MI > Green Timbers Big Tree Winter Hang

[TwistingInTheWind]

It is never a good omen when you pull into the trail head parking to see someone coming out of the woods covered in frost ice from their own breath who tells you it was too much for him to bear...

cncd11 and I pulled in late, LATE (3am late) on Thursday after a long day at work and while we were loading up our pulks we saw a light bobbing up the trail towards us. This hang was a cross forum hang where half of our group were bushcraft forum guys and it was one of their early arrivals giving up from the intense cold coming out of the woods, covered in icicles from his own breath and telling us he tried to stay but was going to his mother in laws to finish out the night.

How cold is it to inspire you to go to your mother in law's at 3 am you might ask?

Negative 26 degrees!

cnc and I wished him well and pulled our sleds down the trail. While we were pulking I remember thinking how strange it was that my upper and lower eyelashes would stick together from freezing whenever I would blink. It was a bit over 2 miles to where we were camping and we were already sleep deprived. We set up our hammocks and I crashed hard.

I woke up around 10am when I heard some of our new arrivals showing up Friday morning. Before the end of the day we had a few bushcraft fellows and our hammock forum peeps all enjoying MASS QUANTITIES of food!

Food food foooooood and more food!
Pulking allowed this here gram weenie to pull 2 plastic totes of gear on my sled +drybag full of down gear and Hudson Bay wool blanket. I could never think about backpacking all the stuff I had on that pulk.

This weekend we saw Chicken Fajitas, Sausage and Krout, Pheasant and Wild Rice Soup, Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, Mexican Posole, Chili and Tater Tots, Apple Cobbler, Oreo Balls, Venison Bacon, Bacon Bacon, and so many other things that I know more than one of us were spending more than our fair share of time finding unfortunate trees to do horrible things around.


Friday night was a heat wave for cncd11 and I... it was only negative 11 degrees.
I slept both nights without any tarp because it was crystal clear and almost no wind. The stars were beautiful and on Friday night I saw a hint of the Northern Lights!

I really enjoyed meeting everyone and would like to say thank you to MichiganDave for getting this going. I met some new friends, ate like a king, and got to experience the interesting sensation of my eyeball getting cold inside my skull when I shifted in my hammock and it came out from under my hood.

[michigandave]

Great write up, Twistin! Turkey, Squirrelbait, Nate and I were the last to leave today and got back out to the trailhead around 2, with me getting home to unpack a couple hours later. Saturday night got us to a low of -4, which was a little more bearable than Friday night. You guys did miss out on the fresh rabbit that one of our kinfolk of the woods got this morning for breakfast. All I can say is I learned a ton of new stuff this weekend and enjoyed the comaradarie with new friends.

We figured out that we had about 16 guys rotate in and out over the weekend. It was also decided to make this an annual outing with HF, Bushcrafters and Woodsmen. So, next year will be the 2nd Annual Green Timbers Big Tree Hang the last weekend of February, 2016. . I'm working on a write-up with some more details and video, so, without further ado, here's the link to my photobucket album from the 1st annual Green Timbers Big Tree Hang:

http://s113.photobucket.com/user/mic...g%20Feb%202015

And a few select pics:

[cncd11]

Here are a few pics that I took. uploadfromtaptalk1425264324460.jpguploadfromtaptalk1425264418971.jpguploadfromtaptalk1425264548075.jpg

[Donk_67]

Great report so far. I'll try to add my take tomorrow after I'm rested up from my Detroit run.

My take on the 1st annual Green Timbers Big Tree Hang (and endless buffet) : Thursday night, I’m packing my gear and watching the temp plummet (yet again) wondering about the guys hanging that night and hoping they’re geared up properly…but the forecast calls for moderation Friday and Saturday so I should be okay, right?

