Reintroducing myself

[wetcatcarl]

I joined this forum probably over a decade ago while I was living in Michigan. Meet some awesome folks at a winter hang. Ended up dropping out of college and hitchhiking around the country for a few years. I found a commune in the Northern California wilderness and lived there for a few years before I eventually left to pack a herd of goats through the wilderness being as primitive as I could. Slept under the stars every night for over a year cuddled up with goats and dogs. Ended up with a gnarly staph infection 30 miles into the bush and had to leave. I literally dragged my leg out with a baseball size ball of puss dripping from my butt. Shortly after I met a girl and well times changed. Fast forward to now and I'm in the mountains of Western North Carolina with a 3.5 yr old. I do a good bit of 4 wheeling in my jeep and figured I'd get another hammock. The tent on top of the jeep is nice but isn't always needed or wanted. So here I am back on the forum

[Phantom Grappler]

Wow, what an introduction. You probably have some stories to share round the campfire.

[wetcatcarl]

There's some stories. Lol

[joe_guilbeau]

You hiking from a base camp or diversified off-trail?

My go to for comfort is the Amok Draumr with the FJOL pad, and an Exped 9 DownMat for warmth. I use a 185T Polyester 4x4 tarp to insure no wetting in wind blown thunderstorm conditions.

These days, there are so many innovative hammock designs including hanging between two staves or simple easy to pack stands it becomes a more complex matrix of trade-offs. Lots of stuff for sale on the forum as well.

Congrats on 'haulin your putrified arse out of the backcountry with your Alabama Soup Bones.

[wetcatcarl]

It's mostly probably base camping and exploring forest service roads unless I'm hunting or looking cor mushrooms. I picked up a HG standard with a Quest 12ft and a Journey 11ft. I'll probably get some hike in overnight trips in but with access to endless miles of FS roads its fun to cover ground that way. We often camp as a family as well and thats usually out of the roof top tent but I've slept in my hammock then a few times.

[wetcatcarl]

When I was on the west coast with the goats it was almost entirely off trail unless trying to cover ground we'd use the PCT as a highway. A lot of the time we'd just walk ridges and follow the goats in whatever direction they wanted.