Steele Alabama hang and climb

**Mustardman** · 03-07-2009, 01:31

Hello from gorgeous Chandler Mountain in Steele Alabama. I'm relaxing in my warbonnet getting ready to rest up for some climbing tomorrow. Pictures and comments will be posted after we return to real computers. Should be fun....

**Take-a-knee** · 03-07-2009, 09:56

Are you going to Sandrock?

**warbonnetguy** · 03-07-2009, 11:47

i think that may be the place the scc just bought, down the cliffline from the closed "yellow bluff."

**Mustardman** · 03-07-2009, 15:35

The new scc place is about ten minutes down the road from here. I'm doing some bouldering at Horse Pens 40. (http://hp40.com). Well actually at the moment I'm doing some post lunch relaxing in the hammock.

There are tons and tons of ENO hammocks in the trees here, and a few byers. I think they are looking over jealously at my warbonnet.

**Mrprez** · 03-07-2009, 18:36

Stop in and see Skippy, he's just up the road from there..

**warbonnetguy** · 03-07-2009, 21:19

hp40 is such a cool place. wish i was there, bet the friction was perfect this time of year

**skippy** · 03-07-2009, 21:53

Originally Posted by Mrprez

Stop in and see Skippy, he's just up the road from there..

Just came by HP40 on my way home from work. Great night for camping. Another good place to climb is just over the hill at Palisades Park. Some boldering, but mostly top-ropeing

**Mrprez** · 03-07-2009, 22:25

Originally Posted by skippy

Just came by HP40 on my way home from work. Great night for camping. Another good place to climb is just over the hill at Palisades Park. Some boldering, but mostly top-ropeing

Man, don't they ever let you relax?

**Mustardman** · 03-08-2009, 18:49

So we're back home from a brutal weekened where the only thing that was comfortable was our sleep time. During the day, we trashed our bodies, literally climbing until our fingertips bled, and then at night, I was batoning my Cold Steel LTC Kukri through some firewood to make kindling. At least I slept well, in my awesome Warbonnet Blackbird hammock.

We set up our two hammocks from three trees, with separate tarps:

On the right is my fiance's blackbird, set up under a Speer 8x10 tarp. She had the foot end closed for wind protection, and the head end corner up on a hiking pole for easier entry. She used an Exped Downmat 7 in a Big Agnes 0 degree down bag. Temps didn't drop much below 50, although it was crazy windy. She was plenty warm.

My blackbird was under a warbonnet big mambajamba tarp, with hiking poles on both corners of one side to create a patio. The windward side was billowing badly into the hammock, even with some serious tension on the two tieout points. I added a grip clip in the center of the tarp, and used my fiance's spare hiking pole to pull it out, and it worked beautifully. I had an Exped Downmat 7 DLX in the warbonnet pad pocket, and was using an REI 15 degree down bag as a quilt, with bits of clothing stuffed in beside me to prevent any cold spots. I was also exceptionally warm, but it was easier for me to vent using the bag as a quilt.

We saw a ton of other hammocks there - probably at least 10 ENO's, only one of which had a bugnet, at least two or three byer's, and one that looked like a HH in the distance. We were the only ones with elaborate setups, or even tarps, as it was forecast as a clear weekend. I'm glad we had the tarps, because we took a post-lunch nap Saturday to recover from the toll hard bouldering takes on your body, and the tarps kept the sun out of our eyes. There was also quite a bit of moonlight at night, and the tarps helped darken things up a bit. The poor kids in the ENOs right next to our hammocks had no bottom insulation and they froze all night. I think they decided to bring thermarests next time.

**Mrprez** · 03-08-2009, 20:26

Nice setup, glad you had a good time. I remember setting up one time without a tarp. I woke up the next morning drenched from dew. Now, I always use a tarp.