This past weekend the wife and I went on our first hang! We had scouted for a suitable site for a double hang with our 2 hammocks on a previous hiking outing. After loading up the final pieces of gear, we headed out on the Chattooga River Trail. Our campsite was only about a mile from the trailhead but there are two decent obstacles, a steep creek crossing and a nasty root-infested dip in the trail that we had to overcome with slightly overloaded packs. We managed to get to the site and unload our packs and set up our tarp and both hammocks without too much trouble even though my #2 tree was about 25' away from my other tree making for some interesting suspension manipulations. The 10x12' tarp in porch mode was able to cover both of us nicely and there was no wind and no chance of rain in the forecast.
To my surprise, there were 7 or 8 other hammocks in the immediate area in both campsites and "stealth" sites! I guess HF folks are well represented in this neck of the woods. I talked with Brian from GA about his underquilt and he was very helpful and a nice guy. After a dinner of rice and beef hash cooked on my alcohol stove, we decided to build a small campfire and and enjoy some "adult beverage". When the fire died down, it was time to douse it out and get to bed. It was an almost pitch black night and Lil' Red Bird (my better half) followed me down to the clear waters of the Chattooga. As I tried to scoop up some water my feet slipped- aided by some overindulgence of whiskey- and I ended up on my butt in the cold water! I managed to get the water and put out the campfire, but I learned 2 valuable lesson. #1 plan ahead and get your water to extinguish the fire ahead of time- preferably before dark, and #2 whiskey and water don't mix when one of them is a cold river.
After drying off, I climbed into my hammock and snuggled into some downy goodness. I slept fairly well but my wife found out that her hammock was just too small for her to get comfortable . I plan to either get her a ENO double like mine, or try to dial hers in more on a dry run in our woods near the house. All in all it was a great trip and I learned some things about my suspension that need to be changed and that my wife needs a more comfortable hammock. Thanks for everyone here on HF for all the great advice and info- I wouldn't have been able to pulled off this first hang without your help. A special thanks goes out to Shug for getting me ( and a lot of others) into this new "hammock thing". Also, my wife deserves extra special kudos for going with me and putting up with a not so great night in the woods. I have a few pics that I will try to attach to the thread tomorrow. One hang down- many more to go!!