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neo
06-10-2007, 18:14
:) the hangout at hotsprings was a blast,i was glad i made it
me and my 2 boys rode up with ewker,shadow moss and
fishbone also made it.i met jeff and his family also,youngblood
slow hide touch of grey,and a few others,i really had a great
time and even learned a few new tricks:cool: neo

thanks ed speer and every body

neo
06-10-2007, 18:17
:) the hangout at hotsprings was a blast,i was glad i made it
me and my 2 boys rode up with ewker,shadow moss and
fishbone also made it.i met jeff and his family also,youngblood
slow hide touch of grey,and a few others,i really had a great
time and even learned a few new tricks:cool: neo

thanks ed speer and every body


i also met darby and his buddy john,john is a proud tom claytor jungle hammock fan,darby had a neo tarp also

slowhike
06-10-2007, 19:13
:) the hangout at hotsprings was a blast,i was glad i made it
me and my 2 boys rode up with ewker,shadow moss and
fishbone also made it.i met jeff and his family also,youngblood
slow hide touch of grey,and a few others,i really had a great
time and even learned a few new tricks:cool: neo

thanks ed speer and every body

slow hide??? well, i've been called worse:rolleyes:
it was good to meet you & your boys neo. and i didn't hear you mention hilliry once<grin).
it was great fun. didn't get as hot as i thought it would. low fri night 63, low sat night 61.
and it was good meeting some new folks. good group of people. ...tim

Frolicking Dino
06-10-2007, 20:26
Neo, I have some great shots of 'Tater Salad' - PM me an email address so I can send them to you.

Really enjoyed meeting some new folks and seeing others again. New hanger, ShadowMoss, was a special treat to meet. Will upload my pics in the next day or so

Touch of Grey
06-10-2007, 20:51
It certainly was nice to meet some new people for me also. Especially enjoyed the music we did not even have to go across the street for as we had our own pickers and singers to entertain us. Thanks Ed and Karen, It was a long ride both ways but totally enjoyable. It was also nice to meet the Dino's who came by Saturday afternoon.

TOG

Hooch
06-11-2007, 08:03
I'm glad y'all had a good time at the hangout. I was sorry to have to miss it, but circumstances prevented it. I'm hoping to make the next one, which should be in September or so. Hopefully my hammock will hold up and I can make it. I'm kinda thinking that I should have some DIY stuff done by then. :eek:

Shadowmoss
06-11-2007, 08:20
I really had a great time, too. The hammock mafia is a great group of folks. It was fun getting to know neo and tater tot and jackrabbit (renamed from tater salad after he left us adults behind on the hike - always coming back to check on us), Ewker, slowhike, sharing a tree with Jeff (with the family right behind us in a tent), giving Touch of Grey a hard time as often as possible, hearing youngblood's and others' stories over breakfast, meeting Hummingbird and Dutch Treat, and on and on...

To show you how giving the hammockers are, I rolled in and was wandering around clueless. Hummingbird took me under her, uh, wing and called out to Dutch Treat to come help me. He got my HH Scout hung, and when I was playing a bit with it getting ready to hang the larger tarp over the regular tarp that was already attached to the hammock, he pointed out that it was getting ready to rain, and, uh, he hadn't finished setting up their camp. That's when I realized they had abandonded thier own camp to set up mine. I managed to throw the large hex tarp over my setup and get rainproof just as the rain came down.

Later John and Darby came over and tightened up everything and turned it into the Hammock Hilton. Neo was in heaven when he saw their setup on their site since it was basically all camo, and even featured John's Claytor hammock.

Meeting the dino's was exciting, and something I had specifically come to the hangout to accomlpish. It was great fun hearing the iguana story in person.

It turns out the Ed Speers and I have a separate connection in that we are (were?) cavers and both have bat stickers on our vehicles. I felt right at home when I saw his van with all the caver stickers on it.

