Oct 2017 Merchants Mill Pond Halloween Hang

[gunner76]

A big thanks to all the folks, new and old hangers alike who attended.

Made it home safe and sound but a bit on the soggy side as we had a rain storm come thru and it followed us home. At times we could not see the road and I got brand new windshield wipers for the van during the hang.

Please let us know that you made it home ok and post your report and pictures here. I will post my report and pictures later to day when I can find the camera.

Lost and Found: One back packing cook kit in an orange mesh bag....I believe it belongs to Mediver...I have it.

One silver ( stainless steel ? ) stock pot with glass lid....we think it belongs to Pavel. I think KoolRanch was going to take it home and then take it to the Yates Place hang as we though Pavel said he was going to attend the Yates Place hang.

If this is not correct let us know.

Attendance:

The Terminator		Otway NC
Gunner76		Otway NC
Sam the ( big ) Puppy		Otway NC
PappyAmos		Carolina Beach, NC
MacDiver		Morehead City
Meckelangelo & Beth		Pittsburgh, PA
Slugger		Lancaster, SC
Sara Meck
Chris Wheat		Greenville NC
Hotlips		Knightdale NC
KingsFord		Knightdale NC
AA2FD & Family		Fredericksburg, VA
Starfish Comet		Clayton, NC
Bobo1234		Cary NC
MomMeck		PA
DadMeck		PA
Meckie		Mount Joy, Pa
koolranch		Mint Hill, NC
Pavel		Selma, NC
Tree Sloth		Suffolk, VA

[MomMeck]

Had a great time this weekend! Thank you to everyone that helped make this an awesome weekend! Everyone is home in PA. We missed most of the sloppy weather. Time to unpack the gear.

[Slugger]

Made it home ok. Camp cleared out quickly for the most part when a big wind came blowing through during the downpour and woke us with a couple of extremely loud cracks/crashes among the trees. Time to go! Had a great time and it was nice to see the Mess of Mecks!

I CREATED A LINK ON DROPBOX THAT HOLDS EVERY PHOTO POSTED HERE FROM THIS TRIP:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6mv2ndm1j...m6mP-UCWa?dl=0


Camp
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Just what do we do at these hangs you ask???
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[Slugger]

More...

Gator!
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[Terminator]

I want to thank you all for coming! I felt bad about abandoning everyone. But like gunner76 said, we did have hard rain and the sun didn't come up till after 7. Was hard to see and we were very sleepy. All in all, we had a great time. Sam is soo exhausted, he hasn't budge! He made a bfff ( best furry friend forever ) hope he didn't undo what ya'll taught Crush! Want to thank Hotlips , KingsFord, Sherri , and anyone else who did the cooking and/or provided food for the hang! Great conversations, discussions, and explanations. Slugger, enjoy your unicorn! He'll keep you safe! It was fantastic to have all the Mecks too! I hope it won't be a long time before we see you guys again! For all the new hangers, hope you picked up a few helping hints. All the new people that come do return again and become family! Again, thank you all for coming and hope to see you again soon!

[Terminator]

Oh yeah, I forgot about the aligator!

[gunner76]

Got to hang about 11 AM Thursday. First there. Started setting up camp. Folks starting showing after lunch.

We fixed dinner and sat around cave man TV. Got down to 36 degrees Thursday night,

Friday AM The Terminator fixed pancakes, sausage and eggs. Sam got the left over pancakes and decided to bury them around the camp site. We expect to see pancake trees growing this coming spring.

More folks showed up.

Spent much of Friday catching up with events with old friends and making new ones. Mom Meck was putting her hairdressing skills to work by giving her sons haircuts and beard trims. I decided she could not to anything for my hair ( or lack there of ) and decided not to partake of her services. Got down to about 42 degrees Friday night.

On Saturday, Koolranch, BoBo and Slugger went paddling and found one of the gators. BoBo tried to get a close up with no success. Whenever The Terminator and I paddle in the swamp we never see the gator ( but I am sure it sees us ).

Every time we would call for Sam the puppy, BoBo would answer as his name is also Sam.

My thanks to all those who brought fire wood. Made for a great time sitting around the fire.

Lots of good food and I had many a whoopie pie brought down from PA by Mom Meck and other great items prepared by our cooks.

We had 6 dogs in attendance. Sam found a BFFF ( best fury friend forever ) in Crush who is the same age. We only let the dogs run free in a large grassy field where they were closely watched and no where near any campsites and the ranger came by and told us he would give us a ticket if it happened again as the dogs are suppose to on a six foot leash. We were in the wrong so I was not too upset but I will mention that the last time we were here, the park staff did not say anything about our dogs not being on a leash.

Spent a fair amount of time showing some new hangers some of my hammock set ups and letting them get in them a take for a test hang.

We also had 8 Hammeck stands being used ( with a couple of spares that were not used ) along with 4 of the 6 existing Squidbilly Hammeck stand Tarps. Squidbilly and OldFourHats also have the tarps but they were not at the hang.

We got reports that a large rain storm was going to come thru the area some time Saturday night / Sunday AM. Later got reports that it was going to be a major storm. The Mecks to decided to break down camp Saturday night and leave and try to beat the storm home as it was suppose to pass thru their route home. They made it OK. Most of us broke down everything we could and packed it away in advance of the storm. My thanks to Tree Sloth for helping to lash down my trailer.

Finally got in hammock about 11:30, it was fairly warm. Crickets were working overtime. About 3:30 AM the rain started and woke me up. Started off light but continued to rain harder. About 5 AM it started raining hard enough I threw our hammock gear in the back of the van and we left. Rain continued to get worse and times I could barely see the road. As it was still pouring when we got home, we left everything in the van and on the trailer, went in and took a long nap.

Kingsford said it did not rain on their drive home so I am thinking we took the rain with us and spared everyone from getting too wet.

[gunner76]

Started to go thru photos....here are the panoramic shots...

[gunner76]

A few more.....

Note...Dad Meck said they checked into sub contracting out the manufacturing of the stands and the quotes he got for having them made was almost has much as what he was selling them for

Tree Sloth getting out of his rig and Beth Meck doing some DO cooking.

[gunner76]

And still some more .....

The insides of Jason and Sara Meck's palace. Mom Meck said it is a Mess of Mecks

Plus other set ups.