With car loaded and two new HH awaiting christening my 11 year old 9lives, our 3lb long hair chi named Buzz and I headed out yesterday afternoon after she was out of school. We filled the car up, picked up pizza, and bought a hot water bottle & 2 chocolate bars from Rite Aid. I am willing to bet the cashier had never seen that combo purchased.
We arrived at the Stone Door in Beersheba Springs, TN around 3:30pm cst. There is a free walk in primitive campsite that we decided to use. After registering at the Ranger Station we parked in the over night section and walked about a .25 of a mile in and selected our site. Selecting trees was fun and we began the task of hanging the hammocks and attaching UQs, blowing up the Thermarest, and placing the CCfs in the SPEs. We only had a couple of hours left to get everything situated and a fire started. I brought a little dry wood from home which was a good thing since everything at the site was still wet from the rain the day before. Hammocks hung, fire roaring, we grabbed some pizza and enjoyed by the fire. The stars were plentiful and the moon a beautiful crescent.
We had another camper stop by our site and ask what kind of hammocks we had. I told him they were HH and he asked if we liked them. I explained that this was our first time using them. He said he wanted a WB. We talked about the DIY UQs I had and all the information that is available on You Tube. He said yeah who is the guy that sings??? I said Shug and he said yeah that's him. I told our visitor about HF and he said he would check it out.
We decided to turn in around 7:30. I got 9lives situated and we discovered that we needed to do some adjusting to the hammock because the ridge line had some play in it and the net was swaging. We tightened it up and got it right and she climbed in for the night. I climbed in my hammock and buzz and I got situated. I was nervous about moving around too much since I thought I might fall or the hammock would rip. I never was cold, but Buzz choose to sleep in my lap. This must be the same effect that a hot water bottle gives. I only felt cold on my toes, but I did not have an TQ. I did throw our coats over the top portion of the hammocks, but of course that left the top bottom portion uncovered. 9lives reported from her hammock that her back was hurting. I called back to her to try and lie on her side. She turned and reported that it felt better.
Around 10pm I was still awake listening to the water rushing in a distant stream when out of no where I hear 9lives SCREAMING ------> MOM!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! I went to scrambling. Arms flailing, 3lb chi flying, and again I hear---->MOM!!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!! I finally got to my zipper and sock feet on the wet ground I arrive at her hammock and she again screams ----> MOM!!! GET ME OUT OF HERE. While I am getting her out I am questioning her as to what was wrong. She woke up in panic mode and could not find her hammock zipper. She said she felt like she could not breath because of her coat I had placed over the top of the hammock. She would NOT get back in her hammock, so we grabbed sleeping bags, coats, car keys, and the dog and headed to my car. Once in the car it was 10:15. I could NOT sleep. I went back to the campsite and started packing everything up. With everything loaded we dove over the rangers house to get him to unlock the gate. Have you ever had to wake up a ranger??? It took 30 mins to get him out of the bed and to the door. He drove down and unlocked the gate. I apologized and thanked him as we were leaving. He explained that he does not get paid for emergencies or anything after hours... I thanked him again.
We arrived home around 1am.
Good points---in the 2 1/2 hours we hung we stayed pretty warm. The only thing I had that got cold was my toes & fingers. 9lives reported she was warm the whole time. We got an experience that we will NEVER forget.
Bad point is that I forgot to grab the camera out of the car. I did not go back and get it as I thought I could get pics the next morning.
9lives said she wants to try again.
I did get one pic with my cell phone from inside my hammock...
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