First off, I'll say I've been lurking in the hammock forums for a while now. Long enough to make my own whipped end hammock out of ripstop from Joannes, make a few whoopie slings out of dyneema, and a bug net. I must say that I started my trip to the Buffalo in Arkansas feeling very prepared when it came to my sleeping arrangements for the trip.
Some friends and I planned to canoe 50 miles from Ponca to Woolum, getting on the water Friday the 24th, and pulling off Monday the 27th. The weather was perfect all weekend long and the water levels were almost perfect, just slightly low. But it was still great floating. We had 5 people, so 3 canoes.
We lolligagged around a bit the first day, and only put in around 10 miles. We made camp on a gravel bank that had plenty of trees a little past Kyles Landing. I was worried about finding suitable trees to hang on after reading other trip reports from the Buffalo, but that was never a problem. Got the hammock set up like I wanted it: whoopie slings over miling spike hitches (the knot, not the marlingspike), 30 degree angle on the suspension, 5/6 length ridgeline, yoga mat in the hammock, and bug net deployed. After a few beverages and some noodles and rice, it was time to test out the hammock for real. Up until now, I'd only laid in it for about 30 minutes in the back yard to test that it would hold me and to see if my tarp would cover it and block water from the sprinkler, which it did. I got my pad angled the way I wanted it and got in the hammock. I had a small blanket with me and wore some fleece pants and jacket. I was a slight bit cold that night, but not horribly. I think the low was around 50, so not too cold out, but not too warm either. Anyways, I slept amazingly! That first night in the hammock was possibly the best sleep I'd ever had in my life. I probably laid there awake for an hour the next morning just because I was so comfortable. I was completely sold on the hammock now, and have hammock forum to thank for that!
So, day two started out with some powdered egg, dehydrated hashbrown, and chorizo burritos. We knew we were behind in miles, so we planned to paddle hard and try to make up some miles since we only did 10 of the 50 the first day. We ended up putting in around 18 miles by the end of the 2nd day, which wasn't too bad. We still weren't quite where we wanted to be, but we were past halfway! We ended up setting up camp in a less than desirable location due to the fact that we just ran out of daylight. We were about 2 miles upstream from Hasty. I found 2 trees to hang between though, so I was happy. One tree was covered with poison ivy, so that wasn't good. I threaded my suspension strap through the bag for my camp chair to keep the poison ivy oil off my strap. I figured I'd touch the strap more than the chair bag, so in my head this minimized the chances of me contacting the poison ivy. I got to sleep quickly after dinner, and again, I slept better than ever! I was even more happy with the hammock now than the night before. I'll never sleep on the ground again.
After that wonderful night of sleep, we started our final full day on the river. Our goal was to camp close to our take out spot, Woolum, so that we could get back to Alabama before midnight. We had a great day of canoeing, with many wonderful sights. We did have one kind of hair raising experience though. About halfway through our day, we had almost caught up to a canoe with 2 guys in it. They went around a bend that had some current to it, nothing crazy though, and ended up hitting a strainer that was just above the water. It flipped them and their canoe tipped upstream. It completely filled with water and the current pinned it hard against the tree. All 5 of us stopped to help them, and we couldn't pull or push or even budge the stuck canoe due to the current. Finally, we all started jumping on it for a lack of a better term, and the current would push it under the tree a little each time we compressed the canoe. It finally got unlodged and floated under the tree and downstream a bit. What was scary was that if these 2 guys hadn't had any help, they would have been stuck there. They were not going to get the canoe out by themselves. That experience made us a little more cautious in the "rapids" for the remainder of the river.
We finally made camp on an awesome rock and sand beach overlooking the river about halfway between Mt. Hersey and Woolum. That left us about 5 miles for the last day. I set my hammock up between 2 trees that gave me an amazing view of the river. Once again, as soon as I got in the hammock, I was 100% comfortable and fell right to sleep. Woke up a bit after sunrise and just laid there enjoying my view for a while.
We eventually broke camp and paddled on to Woolum. We got there about 3 hours after leaving camp, so it was a nice end to a great trip. 50 miles over 4 days and 3 nights. And thanks to hammock forum, I will never sleep on the ground again!
The picture attached shows my setup on the last night overlooking the river.
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