All in all great fun and I'm really glad i went and I know I didn't mention everyone who was there but I enjoyed meeting and hearing your stories just as much, too.

neo
06-11-2007, 09:23
I really had a great time, too. The hammock mafia is a great group of folks. It was fun getting to know neo and tater tot and jackrabbit (renamed from tater salad after he left us adults behind on the hike - always coming back to check on us), Ewker, slowhike, sharing a tree with Jeff (with the family right behind us in a tent), giving Touch of Grey a hard time as often as possible, hearing youngblood's and others' stories over breakfast, meeting Hummingbird and Dutch Treat, and on and on...

To show you how giving the hammockers are, I rolled in and was wandering around clueless. Hummingbird took me under her, uh, wing and called out to Dutch Treat to come help me. He got my HH Scout hung, and when I was playing a bit with it getting ready to hang the larger tarp over the regular tarp that was already attached to the hammock, he pointed out that it was getting ready to rain, and, uh, he hadn't finished setting up their camp. That's when I realized they had abandonded thier own camp to set up mine. I managed to throw the large hex tarp over my setup and get rainproof just as the rain came down.

Later John and Darby came over and tightened up everything and turned it into the Hammock Hilton. Neo was in heaven when he saw their setup on their site since it was basically all camo, and even featured John's Claytor hammock.

Meeting the dino's was exciting, and something I had specifically come to the hangout to accomlpish. It was great fun hearing the iguana story in person.

It turns out the Ed Speers and I have a separate connection in that we are (were?) cavers and both have bat stickers on our vehicles. I felt right at home when I saw his van with all the caver stickers on it.

All in all great fun and I'm really glad i went and I know I didn't mention everyone who was there but I enjoyed meeting and hearing your stories just as much, too.

:) yes it was great,i really enjoyed meeting ed speer in person,i have a ed speer pea pod and top quilt and a pad extender also,i am planning ont the new years eve springer trip next.it was a great weekend.next time i will plan on going kayaking.:cool: neo

gumby
06-11-2007, 09:49
neo, glad to see you're back.

headchange4u
06-11-2007, 09:51
I'm glad everyone had a good time. I wish I could have made it.

NCPatrick
06-11-2007, 09:54
I'm glad everyone had a good time. I wish I could have made it.

Ditto, same here.

headchange4u
06-11-2007, 09:55
Anyone know about how many people showed up? I wanna see some pics!

neo
06-11-2007, 10:11
Anyone know about how many people showed up? I wanna see some pics!

this is what i read on ed's hammock group:cool: neo



19th SEHHA Campout--Hot Springs, NC


We had another great hammock campout this past weekend in Hot Springs. We
had 13 hammocks Fri nite, 16 Sat nite, several day visitors each day & a few
ground sleepers! People came from MI, TN, IN, VA, GA & NC. Two families
with kids helped make the campout a true family affair-that was nice. Many
hammock models were represented which gave everyone a chance to see and try
various options.

Frolicking Dino
06-11-2007, 10:56
Some of my pics are in the group camp-out gallery. As for the number -- Ed & Karen; Just Jeff, his lovely wife and their two sons; Neo and his two sons;ShadowMoss; Touch of Grey; Youngblood; Slowhike; Ewker; Fishbone; DutchTreat & Hummingbird; Darby; John and possibly some others. The dinos were there for Sat only.

Touch of Grey
06-11-2007, 10:57
Some of my pics are in the group camp-out gallery

Same from here...

TOG

Ewker
06-11-2007, 11:12
I had a great time. Nice to meet some new folks. We had an awesome bluegrass festival of our own. Fishbone, Slowhike and Dutch Treat provide some great music.

Interesting to see some quilts (top and bottom) and peadpods being used.

I took quite a few pics that will be posted to my webshots album some time this week.

Thanks to Ed and Karen for putting this on.

slowhike
06-11-2007, 14:44
I had a great time. Nice to meet some new folks. We had an awesome bluegrass festival of our own. Fishbone, Slowhike and Dutch Treat provide some great music.

