We met in the walk in water track of the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. As usual it felt like a family reunion. We had near 90 temperatures, high humidity and thunderstorms Saturday night, which caused a group huddle under the community tarp.
We met in the walk in water track of the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest. As usual it felt like a family reunion. We had near 90 temperatures, high humidity and thunderstorms Saturday night, which caused a group huddle under the community tarp.
Mike
"Life is a Project!"
Nice pics, Mike! Will post the few pics I took later. Still unpacking and cleaning up the gear. Had a great time with friends, as usual. Nice start to the season!
RON
A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at? ~ Ronald Reagan
Visit my Youtube channel- Florida Wild
The hang is over.
The weather forecast for rain turned out to be "Camelot Rain".
Friday and Saturday were perfect , blue sky days. Saturday night , at sunset, it clouded up, Thundered and Lightning-ed and rained from dark until around midnight. Other than a long night, the rain was no problem.
The pigs sure did dig up the area. My new chair was near useless because I didn't get the oversize feet and they sank into the sand, dumping me. But. if that's the worst problem I have, I may live to one hundred.
We had a good turnout:
old dog and just jim were there before me;
O-Boy and I hiked in together.
Craig and subwayjim came in later.
Madd777, Ricktofla,HangnYak and Scott got in at dark oclock
. Subway Jim left at twilight and came back Saturday afternoon. Gone native got here Saturday morning , (I think)
There was a fabulous sunset that no one got on film.I tried, but the sun disk washed out.
Saturday, some of us tried to hike around the pond we camped near ( just jim, madd777, Richtofla and I). , but the ponds run for miles and we either had to wade a grassy waterway or back track. WE caved and backtracked.
The rain started at dusk and I went to bed. It lasted until around midnight. It was a long night (around 12 hours). Luckily, I carry an ebook and I read when I woke up, until I got tired again.
This morning, I ate, packed and hiked out with Gone Native. We ended up taking an alternate route out by missing a left turn but had no problem finding the parking area. I was home by 10:30AM
I'm sure someone else will have more pictures soon.
grinder
Another great hang. Rolling in at O'dark thirty, Hangnyak and I went about finding a hanging spot. After a few minutes of searching, we found a spot on the back forty of Hog Alley which proved adequate for the night. On sun up, we both relocated to a spot a little closer to the common are. Spent Saturday hanging out with good friends, and swapping stories. JimJ filled in as the Pyro, watch out FloridaHanger. Camp chores were taken care of, and more time hanging out around the fire ring/picnic table area. Several took a dip in the shallow waters of the pond to cool off from the 90 deg heat and 100% humidity. Later in the evening we all sat around the fire ring listening to stories from OldDog and others. Mid evening the thunderheads started rolling in, closely followed by the rain. Everyone not already in their rigs, migrated to the communal tarps provided by OldDog and JimJ. Thanks guys. More stories, and discussions lasted into to the night. With the rain came cooler temps, nice breezes, and another great night of sleep in the woods. After breaking camp, downing some Strong instant espresso and a little breakfast, everyone started rolling out to the trailheads. OldDog, JimJ, Subway Jim, Richtorfla, Hangnyak, and myself all headed out to the CR630 parking lot. Once again, a great weekend trip with some good folks.
Cheers
The hanger formerly known as MR3T
Hang On !!!
My weekend started out showing up and not following the trail well. Walked by a dbl blze that I mistook and it sent me back the way I came. Gave me a chance to knock down the rest of the spider webs I didn't get the first time! A call to dog got me back on track. Dog and JimJ walked out a bit and met up with me to escort me to camp. Rested a bit and got some help getting my rig set up with helping hands and spotlights! I ended up staying in hog alley. Too lazy to move.
After Morn breakfast Saturday went out with Grinder, Mad, and JimJ on a hike around the lake. Lots of pretty areas were found on our walk.
Rest of the weekend were spent hanging out listening to stories and learning some new hammocking tricks and riding out a brief storm. Well I slept through it I guess. The sound of the raindrops hitting my tarp put me right to sleep. Alas Sun morning came and got up to eat breakfast and get packed up to head out.
Great weekend seeing and talking to all ( Big Country, Hangnyak, Gone Native, Subwayjim, danin, CraigC ,Oboy) my hammock brothers! It was hot! Madd , nice pictures!
Happy Birthday Grinder! Glad it is because of you we get together!
Last edited by richtorfla; 11-09-2015 at 10:13.
Great reports and pics? Glad y'all had fun and cool temps to sleep in.
I'm not worried at all as long as a fire is roaring. Doesn't matter who makes it. I lied. I like to play with fire.
Enjoy and have fun with your family, before they have fun without you
OK, I've recuperated somewhat but still looking at a mess to clean up. Met up with Daninfl and GoneNative at the campground parking lot 10:00 Friday morning and headed in toward Woodduck campsite. Took our time easing in and leaving marking tape along the trail. Arrived at the camp and the view was as HangnYak, Big Country and Jimj had shown in photos of their earlier scouting trips. The hogs had really torn the area up. Got a couple of community tarps up for the expected rains and managed to level some of the rooting around the gathering area. Others began drifting in during the day and trying to find spots to hang their rigs. We had a few sprinkles during the afternoon which didn't seem to help with cooling and only raised the humidity. The heavier rain came Saturday evening but the worst of it skirted around us allowing some of us carry on with the guy talk well into the evening. Overall another great start to to the hanging season for our group. Finally got to hang on the one tree hang I wanted to try the last time we were here. Photos of it, some of the other rigs and the watering tree.
Most of us end up poorer here but richer for being here. Olddog, Fulltime hammocker, 365 nights a year.
Olddog, that was a picture perfect one tree hang! Speaking of trees, that "watering tree" reminds me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree! Lol
Mike
"Life is a Project!"
Here are the few I took. After moving out rigs Saturday morning, we had to do some creative hanging, due to the lack of spots. So, I too wound up with a one tree hang.
RON
A tree's a tree. How many more do you need to look at? ~ Ronald Reagan
Visit my Youtube channel- Florida Wild
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