My son and I got to do a trip after Christmas. Good times. We intersected the trail off of FSR 143 at Jenny Spring on Thursday morning. The road was washed out and we had to park about 1 1/2 miles from the trail. So that made about 11 1/2 miles for our first day. I think this is the most scenic section of the N/S Trail. Lot's of KY Lake views and the trail follows gravel shoreline of several bays. It is also maybe the most difficult due to the up and down effects of crossing the ridges running into the lake. We made it to Sugar Bay backcountry campground in plenty of time to set up before dark. The weather was perfect all day, sunny and upper 40's. Thur night was clear and a low of 24 which was the lowest we have experienced. We both slept warm, my son w/a JRB Mt Washington 3 and 20 degree down bag for TQ and me w/a JRB Nest and 30 degree synthetic bag for TQ and a Golite poncho/tarp as undercover. Fri morning we used our FF stove and Olicamp XTS pot for the first time. Both worked great. We also enjoyed some Medaglia D'Oro for the first time on the trail(Thanks Shug, my search for the perfect coffee solution for backpacking is over).
Friday was another awesome day. Full Sun, upper 50's and and 11 miles of beautiful scenery. We saw lots of ducks and geese both days but we got a special treat Fri afternoon as we watched a pair of Golden Eagles that flew from just a few yards in front of us. We made it to Smith Bay just in time to set up before dark. Another beautiful starry night w/a low of 27 and coyote serenades for entertainment. Altogether a wonderful time in the woods with my son. Thanks HF friends for helping w/the knowledge to do this. 2 1/2 years ago I'd never been backpacking and never even heard of hammock camping.
One noteworthy thing that happened I want to mention that might be helpful to someone. The first night w/the Nest and poncho rigged as undercover there was no noticeable moisture issues. The second night w/seemingly identical conditions other than 3 degrees warmer I experienced major moisture issues. No noticeable problem during the night, but when I took down the poncho Fri morning there was literally water dripping from my UQ. My solution: Today I will ship my Toxaway tarp to 2QZQ for the sewn on doors and pole mods to block the wind and rain and sometime in the next few days I will order an UQ that will handle any temps I will encounter (somewhere around 0 degrees).
One final after trip highlight. Got to meet Neo for the first time and have breakfast at the Dover Grill as he came off the N/S Trail on his way home yesterday. Quite a treat.
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Originally Posted by potneck
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