Interesting to see some quilts (top and bottom) and peadpods being used.

I took quite a few pics that will be posted to my webshots album some time this week.

Thanks to Ed and Karen for putting this on.

i couldn't add a great deal to the music... i was well out ranked in the music world<g>. but it was great fun!
i wish more of you guys could have been there to listen to duch treat & fishbone play & sing... w/ the french broad river & all those hammocks in the back ground.
i took a few pictures & a couple short videos. i was told that we could add video clips here on HF. if so i'll try to get one or two on tonight.

Darby
06-11-2007, 15:23
Hello everyone. Smithobx (John) & myself had an outstanding time meeting all the great folks at the hang-out. We talked about it all the way home (7 hrs.). Cant begin to say enough about Ed Speer. Getting to hike up to Lovers Leap was a treat (I was hoping to get a hike in). I was really impressed with Ed Speer's hammock/under-quilt/tarp set-up. I realized when talking to Ed that he really loves what he does and it shows in his products. I had to re-name Tater-Tot (Neo's youngest) to "Jackrabbit" during the hike up to Lovers Leap. As Shadowmoss stated, he would run up the trail ahead of us, get bored waiting, run back down to us, berate us for being sooooo slow, then do it all over again ! I can't wait for the next one. I will post pics shortly

headchange4u
06-11-2007, 15:37
Jeff,

I saw a pic of you and your Warbonnet Hammock. Wanna give up a mini review?

Hooch
06-11-2007, 15:39
Jeff,

I saw a pic of you and your Warbonnet Hammock. Wanna give up a mini review? Warbonnet? :eek: Heck, I want my HF t-shirt! :p :D

dutchtreat
06-11-2007, 16:31
Man, did this weekend turn out to be beautiful, :cool: after some dire predictions about thunderstorms. Dodged the bullet. Great to see Ed & Pog (thank you both for a great weekend). Wonderful to meet Fish Bone and get a chance to play some music with him. Same for Slowhike. Great to meet all the other folks Hummingbird and I had never met. We had not been back since a hangout there in 2002. We were not disappointed.
Dutch Treat

headchange4u
06-11-2007, 17:19
Man, did this weekend turn out to be beautiful, :cool: after some dire predictions about thunderstorms. Dodged the bullet. Great to see Ed & Pog (thank you both for a great weekend). Wonderful to meet Fish Bone and get a chance to play some music with him. Same for Slowhike. Great to meet all the other folks Hummingbird and I had never met. We had not been back since a hangout there in 2002. We were not disappointed.
Dutch Treat

Welcome to the forums dutchtreat. That's a mighty purty guitar you got there.

Frolicking Dino
06-11-2007, 17:21
Welcome to the forums dutchtreat. That's a mighty purty guitar you got there.And he really knows how to use it. He and Fishbone were wailing.

smithobx
06-11-2007, 17:48
Hello to all, it was great meeting each of you this weekend and to have a chance to see everyones equipment. The weather was good, the equipment was interesting, but the company was great! See you next time.

Just Jeff
06-11-2007, 17:49
Yep - great time at Hot Springs. Met a few new folks, saw a few folks I already knew (notice I didn't say "old folks"), and had a big ole plate of pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream at the diner. The music was awesome and the kids had a blast building a dam in the river. And best of all - you ladies convinced my wife to try out a hammock soon...I'm gonna set one up on the back porch tonight and see if she'll try it tomorrow while I'm at work.

I'll write up a mini-review of the Warbonnet soon. It was as comfortable as the Hennessy with the same setup time. The side entry is pretty nice, too.

And a few lucky folks scored some of the $1/yd fabric I had left over. (Don't worry...I'll get some more together soon and offer it up here.) And some other lucky folks got some free hitchcrafts to test. And everyone got Ed's traditional Saturday night hot dogs!