I wake Friday morning, do a few odd chores as the temp tries to rise from frigid to near-frigid and worry about my footwear; I don’t own a pair of insulated boots and can’t decide about my muck boots loosely fitted for extra socks or cheap snow boots that are also loose, but require laces. I start out wearing my best pair of wool socks and muck boots for the 40 mile drive to Green Timbers. I arrive with sweaty feet. Decision made; I switch out my socks, put my hiking boots on and pack snow boots. Michigan Dave, Squirrel bait and Turkey pull into the parking lot a few minutes after me and I get to meet them for the first time. We put our snow shoes on and trek towards camp; roughly 2 miles by the coordinates on my map. The shoes and pulling our pulks makes for a slow pace, but the sun is bright and shines on a beautiful winter woods scene.

We arrive at the cabin where someone has already built fire both outside and in the cabin’s fireplace; I survey the cabin to refresh my memory and assure myself there’s a bailout plan if needed. I meet Cncd 11 and Twisting-in-the-wind, the brave souls who trucked in the night before to sleep in -26 temps. Gary and Austin are there as well, guys I had previously met in January at the Hoist Lake hang.

I park my sled near the cabin and bushwhack up the hill searching for the ultimate hang spot, breathing hard and working up a sweat in the process. I want a spot on the ridge because I believe it’ll be slightly warmer and less damp than the valley near the river –not sure how true that panned out to be. I find a good spot, not too far off the already packed down trail, 300 yards above the cabin and set my gear up after clearing snow off a section of ground, banking against prevailing wind side of my site. Twisting slept the night before tarp-less and it encouraged me enough to leave my tarp door-less and in porch mode –a factor that proved to help against condensation issues. At night the wind was barely noticeable –calm, clear nights.

Friday was forecasted to hit a low around zero; it actually hit -12, breaking my previous best of
-5 achieved at the Hoist Lake hang. I slept okay after getting up to adjust my KAQ New River 4 season UQ to recover from CBS. It was good that I had packed in my extra UQ to use as a top quilt on top of my cheap Wally world 5 degree mummy bag; I draped it sideways over my legs and torso, tucking the ends into the UQ.

Conditions were perfect and I did everything right on this outing: dry snow that didn’t get my boots wet, a warm fire both inside and out of the cabin, and more food than needed (Thanks guys!) I never once felt cold all weekend, never shivered even a bit and got to enjoy good company, beautiful scenery and quiet solitude.

Sunday morning came all-too-soon and I had to bug out early for parental responsibilities. I left camp around 9:30 and walked fast without snow shoes on a nicely packed trail making good time to the trailhead. Amazed at how packed the parking lot was…but everybody had parked right so nobody was blocked in.

Great times making new friends and eating too much food. I look forward to next year’s event.

[Dimner]

It is never a good omen when you pull into the trail head parking to see someone coming out of the woods covered in frost ice from their own breath who tells you it was too much for him to bear...

cncd11 and I pulled in late, LATE (3am late) on Thursday after a long day at work and while we were loading up our pulks we saw a light bobbing up the trail towards us. This hang was a cross forum hang where half of our group were bushcraft forum guys and it was one of their early arrivals giving up from the intense cold coming out of the woods, covered in icicles from his own breath and telling us he tried to stay but was going to his mother in laws to finish out the night.

How cold is it to inspire you to go to your mother in law's at 3 am you might ask?

Negative 26 degrees!

... Yup, that was me who was headed out. I was solo that night and it was the first night of my 4 day weekend. I noticed that around 2ish things were way colder than I had planned for. My phone was telling my it was -7 degrees. The frost on the glass of my phone disagreed. My mind was telling me.... "this isnt -7... we have done -5... this isn't -7..." as well as "you should have bought that stinkin thermometer!".

Stupidly... Actually stubbornly is more accurate, I was trying a hammock setup for the first time, I estimated that it was probably good around 0 to -5. (I was also wrong on my estimate too). I was worried going into the night about all these factors...

Being Solo... First hang ever... Weather not feeling right and not agreeing with the phone.... led me to make a backup plan at 9pm because I had a feeling things were going to get real that night.

