Even though this was a group hang at Jones Lake SF Campground the weekend of July 29-31, 2016 northeast of Grayling, Michigan, someone came up with the idea of calling it the Sloth Hang for some odd reason. I'm sure you're wondering what us Hangers have in common with the Sloth, but when you read the definition, there are many similarities.
"The sloth is the world's slowest mammal, so sedentary that algae grows on its furry coat. The plant gives it a greenish tint that is useful camouflage in the trees of its Central and South American rain forest home.
All sloths are built for life in the treetops. They spend nearly all of their time aloft, hanging from branches with a powerful grip aided by their long claws. (Dead sloths have been known to retain their grip and remain suspended from a branch.) Sloths even sleep in trees, and they sleep a lot—some 15 to 20 hours every day. Even when awake they often remain motionless."
Get the point? We have alot more in common with them than I ever realized. Our weekend was sedentary, consisting of walking from our hammocks to the basecamp, deciding when to put the next pound of bacon on, looking for the next thing to eat, taking a swim in the lake, then more food and time around the campfire, before we all retired to our hammocks and enjoyed another night in the trees.
We ended up with about 16 attending throughout the weekend, with some leaving on Friday/Saturday and others arriving later on. Our weather was perfect, with temps in the 70's and 80's during the day with sunny skies and lows in the high 40's to 60's at night. The only rain lasted about 2 hours on Sunday morning, starting at 5:00 AM.
It's always hard to remember everyone's name, but I'll give it a try and don't be offended if I mess up. Here's who joined us: Kg8jk (Dirk), Michigandave, Markr6, RevKev, Christo456, TZBrown and wife Anne, Turkey, Squirrelbait, Donk67 and son Thomas, AndrewB and Beth, Gargoyle, Majortom and wife Nancy. Turkeys family stopped by during the day to check out what we do and a surprise visit was made by Wolverine, who was on his way up to Isle Royale for the week.
Here's some highlights from the weekend: Food, food, and more food! TZ made up cobbler both nights in the dutch oven, Christo whipped up his dutch oven pot roast, complete with baby carrots (thanks Ed) and potatoes. Once again he showed us his skills with the dutch oven with his breakfast casserole served with tortillas, plus bacon and eggs by Mark6 (thanks for the chili too) and AndrewB. We also had burgers (thanks Dirk) and lots of brats (RevKev, Squirrelbait)! I made my sausage gravy and cornbread, then tested out a new recipe for buffalo chicken mac and cheese with fritos on top. I also tried my best to expand our beer palates with an evening tasting session and brief discussion. Sorry that the Russian Ale was a dud...I should have known better ($3.50 beer in a plastic bottle bought at Meijer's). Hopefully it was made up by the Mango Magnifico & the St. Bernard. Lots of snacks were provided by all but the fresh smoked fish brought down from the UP by Tom and Nancy was awesome!
As with all group hangs, there was hammock gear talk and demonstrations: Bridge hammocks (Gargoyle had the monster sized one), bling and other gear, and hammock stands. Turkey was like a kid in a candy store over his newly arrived HG camo CF tarp. To see the smile on his face when he was enjoying the pitter patter of sunday morning's rain was priceless.
Please post your photos and stories from the weekend. I'll be uploading some pics when I get a chance. Thank you all for coming out and braving a weekend of car camping in the wilds of Northern Michigan. It was great meeting some new friends and enjoying some time with old friends!
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