Shadowmoss
06-11-2007, 20:30
I learned that it can be dangerous to wander around town with Ewker and Darby. Around 5pm on Saturday we were a bit restless and headed to town from the campground. I was looking for some iced tea, they just wanted to walk. We walked through downtown but everything was already closed except the pub. Ewker and Darby were talking about the trail. We walked to the diner, but the folks inside hollered out to us that the diner was closed already. Geez, all I wanted was some iced tea. Ewker told Darby and I about various things in town, and the two of them told tales from previous hikes and dreams of hikes to come. We wandered further out of town following the AT markers in the sidewalk. At the AT crosswalk we stopped for the guys to take pictures and peer up the trail on the other side of the road. Next thing I knew we were headed off to see just where it went. We followed it behind the yards to see how far it went before it headed up. We found the stairs. At each juncture I turned to head back, but the guys just launched into more stories of dreams of hiking the AT. First it was pictures of the stairs, then the next thing I knew we were hiking up the stairs to see where they went. We were in the parking lot of the Forest Service headquarters, and spent some time checking out everything on the bulletin board there, sparking more tales of what the guys want/hope from their AT hikes. As they were looking longingly off at the trail as it headed on from the parking lot I finally tethered them and drug them back to town. If I hadn't I think that they would still be hiking just a bit further to see where the trail went from there. On the way back they were checking out the town from a hiker's viewpoint trying to figure out things like shuttles and laundry and various features that they will need to know when they hike through there. Had the outfitter's not been closed we would have stopped in yet again, I'm sure. As it was we just looked in the window like kids at a candy store window. Discussion turned to things we coulda/shoulda bought earlier when they were open. Reluctantly we crossed back over the railroad tracks and back into reality. But for a while those two were like a couple of kids on an AT adventure.

Shadowmoss
06-11-2007, 20:51
I also learned that in a Hennessy it is impossible to be discrete about the middle of the night trips to the bathroom. That darned velcro will give me away every time. Jeff sorta grinned when he mentioned he heard me get up a couple of times during the night. Really, the only clandestine date I had all weekend was with the bathroom up the way. :) The complete inability to be discrete about my entrances and exits has been noted though.

FanaticFringer
06-11-2007, 20:58
I also learned that in a Hennessy it is impossible to be discrete about the middle of the night trips to the bathroom. That darned velcro will give me away every time. Jeff sorta grinned when he mentioned he heard me get up a couple of times during the night. Really, the only clandestine date I had all weekend was with the bathroom up the way. :) The complete inability to be discrete about my entrances and exits has been noted though.

You could try taking the velcro apart really slowly. Would probably be a royal pain though. I'd like to water the leaves more stealthy also.:D

angrysparrow
06-11-2007, 21:00
I also learned that in a Hennessy it is impossible to be discrete about the middle of the night trips to the bathroom. That darned velcro will give me away every time. Jeff sorta grinned when he mentioned he heard me get up a couple of times during the night. Really, the only clandestine date I had all weekend was with the bathroom up the way. :) The complete inability to be discrete about my entrances and exits has been noted though.

You could always remove the velcro, no? I thought it was only there to keep bugs out when you aren't in the hammock. The same thing could be accomplished by just tossing something of weight in the hammock when it isn't occupied, perhaps a clothes bag.

Shadowmoss
06-11-2007, 21:09
I usually had things in my hammock, and the velcro didn't close unless I closed it. I probably won't modify my HH, but I am starting to think about making my own.

slowhike
06-11-2007, 21:30
i couldn't add a great deal to the music... i was well out ranked in the music world<g>. but it was great fun!
i wish more of you guys could have been there to listen to duch treat & fishbone play & sing... w/ the french broad river & all those hammocks in the back ground.
i took a few pictures & a couple short videos. i was told that we could add video clips here on HF. if so i'll try to get one or two on tonight.

videos don't seem to be an option here. maybe i can put them else where & give a link.

