I just got back from an excellent weekend spent camping with some friends. Also in attendance was my beautiful bride, who happens to be a tent sleeper, so I was not hanging, however there were 6 others in our 11 man party that were. I was a little nervous about all the hammocks because while the limit was 12 people per campsite, and we had 2 sites, the rules restricted tents to the tent pads only. There were no trees around the tent pads, and certainly not enough room to hang 6 full hammock setups, so they were swinging 30 yards from the tent pads in the woods, where there certainly were no tents allowed. I read the regulations thoroughly, and they remained silent as to whether or not hammocks were allowed. A ranger stopped by twice a day each day, and each of them peered back into the woods where brightly colored hammock tarps were easily visible and said, "Well I don't see any tents on the ground back there, so everything seems to be in perfect order. Just be sure to leash your dog if anybody comes around. Y'all have a nice stay." (For the locals, this was at Ridge Road Campground in Appling.) The main park attendant was a super nice guy, and even brought a roll of paper towels we accidentally left back to the check out station and gave them back!
Anyhow, Friday night we had some pretty serious rain. Before bed, everybody was huddled underneath an Easy-Up we had lowered to it lowest setting to keep the sideways rain out. As soon as there was a break in the rain, we high-tailed it to bed, and nary a hanging booty got wet all night. Around 4, the rain picked up to flood level, and a quick inspection showed both vestibules of our tent were half an inch underwater, but our North Face stayed dry as a popcorn fart. The weather continued until about 9:00, but was peachy thereafter for the whole weekend.
The majority of our crew run nothing but ENO stuff: hammocks, tarps, bugnets, and *GASP* SlapStraps, but with a little encouragement, I now have them convinced of 7-dollar poly straps from Arrowhead, and I'll be ordering a buttload of Amsteel so I can make whoopies for everyone. All in all, it was a great trip, and we found the folks at the campground to be more than accommodating to our hanging style. I would highly recommend sites 43-48 at Ridge Road for a hammock hangout. The peninsula includes great views of both the sunrise and sunset over the lake, and the folks that run it are fantastic hosts.
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