Last weekend I hiked Standing Indian Loop in the southern end of NC with my little brother, and two coworkers. This was the first trip with my new Warbonnet set up, a superfly and 1.1 DL XLC! It was also my little brother's first chance to hang out in a HH exp. Of course, seeing that myself and my brother would be hanging in comfort my two coworkers decided they wanted to try hangin' as well. I had two extra grand trunk UL hammocks they could borrow.
We drove up from Macon GA leaving around 1100 and reached the trail head around 1630. There was a break in the rain as we started so we waited about an hour before throwing rain gear over the backpacks. We started our trek up Kimsey Creek Trail and nearly made it to the top of Standing Indian Mtn before stetting up camp around 1930. This was the first time I had the chance to hang my new XLC and superfly. We had to set up camp different than i would have hoped because two of our guys didn't have rain gear suitable for a full night of rain. Our set up looked like a lopsided circus tent, but the only part that reliably kept the water out was my superfly. The other guys tried to extend coverage with parachute material from a military surplus parachute. They were able to "mist" the rain, but couldn't keep it all dry.
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After a wet hike in and wet night's sleep we woke up, put on some wet clothes and started our long hike day. The plan was to hike up Standing Indian, then follow the AT up to the top of Mt. Albert and find a place to camp. We reached the top of Mt. Albert around 1800 and I was ready to hang the hammock between the supports of the fire watch tower, but the two of our guys without bug nets weren't too keen on sleeping in up there surrounded by all the flys!
We ended up continuing to hike on the promise that the new shelter near Glassmine Gap was a great place to stop. Turns out there were a few camping spots earlier in the trail that would have been better for our group, but we made due. The shelter itself looked great and would be a nice place for a rainy tent sleeping night, but we were hanging and the weather was beautiful. After a long day of hiking I slept hard and woke up ready to finish up the last few miles. We packed up camp quickly and made short work of the remaining trail.
Of course there is always a requirement to get a post hike meal. We started out just thinking about getting something from a fast food joint, but as we drove looking for a gas station we came up on Tomlin's BBQ stand.... the Sunday special was AMAZING! My mouth still waters thinking about it.
Overall it was an excellent weekend hike and a great chance to try out some new gear and spend time with a good group of guys. I will add pictures when I figure out how to make it work.
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