Now, Tuesday, just brimming with self confidence, I set out for my first official over night hang at a local state park. And boy was I not prepared. The first thing that happened, was I completely forgot how to tie any knots. Couldn't even do a basic prussic! My mind just went blank. But the major mistake came when I got into my hammock and soon woke up in a ball in the footbox. Now I am sure I must have had the foot end too low. And the ridge line wasn't taut either.
So I suffered through with it until the last frost of the year rolled in around 2am. My backside was warm and comfy, but apparently my concern with underquilting left my top to freeze. And when I determined I could wait nolonger for natures call, I attempted a graceful exit. Which resulted in a severely pulled calf muscle and a twisted ankle.
After sliding down, my point of exit was nolonger over my ground cloth at my point of entrance. And being a fat body, I find it very difficult to just bend over out of the hammock and straighten right up into a standing position. No...it is quite a struggle to bend over out of the hammock at all. It is easiest to stay horizontal, and just roll out and take my lumps. But I endeavored to persevere, stepped onto a sharp stick, grimmacing my reaction caused me to pull a calf muscle, and when I thought "just eject! Emergency eject!" I landed into what appeared to be a large safe pile of leaves...with one footsized hole at the bottom. And you know I was going to find that hole. I screamed so loud the coyotes started howling back. And I'm pretty sure I wet myself a little too. ( I must have looked incredible getting to my feet and hobbling bent over, with leaves in my hair, my war face blazing in pain, holding my crotch to keep from exploding any more, and groaning and cussing to the nearest unoccupied tree to relieve myself. Thank God I was the only one in the park).
I wound up leaving my campsite at around 0700, since I had been up the rest of the night anyway. Any suggestions (besides smart alik remarks about losing weight) that I might employ on my next hang? This last one was a humdinger!
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