As usual, its always a sad day to be packing up to leave a great hang. First time a group hang has been held here in many years and from the feedback I got from talking to folks who attended, we will be coming back.
Left home at 8 AM on Thursday and got the camp site at 12 noon. Starting unloading the van and trailer to the site ( we had group sites 3 and 4 ). About 2 PM other folks started to show up. Lots of trees to choose from and a large area to set up the cooking stations ect. Of course Sam the Puppy had to greet every one and let them know he was available to chase sticks and or get his ears scratched.
Thursday night we had hamburgers ( with cheese if you wanted ) and hot dogs.
Even had a first time hammock hanger who also not only made it thru the night without any CBS, she also stayed dry during the rain we had come thru and was ready to spend more time in the hammock.
The rain we did get Friday AM was not a downpour but enough to test your tarp and then make fixing breakfast a challenge. The rain lasted until about noon then stopped.
As usual we had lots of great food and I gained an extra 5 lbs that I did not need to gain ( hence the name Fat Butt Hang ).
Barry from Sierra Madre Hammocks was with us all weekend and set up a couple of different hammock set ups for folks to check out and had one of their new Puffle prototype tarps for us to play with and provided feed back on what we liked and did not like and features we thought it needed. He even got to show off his gear to a lady who showed up wanted to learn about hammocks and we heard a squeal of joy after she got into the hammock, we knew she had drunk the kool aid and had become a convert.
We talked to Hot Lips and Kingsford and they told us of their plans to start traveling around the county and hopefully attend some hangs along the way. They brought their dogs Blossom and new addition Joey. Joey who is smaller than Sams head put Sam in his place. Poor Sam was going....what did I do ?... At other times Joey looked like he was Sam's mini me.
Of course we had a great cave man tv going with the only problem was the smoke seemed to select certain folks to follow as we moved around the fire to try and escape it. Of course we will not mention Phantom Grappler almost put out the fire when he spilled most of the water he was boiling for coffee on the fire.
The lows got down into the mid 30's which made for some great temps for sleeping. The first night Sam slept under The Terminator's tarp and she said he was in and out of his crate all night long so I got him the next two nights. Normally I do not keep Sam on a lead at night but since the group next to us had a dog we decided to do so. He let me know he was not happy by chewing thru a tarp tie out line and while I was fixing it, he started to chew thru it again. Then once I got in my hammock he started going under my hammock and knocking my UQ to the side which resulted in CBS several times during the night.
Several folks went for hikes on some of the many hiking trails in the park. A brave few also joined the full moon night hike.
The camp ground hosts stopped by to check on us several times. They misread the "Hammock Hang" sign I placed along the road leading to our hang as saying "Hammock Hunters" and wanted to know what we were hunting. They then spread the word around the family camp ground that we would welcome anyone who wanted to learn about hammock camping. They also liked Sam so much that the wife gave us a us a free bundle of fire wood and said it was for Sam.
Lots more stories but I will let others tell them.
I will post pictures as I have time to download them from my phone.
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The pain of only being able to stay one night (Thursday) was offset by the joy of seeing old friends and making new ones. Animal, Chknbone, Veronica, Barry, and JollyGreen, it was wonderful to meet y'all and I look forward to seeing y'all at another hang soon! PappyAmos, Gunner, Terminator, AA2FD, Slugger, Starfish Comet, and anyone else who I am missing, it was so good to see y'all again! Regarding the hang, the food was wonderful, Friday's rain was a nice first wet-test for my tarp, and the temperatures were perfectly mild. While I wish I could have stayed longer and seen everyone, I had a wonderful time and I look forward to the next hang!
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