Hello, everyone and thanks for the add!
I'm a long time day hiker that enjoys relaxing views but loves crushing miles. I'm also a commuter/ city cyclist that doesn't mind longer rides out to a "great spot". Previously, my camping experience has been limited to a fair amount of car camping or group camping with my only back country camping experience being as part of a trail building and maintenance team in the Allegheny National Forest about 10 years ago. On a vacation to the Asheville NC area in 2019 I spent a day on the AT and kept passing great campsites. This really got me thinking about how the worst part of a great day in the woods was actually leaving the woods, getting in a car, and going home. I decided that my goal for 2020 was to spend one night alone in the woods so that I could feel what it was like to hike all day, not leave the woods, and pick up hiking right where I left off.
Fortunately, nothing weird at all happened in 2020 that would have caused a disruption to that plan...
Well, actually, both my parents passed away (non-Covid related), my Type 1 Diabetic wife and I both work "essential" jobs in the non-profit sector so we had to be very cautious and limit travel and large groups, and some of the expendable income that we had needed to go into home and car repairs. This could have all been seen as a delay to my goal but it actually presented me with the opportunity to see what sort of backpacking shelter I would gravitate towards when I made the mental health decision to use my quarantined Friday nights to create my own therapy. I started calling them "Feral Fridays" when I would have a few beers around a fire in the backyard (1/3 acre - mostly wooded), stare at the stars, and just sleep outside. Even though I was only 200 feet from my back door and in the middle of an old suburban plan just outside of the city limits this was the most free I was able to feel week in and week out.
I started out in the old two person (one and a half person?) tent I had from doing trail work on the North Country Trail in Allegheny National Forest. It was fine but I would have back and neck problems no matter how I positioned the sleeping pad and pillow and I always felt a little cramped. Switching to our REI 3 person car camping tent wouldn't solve the back and neck issue but it did give me room to stretch out. I remembered that we had a cheap hammock from Aldi that we had taken car camping with us and on some day hikes so that we could enjoy a view while relaxing. I strung it up and gave it a shot for a Feral Friday without knowing about Cold Butt Syndrome or the 30 degree rule. The first few nights were rough but got incrementally better as I figured out how to make it work with the gear I already had. Mind you, I had no idea that a hammock camping community existed let alone message boards and YouTube channels that would become crucial to me taking the next steps towards my goal.
In October of 2020 I realized that I needed to just do it. I discovered Sintax77 and Shug's channels as well as Dixie, Darwin, Dan Becker, Tim Watson, Rob Pelton, the Schill Brothers, and Pittsburgh's own Frozen. Oh, and Erik Normark. Not all of them are hammock campers but they helped me understand the gear I would need and how to use it. They helped me build confidence and convinced my wife that I wasn't as crazy as she thought I was. I creeped this message board and tried to glean as much information as I could. I ordered the Avalanche Outdoor Supply knock off version of ENO's Ember UQ, ordered Snugpak's ridiculously heavy top quilt, found River Country Products jungle hammock with a built in bug net and small rain fly, and went to Dunham's to get a bag that would fit it all plus the cook kit and other odds and ends I would need. My "starter kit" only cost about $300 and I spent Friday nights, and some Saturday nights dialing it all in from the comfort of my back yard.
In early November, on what would become a beautiful blue sky day with temps in the low 60's, my wife dropped me off at the North Country National Scenic Trail trailhead at McConnells Mill State Park as the sun came up and planned to pick me up the next day at the eastern end of Moraine State Park, 36 miles away. This was it!
The hiking was great. These are the two state parks that I "grew up in" so there would be no surprises or any unfamiliar trails save the 2 mile road walk that is part of the NCT connecting the two parks. For those unfamiliar with the area but know Pennsylvania's reputation for being full of rocks and roots, this hike holds up. The NCT snakes through a river gorge full of glacial erratic deposits with several black diamond ascents and descents before calming down along the banks of Lake Arthur and then back into the Western Appalachian ridges and close to a protected prairie. Of course I'm going to be biased when I say that its beautiful, but in that harsh and rugged way, it really is. I decided to forgo the NCT shelters and campsites to go a little deeper into the woods to a stealth site I had come across a couple of years back so that I could get a more challenging experience but also find absolute solitude. I hung my hammock and tarp, fired up my esbit stove for a pasta side and some hot chocolate and Jameson, before hanging a bear bag and settling into the hammock. Other than nature's call and the pack of coyotes howling from the next ridge over, I had one of the best night's sleep in a long time. The temps dropped to the mid 40's overnight but I was cozy and warm with the cheap quilts (I've since taken them down to the low 20's with the right sleep clothes, a Refectix butt pad, down booties, and a Jacks R Better fleece quilt liner). I pounded a quick oatmeal breakfast with instant coffee (yuck!) and got back on the trail. Boy, did that feel good being able to pick up my hike right where I left off. When my wife picked me up should could tell that the backpacking bug had bit me and that I was going to be hooked. It did and I was! It was fun and having fun is fun.
I've done one other over-nighter outside of my back yard since then by stealth camping in the snow at an old country club that is being turned into a nature reserve and is a 3 mile walk from my house. I've now convinced one of my best friends to get some gear and join me once spring hits. We already have a bikepacking trip planned as well as two backpacking trips in the works. I've set my sights on a Dutchware Chameleon hammock and am looking at the Hang Tight Heatseeker quilt set as a way to get into down insulation without breaking the bank. I hope to be able to ask some questions about gear and the little nuanced things that make the experience so that I've got the confidence to venture farther from home for a multi day trip. I'd love to do some small through hikes like the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail or the Finger Lakes Trail but don't see myself going after a triple crown any time soon. I'm aiming to be the best weekend warrior I can be and to make a few new friends in the process. I still love crushing miles but I'm also very into the act of camping and the camp site atmosphere. Plus, even though it is a very expensive hobby (in perspective I played ice hockey for 30 years) the gear is cool as heck. Thanks for reading if you've made it this far. If anyone is in the Pittsburgh area let me know. I'd like to connect at some point. Thanks again for the add... this is my first message board experience since the mid 2000's. Glad to be a newbie in the community. Take care, everyone!
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