This is a little late in coming, but I wanted to get it posted anyway. I took my 9 year old son out for his first hammock hang in the beautiful mountains above Huntsville, UT. We own a little bit of property there and it is perfect for hanging!
This was definitely a car camping trip, no back-packing involved. The main goal for the trip was to use the trusty chainsaw to cut up some old aspens that had fallen and were hanging very dangerously across parts of the property.
The secondary goal was to... take my son hammock camping of course! Didn't go too well... more on that later.
First I have to share how beautiful the mountains were this year. We had a really long spring in Utah this year with rain (snow in the mountains) until July. While I really love the rain, this did put a damper (Ha!) on our camping adventures. When we finally made it up in August, it was absolutely incredible! While it was late summer in the valley, it was only spring in the mountains!
We got to camp and setup in the beautiful Aspens...
My Explorer in the back, Scout in the front.
Sitting around camp:
The weather was very nice. Just cool enough to be able to enjoy the campfire. No clouds, no wind. Nice.
Cookies for some easy smores:
The night didn't go so well. I must admit I was a little worried about it anyway. I remember my first night in a Hennessey and it wasn't great. I got so claustrophobic I almost bailed. I wasn't ready for that. Having that net so close to your face can be pretty tight. I was worried that my son would have the same problem but hoped he would not. Well, he did. About 4:00 AM he woke up in a serious state. He was freaking out a bit. I was able to talk him through it from my neighboring hammock, but in the end he decided he had to get out. Can't blame him. He lasted a while though. Good kid. So we ended up in the car. He slept great, I did not!
But, morning came and everyone's favorite camping meal - Breakfast!
Now I am a huge fan of freezer-bag cooking for backpacking. I have found some awesome recipes that are light to pack but great to eat! (I will share some in another trip report) That does not, however, mean that I can't eat them just because I want to!
Breakfast for the son... pop tarts! He won't eat it if it's not in a pop tart.
Now... MY breakfast! Freezer-bag Rice Pudding! Wooohooo!
Before cooking:
Put 2 cups of boiling water in there using the Jetboil (boils in less than 2 minutes!)
Then pop it in the cozy for 10 minutes or so:
and voila! Nice, hot, sugary, cinnamony, raisiny, rice pudding! Love it! Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it... couldn't wait!
So, all in all, it was a great trip. Got there, cut up a few fallen trees, cooked some hotdogs over the fire, tried out the new Hennessey Scout, to mixed reviews from my son. He didn't much enjoy the claustrophobic part, but I couldn't get him out of it during the day! Woke up, great breakfast, broke camp, headed home. Nice. Very nice...
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