Below are some photos and some descriptions of my recent experience backpacking and hammocking in the Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas. I hope you enjoy!

20240314_115856.jpg

For Spring Break (March 13-16) I went backpacking with my brother-in-law and two nephews; the nephews and I camped in hammocks. It was a 4-day, 3-night trip, and we hiked the Eagle Rock Loop, a very popular path across 4 trails. For me, this was my first time backpacking in 20 years, and for the rest it was their first time ever!

Gear:
We 3 hammockers all have different hammocks. I sleep in a new Simply Light Designs Trail Lair, one nephew sleeps in a Hennessey (maybe the ultralight classic? I'm not sure), and the other in a cheaper Amazon hammock, possibly a OneWind. We used tree straps, naturally (me and second-nephew used One Wind straps as well. He uses the provided buckle system, I becket-hitch my straps to homemade UCRs. My other nephew uses tree-huggers from Hennsessey, that he ties his hammock's spectra cord directly to). My brother-in-law used a Paria Bryce 2P tent. All of us slept comfortably.

20240314_180511.jpg
2 of the 3 hammocks, and the tent. I really love how a hammock can be on a slope and you still sleep flat!

20240316_075423.jpg
There was a tremendous rainstorm Thursday night which spawned a tornado 80 miles east of us and dropped baseball size hail in Dallas, TX. We 3 hammockers all have Onewind rain-tarps with "doors" - instead of being a hex shape, these tarps are true rectangles, and you can fold the corners in, using provided shock-cord to carabiner them to opposite corners, thus enclosing the tarp - which worked really well! We got these after getting soaked while car-camping previously :-) I used my hiking pole for the side of the tarp's guy-outs to make the area inside the tarp roomier.

On the first morning I used my OneWind snakeskins (just realized I have their straps, tarp, and snakeskin - this isn't an ad, I promise!) to bundle up my hammock. I love these, as they are large and I can use them to collect/store my hammock, pillow, top quilt, underquilt, and integraded bugnet all at once!! Then I shove these into my backpack and press it down and boom! My shelter and sleep system as packed and stored for the day's hiking! I left my tarp deployed because it was sprinkling, and the 4 of us huddled under it making breakfast and coffee and staying dry. I also have a set of Hennessey snake-skins which are much smaller diameter, and I use those to pack up my tarp once we're ready to head out.

20240316_102323.jpg
After the rain, the water in the Little Missouri river was HIGH! We did a couple water crossings that looked like this, both times up to my mid-thigh.

20240313_150352.jpg
Many water crossings over creeks looked like this, and weren't a problem at all!

20240314_121429.jpg
Another creek.

20240315_155842.jpg
Lovely waterfall in the distance. Or maybe a very, very vertical creek.

20240315_125044.jpg
Redbud trees were blooming. I love these so much!

20240315_125032.jpg
Redbud and raindrops from the storm.

20240315_124522.jpg
I am not sure what these trees are, but the leaves were yellow (sometimes closer to white) and dry from the winter. I didn't see spring growth yet.

20240314_150425.jpg
There was a lot of wildlife that we had never seen in person before, like Luna Moths! We saw a couple snakes, some millipedes, beetles, butterflies and moths, some wasps, and heard birds. We didn't see any mammals - probably the trails are too populated with humans and the rest of the wildlife knows to stay pretty far from the trails.

20240314_110941.jpg
This was a HUGE millipede! Whoa!

20240314_150352.jpg
Lizard!

20240316_131336.jpg
One of two water moccasins/cottonmouth snakes that we saw. This one was less than 6 feet from the trail, sunning in the leaves. We barely saw it, and it didn't react to us at all.

20240315_110806.jpg
The first salamander any of us have seen in person!


We had a great time! We didn't complete the trail, due to time constraints and not wanting to cross the more hazardous river crossings after all the rain. It was a terrific trip, and sure to be the first of many.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and trip report. Happy to chat about whatever or answer any questions.