My brother and I are complete newcomers to hammock camping and this past weekend we decided to try the Pecos Wilderness here in NM north of Santa Fe. I just received a Claytor JH and tarp and my brother bought a Hammock Bliss hammock. For insulation, I had my Z-Lite pad and my brother brought a 4' x 5' down throw and a 1/2" CCF pad. We arrived at the Pecos Wilderness late in the morning and parked at the Cowles trailhead, about 8400', and headed out on the Windsor trail to Stewart Lake, about 10,200', ~ 7.5 miles away. The day was beautiful--no clouds and in the high 80s.
The Pecos Wilderness is about 223,000 acres of wilderness in the Santa Fe and Carson National Forests and managed by the USFS. The Windsor trail is well maintained and clearly marked so we had no trouble staying on the trail. We gained altitude steadily and, as a world-class couch potato, I was huffing and puffing before too long. We went through some really steep terrain and dense forest with Douglas firs and Colorado spruce with some Aspens mixed in.
After frequent breaks and an hour lunch stop, we arrived at Stewart Lake, a small jewel of an alpine lake about 200 yards long by 100 yard wide. We've been on the trail for 8.5 hours (hey, I'm an old timer!), the sun had set and we were losing daylight rapidly. We found a nice area way off trail above the lake to setup, but by this time we had quickly lost daylight, and with only a sliver of moon, we had to use headlamps to see what we were doing. The Claytor went up fairly quickly thanks to all of the excellent info I got from Shug's and Grizz's videos--I'm now a huge fan of the toggle suspension! I used Dutch clips and webbing from JRB, and I replaced the stock straps with Amsteel Blue. My brother, not having the advantage of watching the excellent videos here on Hammock Forums, just went with a conglomeration of knots--at least he didn't fall down.
According to my brother's digital thermometer, we had a high of 88 degrees F and a low of 33 degrees F. Boy did I feel that 33 F! I froze my backside but was warm on top--I used my WM Megalite sleeping bag as a top quilt. The Z-Lite pad was almost useless as insulation at that low temperature and my body heat just went right on through. I don't think I ever heeded the call of nature so much in one night--4 times! Anyway, I had a miserably cold night. Now my brother on the other hand, slept like a baby with his jury-rigged down UQ and CCF pad. I have an IX UQ on order with MacEntyre and I sure wish I had a chance to try it out that night! My Claytor hammock, though, was very comfortable and a joy to use. I can't imagine backpacking any other way.
Other than birds and squirrels, we didn't see much wildlife along the way, but we saw plenty of deer tracks and a cougar track. We came across some scat that neither of us had seen before. It was composed of hair or fur and very light. Cougar, maybe?
Anyway, we broke camp in the morning and got back to the truck in 6 hours--downhill all the way. I really had a great time for my first hang and learned a lot, especially what NOT to do next time! I can't wait to get back out there again--next time with a ton of under insulation!
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