All the details have not been finalized but this is how it usually goes. People start arriving Friday from early afternoon to dark-thirty to setup camping spots and meet and greet. If it's not raining that evening, usually a campfire or two gets going where people chat into the night.
Sat. after breakfast, we usually do open house tours where people show off their DIY gear or any of their hammock specific equipment. We also usually schedule several workshops in the late morning or early afternoon at the pavilion. In the past HF volunteers teach how to make alki stoves or caldera cones, knife shapening, whoopie slings etc. If you are not interested in that, people either drive or hike over to Harpers Ferry and go to the ATC Headquarters, the local outfitter, or walk around the historic downtown. There's other great things in the area too.
Saturday evening starting around 6 pm, there is a big potluck dinner. The burgers, buns, condiments are supplied and everyone brings a side dish to add to the dinner. And then the Jacks of JRB fame conduct a great raffle. They usually bring a nice grand prize (a quilt) and a bunch of smaller prizes that you can win. And other people bring items to add to the raffle. Dutch clips, whoopie slings, camping doo-dads. Raffle is $10. It's great fun and proceeds after expenses (cost of pavilion and burgers, etc.) go to Hammock Forums. Saturday night is another campfire. Sunday morning people start heading out.
Also, you'll see people post about pre-hikes where they will backpack somewhere in the area before the weekend. Usually anyone is welcome to join in on the posted hikes.
Gathland State Park, MD is a great spot for a hang. Plenty of space at the hang site near the AT shelter. Creek water right there or you can get it at the pump near the parking lot. Hang site about a 1/2 mile down an old fire road, very easy to find. Bathrooms, water pump, pavilion near the parking area. All meals are on your own except for Saturday night potluck.
That's how it usually works.
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