Results 1 to 7 of 7
  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    MI
    Hammock
    WBBB DL 1.1
    Tarp
    Ogee
    Insulation
    Jerry Chair
    Suspension
    whoopie
    Posts
    321

    A weekend at a local campground

    This trip was just a weekend at a local campground. Nothing exciting but it gave me a chance to try out some new gear. The primary new gear that I wanted to test was my new Ogee Tarp. I was hoping that we'd get a nice rainstorm this weekend but, for the first weekend in a while in MI, no such luck. I do love the tarp though.



    When I got there on Friday there was a nice breeze blowing but I had no problems hanging the tarp. I'm using Opie's tarp line and it's as easy as can be to get everything up and in place. And it's very nice to only need two stakes for the tarp. I tried out OldGringo's idea of putting shock cord on the doors and wrapping it around the trees to close them off and that works really well.



    I'm using Mac's 5 in 1 Jerry Chair as my summer UQ. This is my third time out with it and, so far, it's been great. I really like that I don't have to worry about it getting wet since it's covered with silnylon. For this trip I decided I would try using my idi gear all in 1 poncho as a TQ since it's also IX. I really wanted this to work since it would mean that it wouldn't matter if the TQ got wet either but it ended up being a lot of material to struggle with and that caused some problems for me.

    Friday night's low was around 53. I got in and got situated and was fine with the TQ until around 1:30 am. There was a commotion down at the next campsite that woke me up. I sat up and looked out of the hammock and watched a group of about 12-15 guys walk down towards my site. I was kind of freaked out about it because I was the last site on that road and there was nowhere for these guys to go. They all came down and milled around my car so I called out and asked them what they were looking for. A couple of them flashed their lights my way and then they all turned around and walked back out. It was very weird and woke me completely up. As I got settled back in I was fighting with the TQ to get it back around me and ended up kicking my UQ off-kilter. I dozed off so it took awhile for me to cool down enough to realize that there were cold spots and to re-situate everything. Then, around 2:30 - 3 am I get hit with a flashlight again. This time a guy and a girl had wandered down to the turn-around loop near my site. They proceeded to have a very loud "conversation" for about 20 minutes, sort of a half fight / half laughing thing. Then they headed off to another site where it sounded like them met up with friends. I couldn't really hear them talking anymore but the girl had a very definitive laugh (think braying donkey) that I could hear off and on. I was awake again though and, when I'm awake I tend to shift around a lot so I ended up having another struggle with the TQ trying to get all the material situated and somehow kicked the shock cord on the UQ again so I ended up with more cold spots.

    As I was struggling with getting the footbox under the shock cord, I got to thinking that Paul's triangle thingie's would have come in very handy at this point in time. I'm pretty sure that they will pull the shock cord over the footbox in a better line so even if I kicked at them they would sort of naturally fall above the foot box. I came home an ordered a set so I can test out my theory.

    The other new stuff I tried out was a Bug Shirt and the Off Clip on. The Bug Shirt is great and is perfect for wearing around a campfire when the nights are a little cool. The first night I wore it to bed. I wanted to see if it would work in place of the bug net on the hammock and I think it would. It ended up being cool enough that night that the bugs weren't really a problem so I never actually tried to sleep with the netting over my face but, with a baseball cap, I'm pretty sure it would work and be comfortable.

    I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Off Clip On worked. I hooked it on my chair by the campfire and never noticed any bugs until I walked away from the chair. When I was hanging out without it on and the bugs showed up, they immediately disappeared when I turned it on. And the little fan in it works great for stoking little twig fires.

    Overall, everything did what it needed to do and I ended up having a very nice relaxing weekend, which was awesome!

  2. #2
    Senior Member kayak karl's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    South, South Jersey
    Posts
    3,325
    Images
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by poker88 View Post
    I was hoping that we'd get a nice rainstorm this weekend but,
    you don't want anybody to go camping with you, do you? LOL

    nice report, thank you KK
    "Tenting is equivalent to a bum crawling into a cardboard box, hammocking is an art" KK

  3. #3
    Senior Member Poppabear's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Lexington Park, MD
    Hammock
    Warbonnet Blackbird 1.7
    Tarp
    Zpacks Cuben Fiber
    Insulation
    Leigh's UQ
    Suspension
    Whoopies/Treestrap
    Posts
    1,392
    Thanks for the report. I've been eyeballing the Ogee tarp and trying to resist getting one. But darn that thing looks sweet in black. I may just have to give in and get one. Your experience with the other campers is one of things that I hate about camp grounds. Common courtesy and respect seem to be a thing of the past.
    Terry

  4. #4
    Senior Member Dblcorona's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Novi, MI
    Hammock
    WBBB 1.7 DBL
    Tarp
    HG Cuben
    Insulation
    Sleeping BearTQ/UQ
    Suspension
    Straps and Slings
    Posts
    951
    Images
    18
    That tarp looks pretty cool. Where did you end up going?

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    MI
    Hammock
    WBBB DL 1.1
    Tarp
    Ogee
    Insulation
    Jerry Chair
    Suspension
    whoopie
    Posts
    321
    Quote Originally Posted by Dblcorona View Post
    That tarp looks pretty cool. Where did you end up going?
    It's one of the rustic campgrounds in Brighton Rec. There are about a half dozen spots at this campground that work with a hammock and the spots are somewhat separated so you aren't right on top of your neighbors.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    MI
    Hammock
    WBBB DL 1.1
    Tarp
    Ogee
    Insulation
    Jerry Chair
    Suspension
    whoopie
    Posts
    321
    Quote Originally Posted by kayak karl View Post
    you don't want anybody to go camping with you, do you? LOL

    nice report, thank you KK
    LOL. You'd think that storms would keep people away but we had some good ones last weekend and every single camp site that I've scoped out for hammock use was already booked. Apparently I'm not the only Michigander who likes to be out in storms. <g>

  7. #7
    Senior Member Bubba's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    SW Ontario, Canada
    Hammock
    WBBB 1.7 SL
    Tarp
    WB Superfly
    Insulation
    WB and UGQ
    Suspension
    Whoopies or Straps
    Posts
    7,184
    Images
    248
    Having other inconsiderate campers nearby is irritating. I had a some idiots disturb me on a weekend trip.

    That tarp is cool. I want to get one eventually.

    So you put the shock cord over your footbox? I did the same thing and had the UQ shift a few times. I put the shock cord under the footbox the last time and it seemed to stay put better. I think you are right and Paul's triangle thingies would be helpful.

  • + New Posts
  • Similar Threads

    1. Local hammocks
      By Cuttinedge1 in forum Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
      Replies: 19
      Last Post: 08-09-2013, 14:26
    2. Local hangers
      By spaceweaseal in forum General Hammock Talk
      Replies: 0
      Last Post: 10-09-2011, 10:12
    3. Local insulation
      By Catavarie in forum Do-It-Yourself (DIY)
      Replies: 7
      Last Post: 10-03-2011, 07:21
    4. Hanging in a state/local campground
      By robanna in forum Suspension Systems, Ridgelines, & Bug Nets
      Replies: 44
      Last Post: 11-13-2010, 09:34

    Tags for this Thread

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •