Spring Northern Hang 2012

[Bic]

(pasted from www.wenthiking.com)

I left my house around 1pm and drove through some beautiful farmland on my way to the trailhead. I arrived at the North Country Trail trailhead in Solon Springs, WI about two hours later. After about a mile of walking I realized that I had probably taken the wrong trail, so I called CryotheWild from the forums. After talking with him I decided that I indeed had taken the wrong trail, so I hiked back and found the right trail! Once I got on the right trail it was another short mile walk in to the area where everyone else was camping. We were allowed to camp off the trail a bit because Snipen got us all a dispersed camping permit. It was a hot and muggy evening, but we still had a small fire. I decided to turn in for the night around 11:30pm and when I got in and laid down in my hammock I looked up to see some HUGE spiders that had crawled inside my bug net (that I forgot to close!) After freaking out a bit and getting rid of the spiders I dosed off... woke up around 2am to answer the call of nature and saw Hilo and his girlfriend arrive.

The next morning we were all up pretty early and hit the trail around 7:30am and it was already starting to get hot! MT from the forums was out first, then it was Cryothewild and his buddy, Drew. I followed a bit after them. after about 30 minutes of hiking alone I caught up with Cryothewild and Drew and a few minutes we all caught up with MT. We spent the rest of the day hiking together. It was a fun group of guys to hike with! The plan was to meet up with everyone at the Highland Town Hall which was just before where we were planning to camp on day 2. So we all broke out our hammocks and enjoyed the breeze for about an hour before everyone else showed up. We all ate some lunch and got some water before heading to the campsite.

Day three was just as hot as the previous two days and we got a later start. This day's hike was to be about 6.5 miles or so, but in the heat it felt much longer! It didn't help that this section was dry and I ran out of water about half way through. One thing that I haven't mentioned yet is how bad the ticks were on the trail... it was a nonstop battle to keep them off yourself! I think it is safe to say that most of us had somewhere around 100-150 ticks each during this trip.


heading to the trail


sign on trail for the group hang


my hammock setup


some of the guys sitting around the fire


I believe this was Madhob


moving cars around


snapping turtle


inside my hammock - morning day 2




cryothewild hiking


bridge crossing


MT hiking


wintergreen that cryothewild showed me


hanging in front of town hall






my first lunch (I ate two this day)




everyone else showed up


campsite for day 2


Cryothewild's hammock


campfire day 2


making bannock




cryothewild making bannock


Snipen breaking camp on Day 3


cryothewild breaking camp day 3


Hilo and girlfriend making breakfast day 3




one of many many ticks


pretty much the whole group






we got to the cars!


fun trip!

[Fronkey]

That looks like an awesome trail, especially in Spring/Fall when the ticks are M.I.A.

Great photos and happy everyone had a good time.

I loved the photo of all the hammocks hanging adjacent to one another. Really cool

Fronkey

[Pag]

Looks like you guys had an awesome trip. I like the Solon springs area quite a bit. That camp on day 2 must have been cool. Did everyone actually fit in parallel?

We actually hiked that route backwards last year. We hit DQ in Solon springs and then caught a Duluth superior symphony orchestra outdoor performance in the evening. I highly reccomend that if you're ever in the area during one of their shows. Did you guys use premrethin? I think it's pretty much necessary this time of year, and tucking pant legs into socks helps me a bit. (My family hates ticks)

[MT]

First off I would like to thank Snipen for putting in the work on getting this hang put together. It takes a lot of work trying to organize cats I mean hammockers

I arrived at the parking lot at noon and looked out over a lake while I ate my lunch. There was a nice public water source there to fill up with great tasting water. Finally a bunch of us met up and walked in together. Along the way are some stones with the names of explorers and the dates they came through the area. I recognize some of the names from early Minnesota history.

I liked the first nights campsite really well. The trees were all disbursed and gave us the chance to spread out. While I was setting up my new DIY bridge hammock I was having a little problem with the wind, when I finally sat down in it I heard a ripping sound. I got out quick and inspected a nice 6-inch rip near one of the seams at the foot end. It was then that I noticed that one of my spreader bars was not seated properly I added a little bit of tape to the end and had no problems with it the rest of the trip. We sat around the fire, ate crumbled cookies (my bad there) and talked.

I turned in around 11 and slept really soundly. The breeze was great and there were no flying bugs to speak of. I woke up around 5:30 and make breakfast. I finally left camp around 7:10. I took a lot of pictures and took my time. About a mile down the trail 3 others caught up to me and we all hiked together. Lots of interesting conversation made the trip move by fast. One thing, I think Cry O the Wild should change his name to "The Tick". He must have collected over a hundred in the first 2 hours of hiking. I was lucky enough to not have one tick on me the whole time.

We stopped at Jerseth creek and I couldn’t resist taking my shoes off and wading in the cold water. We hiked out he rest of the way and waited for the others at the Highland campsite. We ate lunch and took some naps. We saw a young fawn come out by itself, many pictures were taken.

When we finally got to our next campsite. It was 95 degrees in the shade. We all basically set up and crashed for a while.

We ate supper and had a nice fire, sat around and talked. I turned in around 11. The next morning was humid and getting warm and I don't handle the heat well, so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and decided to hike out with madhob and his son. I caught a ride with them back to my car.

I had a great time and really liked the mix of people. We all had a mix of experience and a lot of fun conversation. I picked up some pointers and got a few ideas to mod my hammock. The trail was interesting and diverse. I can really recommend the Solon Springs area of the trail.

[lonetracker]

great pics guys.its been two years since i first attended a hf hang.this was the sixth one i have been to.it has been as aparent from the first hang i attended thru this last one that hammock forums attracts and holds as its members,great people.it has been my pleasure to meet and hang with all of you .thanks.
i did not take to many pics once again,but here is a few.
the rear gaurd.us four had a nice slow hike saturday.Snipen,Jesse,and Stairguy enjoy a welcome break taking in the serenity of jerseth creek,and getting a taste of its cool clear water.

as i sit here i realize i have been here before.i shared this same spot with other hf members on a previous hang. wish you could have been here again guys.

found in the log book at a nearby campspot from 2 years ago.a message from who could that be?,and another from headrush,make for interesting reading,while we catch our breath after that last hill.


all the pretty hammocks all in a row.well almost all.i think there were 8 hammocks(out of ten) hung down this row of red pine trees.i did a little climbing to try to get a better pic.about half hour after this pic was taken most of the tarps went on for some shade and allmost all of us hammocked up for a mid afternoon nap.


my diy rig,with the tarp thrown all recklessly back.


Snippen framed by two large red pines as he walks the trail.thanks buddy for all your work settin up and hosting yet again.


the lo side of hilo4321 showing a small portion of his tick catch prior to release.

they were thick.i had used permathrin and did not get hardly any,and none that made it more then halfway up my pants.good stuff.

looking forward to hanging with you all again.
Bill

[HoosierDaddy]

^^ THAT'S a BUNCH o' ticks! :-o

[Hangin'Yankee]

great pics guys.its been two years since i first attended a hf hang.this was the sixth one i have been to.it has been as aparent from the first hang i attended thru this last one that hammock forums attracts and holds as its members,great people.it has been my pleasure to meet and hang with all of you .thanks.
i did not take to many pics once again,but here is a few.
the rear gaurd.us four had a nice slow hike saturday.Snipen,Jesse,and Stairguy enjoy a welcome break taking in the serenity of jerseth creek,and getting a taste of its cool clear water.

as i sit here i realize i have been here before.i shared this same spot with other hf members on a previous hang. wish you could have been here again guys.

Bill

lonetracker,

I wish I could have been there also, that is a beautiful little creek and it felt good on the feet. It was me, headrush(my son), Walking Bear and Shug that sat there with you.

We shall hang again together soon.

HY

[Shug]

Bet there was some sweating going on for sure!!!!!
Nice to see all the pictures. Good looking hangs......and ticks.
Love the tick-harvesting socks! Perethrin sure keeps the ticks at bay and glad I used it on the trail everytime I got a chance to traipse on it.
Sure wish I could have attended but I just could not get out of some events on this end.
Fun to see that ol' journal))))))))
Shug

[A J]

even if only for one night. Even if I took the wrong trail and wandered in circles for 1 1/2 hrs. Even if the heat and ticks made it more of a challenge. The "up" side is learning new tricks and meeting new friends. I had packed in a hurry for the trip...(too many honey-do's) and so when I got home I went through my pack more carefully and discovered I could have packed a full ten pounds lighter. Being an older fella with some health issues........ this experience will make future outings all that much more enjoyable. Sorry to have missed some that had to bow out. I hope to see you all down the road......... um..... er...... Trail.

[jesse]

Great get together and Hike, my first hiking of more than a mile w/pack...
it went well and no blisters or other sores.
It was good seeing familiar faces and some new ones.
thanks for the pics, i didn't bring a camera.
Jesse