided to resurrect our backpacking hobby after raising 3 sons. We did extensive backpacking in New England (Whites, Katahdin, etc) and New York (Adirondacks) before we had children back in the 80's. Now we are older and our boys are all young adults mostly on their own. We made a few decisions on how to re-enter our backpacking hobby. First decision was NOT to carry 40-50lb packs ever again. And the second was to NOT sleep on the ground in a tent. We jettisoned all our 30-yr old backpacking gear and started researching and buying ultra-light gear. The 7 lb backpacking went and we were very intrigued but also skeptical about hammocking. We decided to take the plunge and purchased a couple of DL warbonnet blackbirds, a superfly, and a pair of EnlightenedEquipment revelation overquilts. The plan was to try hammocking and if we liked it, good, if not sell the hammocks and quilts and start over. Well we did a few overnighters on the Nipmuck trail (60mi trail that traverses NE Connecticut). We really liked the the comfort but were cold with our sleeping pads. We made another investment in Warbonnet and bought a pair of Yeti underquilts. Then we headed to Eastern Tennessee for some Smokey Mountain fall season backpacking. We were comfy and warm on some rather cold nights! Now we are sold on backpacking with hammocks. We are planning some more trips next season and are planning on checking off our lifelong bucket-list item of through hiking the Appalachian Trail at some point soon. Thanks to HammockForums for helping in re-education of former ground dwellers! This site has been invaluable in our research and we hope to continue learning and sharing here.
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