This was our first hang. Let me give you a breakdown of our trip. I forgot to leave a key to my house for my dad who would be feeding our cat. After driving 20 miles, my wife asked and I had to turn around, go back and leave a key.
We got to the trail head and a very nice man let me park my car in his big driveway so it would be safe.
After about 1 mile, I dropped a one liter bottle of water and watched it roll down the steep bank and into the river!
After about 4 miles, I could go no further. Since I am disabled and have difficulty walking anyway, I figured this was a good distance. besides it was all about the hang, not the hike.
My wife and I descended a steep bank, crossed the river and found a nice spot out of site of the trail. The hammocks went up in a short amount of time and we waded the river and walked around some. Since the forecast didn't call for rain, we decided not to put up the tyvek tarps.
The hammock was very comfortable, until the temps dropped and all the heat sucked out of my body. We both had cheap fleece "sleeping bags" from Walmart, but I froze during the night.
I am also diabetic and suffer from occasional leg cramps. Let me tell you, leg cramps are no fun in a hammock. I had them all night. A deer crashed through the woods by our camp in the early morning and a skunk wandered by.
On our way out the next day, my wife overbalanced at the top of the steep bank we had used to get from the trail to the river. She fell over backwards and slid about 12 feet down the bank, on her chest. She cut her chin, skinned an elbow, barked both shins and got punched in the eye by something. She also said her chewing gum was full of dirt when she stopped sliding.
By the time we made it back to the car, my stride length had fallen to about 6 inches per step. I was moving mighty slow.
The drive home took about an hour and when we got home, I had forgotten that I had left a key out. My dad had stopped by and picked up the key so now I had no way to get into the house. I drove to my dad's, got the key and struggled inside. We spent all day yesterday trying to recover from our trip.
With all that said, we had a GREAT time!! The hammocks were so comfortable. We had no gear problems at all and all of our troubles were because of lack of planning and experience. We are already planning our next overnight.
The pictures are in order:
1. Trail sign
2. Camp set up
3. Another angle of the set up
4. the view out our "front door"
5. The bank my wife fell down
I just want to thank everyone for all the help and information that I have found here. We can't wait to get back out in the woods and hang some more.
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