Appalachian Trail 'Flip-Flop' Thruhike 2021

[cmoulder]

Ah okay, that makes sense. That's one of the few (only?) where the trail passes near a car-accessible DEC campground.

HOWEVER, a couple of years ago HF member Jolly organized a group hang at that very campground and there didn't seem to be any issue at all with hammocks. I think there were at least a dozen hangers at the site they used.

And yes, Baxter is a whole other experience. It's fun to go at least once but it isn't my cuppa joe, although I understand the need for tight management. If you go just to hike the park and spend a few nights it can be quite expensive, and if you don't show up at your appointed campsite within a reasonable amount of time they'll send out a ranger or rangers to look for you.

[Ospreydog]

Great read and very informative. Thank you and congratulations on your thru hike.


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[Twistytee]

Two items that made a major difference were bugnet snakeskins from SLD. For my tarp it seemed obvious to add this, but it was also worth it for the hammock, which I could stuff in my pack with both quilts and my pillow in the snakeskin, and there was a useful strap pocket to remind me not to leave these behind (which I saw happen several times on the trail, a real disaster). On the AT you want to do everything the same way most times, to avoid leaving things behind, and the hammock tarp sleeve helped with that, in addition to making it easier to compress the bulky quilts in the bottom of my pack. It's great to be able to make and break camp really efficiently, particularly on windy, wet days, keeping sleeping gear off the wet ground.

chef4 - thanks for the notes and thoughts about your trip - very helpful. What length mesh skin/catchall did you use for the hammock and quilts? Are longer ones any more effective/easy for stringing up your kit with UQ still attached to the hammock?

[chef4]

I used a 10 foot winter width noseum catch all from sld, which fits thicker winter quilts better than the standard width. With pockets it weighs about 4 oz. I think you could make a shorter one work since you can tuck the thinner hammock ends in when packing up, a 9 foot would probably work for an 11 foot hammock. You don’t want to overstuff the sack while sliding it over the setup, or it could tear (if you go with silnylon this would be less likely). The most compression is obtained when you squeeze the sack into you pack, as the bugnet lets air out. Once I had it compressed, I twisted the top of my nylofume bag up, so no more air can get in, and the packed setup stays compressed (although of course not to the degree of a standard compression bag). I then had plenty of remaining pack space in my mid-volume pack.