Newport SP with a crazy guy!
Alright, time for the report!!!
The first day at Newport State Park in Door County Wi. was full of exciting views of Lake Michigan and fun tinkering with my setup (first winter experience with a hammock). I also had an opportunity to meet the camper at the site next to me (which I'll get to later in the report).
My rig.... I found that the Spectra cord that I purchased from ZPacks was great with the Dutchware that I purchased for the ridgeline. It also worked very well with the shock cord as self tensioning guy lines on the tarp! My Old Man Winter tarp had a ton of room inside with the pullouts deployed. The DIY hammock that I finished last week was very comfortable. But my favorite part of the setup was definitely my new HammockGear Phoenix 20* UQ!!! I was very pleased with its performance. (I can't wait to get my 40* in the mail in the next week or so)
I met my neighbor in the late afternoon when I went to his site to introduce myself and let him know that I was going to be there overnight. I didn't want to upset him that I was only 150 yards away and wanted to explain to him that I was testing gear and didn't want to be more than two miles from my car. He totally understood and welcomed me to join him at a campfire that evening. After our meeting I went back to my camp to make dinner with my new DIY wood stove that I had made. Just after cleanup my neighbor "Bill" came by to see my setup. I had mentioned to him that I was a hammock camper and since he was a ground dweller it peaked his interest and wanted to check it out. Which I was 100% excited to share my new found love of hammock camping! During our conversation I started to feel a bit uneasy with Bill and some of the things that he was talking about. When he invited me to his site for a campfire I informed him that I was very tired and would most likely turn in early. He understood and told me that I was still welcome if I changed my mind, and I thanked him again.
As darkness began to fall over the woods I could see the gigantic BOMBFIRE that he was working on and assumed that he was probably a couple of beers into the 12 pack that I notice when visiting his site earlier in the day. Around 9:00 he must have been running low on wood because he started to chop logs with his axe (yes in the dark!). All I could think was at any moment I'm going to hear a blood curdling scream as Bill was going to slip and put the axe through his leg, or worse. But the scream never came..... Instead he began to whistle a very loud tune. As I laid in my hammock with my Hannibal Lecter mask on all I could think was that this was very strange actions for a winter camper (I would not be caught off guard as much at a state park in the summer). All I could think was that Bill may be a crazy serial killer and that any moment I would hear his footsteps getting closer to my campsite all the while whistling that crazy tune (I think the Hannibal mask put me in a weird state of mind!!)....
Around midnight Bill was probably about 10 beers into his 12 pack because the chopping did not end, but the whistling was now a full on song at the top of his lungs. At this point I was less worried about Bill killing me and more worried that he was going to trip into his fire, put his axe into his leg, or pass out in the snow and freeze to death. Finally at about 1:30am the axe and singing both stopped!! Woohoo, time for some sleep. I was so worked up that I could not.... So I stayed awake for about another hour, and I'm glad I did!! I heard three packs of coyotes yipping and two wolfs howling in that hour! I really enjoyed that....
The next morning I awoke around 7:30am and began to have "Breakfast from the hammock!" while the water was warming my wife called me to let me know that my son was sick and that she was on her way to work. She asked me to come out of the woods early to take him to the doctor. I was a bit disappointed but family always comes first....
Wrap up. It was a very successful (with a few failures like getting sleep!) first winter hang. I learned a lot and feel very comfortable with my setup. I can't wait for the snow to melt and get my wife and two children out for a few weekend hangs!
I took away many memories from this trip and made sure to only leave footprints behind.
Please read post #6
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Originally Posted by JayS
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