Just got back from this year's fall MAHHA and had such a wonderful time i wanted to post about what it was like going to my first large group hang with the HF peeps.
Trip started by heading up a day early. Driving up, It didnt take me long to find the group hang site and see there were several Tarps already visible from the parking lot. Once i arrived, i got to meet 8 of the best people you would ever want to hang with and know. I got to meet Cave Man (Brian), Edlee (Ed), Cranky Bear (Jared), Perrito (George), Bigfoot (Darren), Calebreth (Dave), Mark (forgot his trail name) and Dog Listener (Pat). Everyone was very welcoming and quickly suggested being a "Loud" sleeper that i move down closer to Ed's spot. I found me a nice set of trees and began getting my stuff from the car. Since i knew i was car camping basically, I packed much more then i normally would. But i got myself all setup and ready to hang.
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Mark had already managed to get some firewood for the evening, so after chipping in we were pretty much settled for the night. At this point, Pat and I are the two newbies hanging out and asking all the newbie type questions. We even had a few hot beverages that the others had brought and we gracious enough to share. So we sat by the fire, enjoying the peaceful company of each other, just beginning to get our "hang" perfected. We talked into the late hours (though Jared was exhausted and hit the bed early). We were even blessed with some fine music to keep our souls fed for the evening. Ed can really play very well, and Ed if you want me to pull this down just say the word, but you were awesome.
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At a late hour we crawled into our hammocks and called it a night. Now this is where the learning for me came in. Friday night temps dropped quickly to low about 47. I did wake up with CBS, not sure how, but my entire underquilt had moved to my right side. So after getting up for that (and nature call), i manage to tighten things up and crawled back into hammock and slept for another 3 hours.
Now its Friday morning, and we are all gathered around the camp fire. Pat was up before anyone and had the fire going. And for future reference, Pat is cursed, so if she started the fire, do not sit beside her....the smoke follows her like a puppy which made the trail name Dog Listener even more appropriate. However, Pat and Dave both brought...........bacon. Pat managed to cook up about 3 lbs of bacon which we all managed to eat, well except Ed who was sleeping off the "nighttime" activities. Then, Pat broke up fresh eggs from her chickens at home and we cooked them all up in the bacon grease left in the pan. All the while, George and Jared are talking about the "hiker" burger we would need to eat later for lunch because it two would have more bacon on it. And that came pretty quickly, so while others were arriving and setting things up, 5 of us walked up to the AT General Store and ordered lunch. I eagerly ordered 1 "hiker" burger and 1 small fries. After reading on the menu the hiker burger came wiith, burger, bacon, double cheese, fried egg, onions, lettuce, tomato, avocado and mayo, i thought to myself sounds yummy. I did not instantly think, this was going to be so big that the smart man would have skipped the fries. I should have listened to the others. Oh well they were **** good.
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Friday night came with more campfires and more music and more great conversations. The only mistake i made was to assume it was going to get as cold as the night before. So i took advantage of adding more to my sleep system, food box pad, socks, etc. Woke up sweating my butt off which triggered an asthma attack. So after getting up, and walking around in the dark until I could breathe i crawled back into bed with very minimal layers.
Now onto Saturday, everyone is here, its raining pretty well and we all head over to the great breakfast cook out. Fill up on pancakes, french toast, sausage, and head back to our group site. Ed had us hooked up with a 16 ft Kelty Noah tarp up to keep us nice and dry and a place to enjoy. After hours of helping Pat prepare "bacon wrapped, cream cheese filled peppers" and getting a soggy fire going. We finally headed over to the MAHAA Dinner. Awesome food, great raffle with gear from all our kick *** cottage vendors. Won myself a 2QZQ ridge line organizer and a new piece of gear called a Bling Bag (will do separate post on it....i need more bling to put in the bag. Yes Dutch i know where to order said bling.) Pictures are from breakfast.
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Saturday night came, more music from Ed, larger group around the campfire many more cool people to chat with and have a blast talking to and meeting. Way to many to name. Finally went to sleep around 1am till the wind came.....and then the wind came hard. My tarp was tied down really well, but it still made a loud noise when the wind caused the tarp to go in and out away from the hammock.
So Sunday morning, everyone had the same idea. Pack up....get out of the wind and head on home. Just to windy to try and cook more bacon. Btw that was the theme. Bacon all day long.
I made it home in time to go to my daughters lacrosse games. And one of the coaches asked my oldest daughter to play goalie on the BOYS team. She was so thrilled and excited. The boys were so nervous they didn't know what to do when she caught a shot on goal and came out of the crease.
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So in short. I cannot wait to do it again. Even with waking up all 3 nights for 3 different reasons, i slept great, no back pain, no shoulder pain.
I just want to thank everyone for having a great time. But truly want to thank George, Ed, Brian, Darren, Mark, Jared, Dave and Pat (best lady a group site could have looking out for all of us) for making my first hang one of my best weekends in a really long time.
-NarlocB (aka Thorin Oakenshield.....new name Crash (Donald) gave me.....long story.....but lets just say its about a log that i took to carrying around for the weekend)
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great report! See you in the spring!
Originally Posted by Padre'
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