This was a big trip for me, it saw almost 50 hours of work the week before, 700 miles round trip and 3 nights away from the house... For others it was a simple over night with 14-16 miles hiked...
My trip started from south Texas and driving all the to northwest of ft worth to spend the night with caveman and his family... Wednesday night I had sewed a sock out of some heavy duty rainjacket material that I had... Thursday I had gotten the shock cord but didn't have a Chance to use it until arriving at cavemans house...
So we set up, my set up was a silver tablecloth hammock with whoopies(lovingly called "time machine") my eno profly, a 40* shamu underquilt, and a down sleeping bag which has been only tested to low 40's with an unknown temperature rating, a pad as a contingency plan and my sock, which is made like a top entry bug net without the flap on top... It was made this way because condensation was a big concern since the material it was made from doesn't breathe, at all... I ran a sheet over my hammock ridgeline like where a bugnet would go that would stop drafts and -hopefully- catch condensation and keep me from being rained on... Low temp was 25* when we woke for the hike and I was warm without the pad until 4am when I put the pad in, at 5 nature called and the excitement of the day got the better of me since we were set to wake at 6 and so I played there checking ny watch every 3 minutes till we just got started packing at 530ish... My hands have never been so cold as packing that tarp up at 24*...
So we got breakfast and drove the 100 miles or so to the meeting point, and since we arrived 90 minutes early we wandered around the marina observing wildlife and cracking sarcastic responses at what we saw in the lake bed...
I apparently need to get north more, because by looking at my photos you would think I had never seen snow... This south Texas boy just isn't used to walking through snow laced woods...
The trail was agreed to be an intermediate level trail, it requires some strength and has some good elevation changes, lots of ups and downs, the grounds were muddy, loose rocks were a problem and I think just about everyone's feet slid out from under them at least once... For the most part everyone's super ninja skills kept them upright...
one of my favorite bridges we crossed... The lake was so low most of the "water crossings" were just a "dead leaf crossing"...
We inspected a few of the campsites as we walked past... The most interesting find was 11 beers sitting by a fire ring about 1.5 miles in from the trail head... That camp will be henceforth known as "beer camp"
Poor hammock... Left in the cold, laid out flat, screwed to a tree...
We got broke up into three groups pretty quick...
The wannabes had a fall that slowed them down, but they earned my utmost respect, with a bum knee and achy backs they still hiked the toughest 12 miles of the trail and had a smile on their face when we picked them up...
The bravest man I know, Mark brought his girlfriend, his two boys out into the woods, Mark was the only one of the four who had ever even set up a hammock... Mark did all he could and succeeded at keeping them all warm at the expense of himself carrying an extraordinary amount of load, I missed getting a picture of the kids because they were still snug in their hammocks when we were taking pictures Sunday morning while breakfast was stewing...
Caveman, Ray, Marks oldest son and I made up the third/leading group... There are no pictures of me on this trail except one of my back from a ways off which is fine with me... Caveman Ray and myself were the only three to do this complete trail, Mark took his family back to the marina we had passed on the trail, dropped his pack with them and booked it back to the car to save everyone's attitudes and backs...
One way or another it was a weekend I don't think anyone will ever forget, the kids will tell there kids about the weekend grandpa took them into the woods and hung them from the trees while there was frost on the ground... The wannabes will have one heckuva story for their first hike and hang in the woods at the start of their trail to the AT in a few years... Caveman, Ray and myself will get ragged on by our families for being insane for heading into the woods with packs on our backs and snow on the ground in Texas...
It was an awesome weekend...
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the water ahead is lake Texoma, this is highway 377, to get to the starting point of the trail take the last left before Oklahoma... 
Originally Posted by Caveman
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