Well, the title may be misleading somewhat. I was the only one hanging, the family (wife, 2-yr son, 4-mo daughter) stayed in a six man tent... on a queen size, double-high air mattress. Baby slept in a travel bassinet, which could be argued, is a hammock. :-)
We arrived at Kisatchie Bayou Campground at 2pm, unloaded the kids and staked out a campsite. Campsite 1 was available! It is the closest one to the beach on the bayou. Our ideal spot; my son loves the water and sand. My wife stayed at the site with the kids, to claim it, as I trekked back to the truck for the first load of gear.
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I strapped on my 90-liter Jansport backpack (only 45lbs), heavy camping chairs, and our bags of food, and headed back to camp. I went back to the truck twice for the rest of the gear, except the air mattress. As mom entertained the kids I set up their tent and my hammock, quick and easy. She laid down with the baby, and I took my son to gather firewood. A recent flood made that task easy, the wood had conveniently gathered in low spots near camp.
We had some time to kill, so we went down to the bayou to play in the sand and the water. I fished the deep spots for bream, lots of nibbles and tugs, but didn't land any. The water was nice and cool, which was good relief from the hot and humid air.
Around 5:30pm, we went back to the truck for the air mattress. Carrying that thing back, fully inflated, was, I'm sure, quite a site for the other campers. Luckily, their were only two other people in the entire park!
While the wife, made their beds in the tent (my hammock being ready for hours already), I started a fire for dinner. On the menu was, chicken sausage and roasted veggies over cous cous. The veggies were pre-cut, and had been marinating all day in salt, pepper, thyme and olive oil. They are placed in foil and put directly in the coals, meanwhile I cooked the sausage and boiled water for cous cous. Yummy!
Afterwards, I cleaned up camp while my wife cleaned and readied the kids for bed. The original plan was to have my son sleep in the hammock with me, but he had fallen asleep in the tent before I had finished cleaning camp. More room for me! It was still warm, mid 70's, so all I had was a sleeping bag liner. I fell asleep quickly, and slept well until after midnight, when the temps dropped below 70F. I put some socks and pants on, and wished I owned a warbonnet bbxlc, because I could have put a blanket and my warmer clothes in the shelf instead of having to get up and search through my bag. Eventually, I will own one!
I fell back to sleep, hard, until almost 6am when I heard the kids begin to stir. I joined my family in the tent at that point, because the trip was about family time, too. Sometime after 7:30am, I got up to boil water for coffee and oatmeal in my Stanley pot on my diy cat-can stove, and started a fire for bacon and eggs.
After breakfast, the sky was showing signs of rain, so we decided to pack up and head home. I'll spare the details of packing up, but with two cranky and hot babies, it took much longer than it should have. Overall, it was a fun, relaxing trip, and I'm more convinced with what gear I need to buy.
I've already begun planning my next trip out, a Caroline Dorman/Backbone trail hike with a friend instead of family. Hopefully, with newer lighter gear!
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Originally Posted by Nodust
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