So at 2:30 I said, let's get out of this so I can get back for the latter part of the weekend and meet with the group. I can stay here tonight and be useless and miserable the rest of my mini-vacation, or I can bolt and come back refreshed.

So I executed the plan I had setup. That was a really good thing, because I don't know how straight i was thinking at 2:30am. I lit my pre-built fire. Drank a couple cups of hot cider and headed out while I still had the physical strength and mental motivation to get the hike out done. (I'm not what you would consider a very "in shape" guy)

I may have looked cold in the face when I arrived at the trail head. But I was sweating like crazy! (I know.... REEAAAALLY bad thing) I had a change of clothes with me to fix that.

Met TwistingInTheWind and cncd11 at the trail head and I high tailed it to Gaylord Tim Hortons drive through and then the MILs. (She's a super cool lady. I scored points by doing some house repairs for her Friday afternoon).

Came back out Saturday Morning and met the gang in a much better physical and mental state. Had a great time, met new friends that I know I'm going to be tapping for some good hammock info. The two groups meshed together great. I love seeing different gear, cooking, and techniques from people who approach situations and challenges with a different mindset than what I usually am exposed to. It's really refreshing.

Had a ton of fun around the long fire Saturday night cracking jokes. Hope to see all you guys again soon!

[Donk_67]

The few photos I shot with my phone.

[Donk_67]

Dimner,
You made the right decision. It's always important to have a bail out plan set up. It was good to meet you and welcome to the hammock madness.

[kg8jk]

This was my first hammock forum hang. I have done a few solo trips but I am definitely not set up for below zero (and not that far below). I happened to have Friday off and wanted to get out in the woods so I decided to make it a day trip. Nevertheless, I took my hammock and sleeping bag (just in case I got stuck) and packed up my ham radio gear to have a little fun with that too.

It took me about an hour to hike to the site. I had been there in the summer so I knew where I was going and the trail was well packed. I had commandeered my son's sled for the trip. As I didn't have a harness, I undid my belt and put it through the rope of the sled to perform what would best be described as "the baggy pants haul."

Everybody was really friendly and greeted me when I got there. I set up my hammock threw up an antenna and then put the SVEA on for some hot ramen. I did get to test out my new camping mug/bowl. It is a small widemouth plastic thermos I got for a dollar at the resale store. It even came with a folding plastic spoon/fork. It worked great and kept the ramen warm while I waited for it to rehydrate...even in the below freezing temps. So, it now has a permanent spot in my pack.

After that I hooked up my ham radio and made a few contacts. I heard a station from Finland calling but didn't quite get him with my little four watt rig. It was tons of fun.

The venison fajitas were amazing and even though I am mostly vegetarian I couldn't pass those up. Thanks to Dave for organizing the gathering and for everybody there. I had a great time.
Dirk

[Christo456]

Looks like a great trip. Until I get a lot more down, I'll see y'all in the spring.

[michigandave]

What a great weekend! Thank you to everyone that braved the cold and made it out to enjoy Michigan's beautiful north woods. The HF members meshed well with the Bushcrafters and Woodsmen and we all got to experience a little bit of each others methods. One of the most memorable moments for me, besides the massive amounts of food and green wool boreal shirts, was when a bunch of strangers who had just met hours before, would all work together when the call for "more wood" was made. One group would collect it and drag it back to the trail, another group would drag it back to camp, then others would start cutting it up and prepping it for "inside the cabin" and "outside the cabin". Everyone pitched in to keep camp running smoothly. I also learned new skills and had some gear envy (1.8 liter Mors Camp Pot http://fourdog.com/1-8-liter-mors-camp-pot/ , because I realize I need a cool pot just for the fire).

The 1st Annual Green Timbers Big Tree Hang of 2015 was a success and I'm looking forward to next years outing. Most of all, I spent time with good friends and met some new ones who I hope to someday meet again on the trail.

Here's the link to my trip video: