Took my 10 year old daughter out this past weekend for her first hang. We met up with a coworker (Wanderlust on the forums, the guy who got me into hammocks) and his 15 year old son. Wanderlust's brother in law also decided to come out and join us. He's preparing for a week long trip on the NCT with a group that will be blazing new trail! After witnessing our hammock set-ups, he's decided to go with a hammock as his shelter for the trip. He was highly impressed by the woopie sling system, and today placed an order with a local company for 40' of Amsteel 7/64.
It was a simple car camping overnighter on the nature conservancy land that is owned by the company we work for. It's a nice place to go do a little camping for free.
Weather was pretty nice Saturday, if a bit windy. By night time we had spats of rain that came and went all through the night. Temps dipped to a low of 39 by morning.
My daughter was in her Scout, I was in my Expedition Zip. Wanderlust had his HH Safari, and his son was in a little Kelty tent. The brother and law dude was in a bivvy of some sort, I think he mentioned Dana Designs... it was a pretty nifty thing, as far as bivvies go. He did stay dry despite the rain!
Here is a pic of the Scout (left) and the Exped (right). I put the Ptarmigan UQ on her's and I tried out my new Super Special Limited Edition KAQ (SSLEKAQ). Managed to pitch the Speer tarp perfectly to block the wind and rain! It was hard to find the right tree configuration for this 3-point-hang set-up... but we managed.
She was warm and snug as a bug! The 2/3 length UQ actually was almost full length for her In the morning, after her first night in a hammock, down to 39 degrees with some wind and rain...
She was all smiles.
Earlier in the evening we made some dinner and cocoa and had gear show-n-tell time. I showed off a few alki stoves and my Heinie and Foster's pots. The alki stove was evidently a big hit with Wanderlust's son, as he told me today that his son has already made his first soda can stove and has asked then asked him to pick up some JB Weld and a can of denatured alcohol on the way home from work today! Wanderlust's actual quote in an email to me today... "You've created a monster!".
I cooked my daughter's Ramen on the trusty Trangia/GSI Soloist Pinnacle combo...
All in all a total success. Everyone had a nice time.
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