3/29-4/1: Lake Thurmond (GA/SC border)

[twdant]

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.

[raiffnuke]

Sounds like a good trip. Thanks for posting and good luck on all of those whoopies!

[Cali]

Wow, sounds great, wish I knew you all were there. I live across the lake from there and could have dropped by. Give a holler next time.

[twdant]

It was indeed a great hang. Baja- That would be an awesome place for the first annual CSRA group hang.

Here are some shots from the weekend:
Setting up. Notice the very technical method for hanging the bunks...


The resulting double decker setup


Our hammock city


And again


Here's one of our party, hanging solo under a 20'x24' blue beast. The driest man on the block.


It rained a lot, our packs were wet.


Here's the cloudy view over the lake. A couple of us hung right out on the edge.


And somebody had to get pranked. While he was sleeping, I snuck up and zip-tied the zippers of his bugnet together, and we saran-wrapped his hammock. Made that middle-of-the-night pee break a little more interesting...

[dragon360]

Looks like a really good time all around! Love the double stacks!

[Cali]

Looks great, but I wouldn't want the top bunk. On second thought I wouldn't want the bottom bunk either if the top one fell.. LOL... I'll stick to the single level. CSRA Hang sounds great, I'd definitely be there. I have been trying to work with the Rangers from The US Army Corps of Engineers to have a hang and include a Dam tour. I want to call it "That Dam Hang" and have T-shirts made.
I'm still working on it. I'll keep you posted.

[twdant]

Looks great, but I wouldn't want the top bunk. On second thought I wouldn't want the bottom bunk either if the top one fell.. LOL... I'll stick to the single level. CSRA Hang sounds great, I'd definitely be there. I have been trying to work with the Rangers from The US Army Corps of Engineers to have a hang and include a Dam tour. I want to call it "That Dam Hang" and have T-shirts made.
I'm still working on it. I'll keep you posted.

It'll be "The Best Dam Hang Ever!"

[im22sniper]

Twdant, the family and I are heading up there this weekend to see my in-laws. They live in Lincolnton only about 5 minutes from Grays creek ramp. I am hauling the kayak up there to fish all day and camp on one of the many islands Sat. night. Solo trip to get out of the house for awhile... (if ya know what I mean). It is a beautiful lake with very friendly people. If any of you have a chance to visit this lake, you should jump on it. Campgrounds all around the lake. There is so much lake and endless secluded coves that the lake never seems crowded. They dammed up the rivers and flooded the area back in the early 50's. This resulted on over 70,000 acre lake with over 1200 miles of shoreline. A truely awesome place. Largemouth, strippers, hybrids, catfish this place has it all. Its a over 7 hour drive for me but I would be in for the hang as well.