Ewker
06-11-2007, 22:47
Tim, if you have a webshots account you can upload them there. If you don't you can sign up and get 10 free albums. Each album will hold 24 pictures.

NCPatrick
06-12-2007, 06:32
Ewker, did you finally get all your hammock questions answered?

headchange4u
06-12-2007, 06:52
Tim,

Another option is Photobucket. They now host videos and you can get a free account. That's what I have been using for a while now. No complaints.

neo
06-12-2007, 07:45
Hello to all, it was great meeting each of you this weekend and to have a chance to see everyones equipment. The weather was good, the equipment was interesting, but the company was great! See you next time.

it was great meeting you john,good to meet another claytor jungle hammock user:cool: neo

FishBone
06-12-2007, 08:07
What a great "hang-out".:D I really appreciated meeting all the hangers and family members and getting help with adjusting my new JRB underquilt-very comfortable. Pickin' with DutchTreat and Slowhike was a lot of fun, as was the hike north on the AT and scopin' out Hot Springs. I'm planning a hike from Newfound Gap to Hot Springs in late August so this recon trip was very helpful, especially in identifying the location of Elmers and the Smokey Mtn. Diner. Best wishes to all; we'll see you down the trail.:cool:

Ewker
06-15-2007, 12:29
ok, I finally got my pics up. They are on webshots. I have pics of the AT, flowers, views, the music and some hammocks

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/559428551SBDkHG

Preacha Man
06-15-2007, 12:39
Awesome pics Ewker, I wish I could have been there :(

NCPatrick
06-15-2007, 12:46
Nice pics! Thanks for posting the link. I feel like I've been somewhere, with all the effects moving the pics around.

jlb2012
06-15-2007, 13:00
Nice pics Ewker but what you are calling mountain laurel is actually one of the rhododendrons. see pic for the difference in flower structure: http://2bnthewild.com/mtlaurel.jpg

Ewker
06-15-2007, 13:51
glad you guys liked the pics

HOI, thanks for correcting me on that. I see what you mean now, much appreciated.

headchange4u
06-15-2007, 13:57
Thanks for the pics Ewker.

Hooch
06-16-2007, 10:28
Ewker, I can honestly say I always enjoy your trip photos. THanks for sharing with us, you've got a knack for that, obviously. :)

Ewker
06-16-2007, 14:08
Hooch, thanks. I appreciate that. I try to make my photos feel like you are there with me. Sometime it works other times it doesn't.

slowhike
06-16-2007, 20:09
finally got photos uploaded from hot springs.
let me know if i miss-named any of the hammock owners.
BTW... i'm not sure if i got "tater tot" & "tater salad"s names mixed up or not. and i'm sure it's no big deal, but i know there's at least one hiker w/ the name "jackrabbit"<g>. she's one of the bare foot hiking sisters (issis & jack rabbit) who did a flip-flop on the AT, mostly bare footed:eek:
http://www.barefoothikers.org/barefoot-sisters.html

slowhike
06-16-2007, 21:20
lets see if this link will take you to the two video clips i just up loaded.
the quality is much poorer than it should be but at least you can get the idea<g>.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/559462078sEJBXJ

Darby
06-17-2007, 20:17
finally got photos uploaded from hot springs.
let me know if i miss-named any of the hammock owners.
BTW... i'm not sure if i got "tater tot" & "tater salad"s names mixed up or not. and i'm sure it's no big deal, but i know there's at least one hiker w/ the name "jackrabbit"<g>. she's one of the bare foot hiking sisters (issis & jack rabbit) who did a flip-flop on the AT, mostly bare footed:eek:
http://www.barefoothikers.org/barefoot-sisters.html
:eek: As usual, I was a day late & a dollar short:( . I remember you telling me about the sisters but I must have missed the names.

headchange4u
06-18-2007, 08:58
Your link to the videos worked great, Tim. Nices videos and some nice music being played.