We just returned from our first real hammocking adventure. It was the first time we spent a whole week out with hammocks and tarps as our only shelter and most of the trip without electricity. Even with all of the time we spent preparing, we were at times very unprepared. We did learn alot and have much more to learn.
The first day was nothing short of horrible. Lessons learned on that day were:
1. Our backpacks are worthless. We could not afford expensive backpacks, but should have waited until we could get better ones.
2. Our packs are to heavy. We must lighten up what we bring.
3. Maps are important
We never did find our campsite that first night. Memorizing a simple trail online does nothing if the trail is changed from what was posted online. We ended up doing our first stealth camping that night. It was getting dark and morale was very, very, low. We made camp at a beautiful waterfall along the trail.
We did not sleep much that night and woke up very early to pack up so that no one would see we camped there. Coffee in the morning by the waterfall was amazing and helped to ease the memory of the previous day's fiasco.
Because of the bad first day we did much less hiking on the rest of the trip than we had originally planned.
The second day was not much better. It started well enough. We stayed at Devils Fork State Park for the first time. We were in a tent site on the water. It was the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
The water was emerald green and clear like no body of water I have ever seen before. We swam and had a good time. Then the storms came in. We learned about rain that day. The ground became a river and it was hard to keep things covered and dry. There was no where to put the packs but in the hammocks under the tarp.
Our ponchos leaked at the seams. We had our Hex tarps pitched low to the ground. We had no choice but to just get into the hammocks early and try to to sleep. It had not occurred to me what to do with a soaking wet dog shivering wanting to come into the hammock. I took my sleep shirt and dried her the best that I could and brought her in with me.
The storms came through all night. The winds were strong beating against the tarps. My husband was hung in the wrong direction of the wind and his tarp kept blowing up. I was absolutely terrified that night There had been a bear spotted in the park and I was also worrying about that. I hung there thinking that this was all a mistake and there is no way I could keep doing this in remote places if I was this scared in a state park. I can say one thing about our Hennessey Hex tarp, it kept us completely dry through all the rain and wind. My husband got a little wet near his foot end where his tarp was blowing up, but not much. My son slept like a rock the whole night and was not disturbed at all during the storms.
The next night it stormed again, only this night I was not afraid at all. Slept fine high and dry without a care. Go figure.
We liked Devil's Fork so much we stayed another night.
We then went to Burrells Ford Campground on the Chattooga River. Wow. This place was amazing and exactly the sort of place that made us want to get into hammocks. Other campers were catching lots of fish and we wished we had poles. We hung our first bear bag there on the pulleys they had at the sites. I slept great that night again, without fear.
We hiked trails to waterfalls and it was beautiful.
The next place we went to was Oconee State Park. It was nice family park with lots of things for my son to do. We were able to do some laundry and charge our phones. We set up our hammocks together and had the tarps above us open in porch mode. We had our lantern glowing under our tarps and it was drizzling that night and it felt like we were kids in a fort. We had the best night talking and watching people drive by gawking at us in our hammock fort.
Overall it was a great trip. I wish there was a do over button for the first day. We discovered many new places to come back to. . I look forward to working out the kinks and getting better. I think experience will be the only way to really improve. The positives certainly outshined the negatives. As a family trip, it was much more rewarding than any other rv trip we have taken. We talked and laughed so much having no phones or computers getting in the way.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks