Failed Voyegeurs Trip

[sideshowraheem]

What a disaster this trip was. I thought going in it’d be a quick hike and a lazy camp but that wasnt the case. I didnt heed the words of my wife, or the park ranger, and thought I’d find a place to setup my hammock. That didnt end up being the case.

It took me a little bit to find the closest trailhead. You’ll want the Beaver Pond Overlook parking lot. The trailhead to the site is on the south side of the lot down from the Beaver Pond Overlook trail.

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Online reviews at Recreation(dot)gov made it seem like this was some wild unmaintained and totally byzantine trail but that wasnt my experience as well. There was one small 20 foot section in a cedar grove that was pretty bushy but aside from that I had no problems following the blazes on trees or the cairns.

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At one point along the trail I saw more grouse congregated together than I ever had before. Probably 20 of them in that spot!

True to its name there are a lot of blueberry bushes once you get up on the ridge. The campsite had pretty great views facing south as well.

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Looking north back towards the trail.

I struggled to find any good spots up there to hang. It looks like there are some decent trees, but at the actual campsite its mostly exposed rock, with lots of standing dead pines and scrub oaks. I managed to find one spot that was a super tight hang, and while OK, was far from ideal.

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To make matters worse, the weather this day was incredibly hot and humid for the area. It was in the mid 80s with humidity well into the 60% range. So I was really sucking down the water. Only to get to my campsite and realize that A) My smart water bottle leaked at the cap leaving me with only 1/2 a liter of water left. And B) there was no good place up here to get any water!

Looking at topo maps for the area showed a few areas with water, but they were either several miles of hiking to get to, or all dried up in late August.

So I decided to just hang out for a while before hiking back to the trailhead and calling it a day.

Random Notes

• I need to figure out something to replace those tall smartwater bottles. I dont want to deal with leaking caps again, and the one I had seemed a bit worse for wear after having been reused for a while.
• Maybe a top cover is better than a tarp in some instances? Like for super tight hangs?
• This and my next attempted hangs have made me a Beckett Hitch suspension fan. The trees were way to tight for whoopi slings even using a marlin spike hitch.
• I need to take into account the conditions and the time of the year, even summer, for water sources. A lot of swampy areas can dry up in late summer.

[FLTurtle]

Which cap, the screw on cap or the flip top sport caps? I've had a bunch of them Smartwater bottles over the years, and I've never had a leak. I've been saving the sport caps that come with the smaller bottles and using them on the larger 1L and 1.5L bottles. Sometimes on the way to a trail, I pick up a brand new bottle because I forget to fill my bottles before heading out. I've had a well used flip lid hinge break on the sport cap...I was glad I had thrown the original cap in my food bag.

Bummer that you had to bail, but better safe than sorry. At least if you try it again, you know what you're in for.

[sideshowraheem]

It was a screw on cap which surprised me even more. Mine was pretty dinged up from being crushed in the side of my pack so often over the years. I think I had just plain beat it up to much without paying it any attention.

I dont like drinking out of those collapsible bladder type water holders, though I do use them for water carries, so i'll have to figure something out. Those smartwater bottles were so tall and skinny they were easy to fit in a side pack pocket along with other gear. May end up just eating the weight penalty and go back to nalgenes I guess.

[Shug]

Where were you? Ash River Trail drove in? Namaken? Kabetegoma?
Time to haul a Tense Tree so you can do a one tree hang. Humidity is brutal!
Shug

[Crazytown3]

It's kind of funny that you posted this. Just last week I had a similar overnight trip last week with several issues, including a bad short hang. I had a similar thought about just using a top cover after I couldn't get my tarp to string up right. On my hike in, about mile 2, I came across a group riding horses on the trail. One of the horses had been spooked and bucked the rider off. The gentleman had come down on top of a pile of rocks, split his head open and banged his chest up. Blood everywhere.

I stopped to help get the bleeding mostly stopped and such, and helped him get back on the horse to get out and head to an ER. I continued on, but the hike didn't really get any better after that. In retrospect, I shoul dhave just hiked back out with the horse group and called it.

[sideshowraheem]

Where were you? Ash River Trail drove in? Namaken? Kabetegoma?
Time to haul a Tense Tree so you can do a one tree hang. Humidity is brutal!
Shug

Took the Kab-Ash trail. I believe this site and that trail has the only two backpacking sites in the whole park. Never even thought of a tensa! That would've helped for sure.

It's kind of funny that you posted this. Just last week I had a similar overnight trip last week with several issues, including a bad short hang. I had a similar thought about just using a top cover after I couldn't get my tarp to string up right. On my hike in, about mile 2, I came across a group riding horses on the trail. One of the horses had been spooked and bucked the rider off. The gentleman had come down on top of a pile of rocks, split his head open and banged his chest up. Blood everywhere.

WHOA! My trip was certainly not that eventful.

I am glad I made the call to hike out and head home. Its hard to describe but I just wasnt "feeling" that site. Between the subpar hang, my water situation, and just a general sense of not really being committed I guess for lack of a better word, I just felt like walking back and heading home for the night.

I was glad I got to spend a bit of the day hiking and hanging at least.

[PopcornFool]

Random Notes

• I need to figure out something to replace those tall smartwater bottles. I dont want to deal with leaking caps again, and the one I had seemed a bit worse for wear after having been reused for a while.
• Maybe a top cover is better than a tarp in some instances? Like for super tight hangs?
• This and my next attempted hangs have made me a Beckett Hitch suspension fan. The trees were way to tight for whoopi slings even using a marlin spike hitch.
• I need to take into account the conditions and the time of the year, even summer, for water sources. A lot of swampy areas can dry up in late summer.

I have been known to be lazy and simply hang my CLs directly onto the MSH knot when the space is too tight for whoopies. But like you, I've generally transitioned to knots. Mostly I use the J-bend. I prefer it over the Beckett, but it serves the same purpose. I'll still take whoopies (or dogbones) but I don't usually use them unless the trees are farther apart than my straps alone can reach.

Once, when it was really tight and I had no other options, I temporarily shortened my GE hammock by untying the CL larks head (I use channels instead of whipping) to somewhat loosen the bunching at the end of the hammock. Then I folded (rolling didn't work well) the end of the hammock over itself several times keeping the CL sticking out both sides like the handles on a rolling pin. I then larks headed the CL back over the whole folded end and cinch down really tight. I easily shortened my hammock about a foot that way and could have shortened more if I had larger CLs (the folded wad got too big for my CL). I whipped a few wraps of Zing-it over the fold to give me some peace of mind, but I don't think I needed too. The CL seemed to hold just fine.


I've also had tarp challenges in tight spaces (I prefer a 12' hammock and a 12' foot tarp). When left with no alternatives, I've found some success doing one of the following.
1) If it's just a few inches too tight, I've attached my tarp much higher than normal on the tree, allowed excess slack so that the tarp has a bit of a dip or saddle (like your hammock) and then staked down. Using this approach, the tarp takes up less horizontal distance than when pulled tight with a straight ridgeline. It's sometimes tricky to stake it just right to prevent pockets that can collect water, but it's doable. A tilted porch mode can help.
2) If it's a foot or more too tight and there truly are no other options, I've used the old rock-button technique to create temporary ridgeline connection point(s) closer to the tarp center. If you fold the excess tarp end material over on itself before you create the rock-button connection point, it'll add strength to the connection point and eliminate (partially) any excess material from flapping around. Staking out is a little tricky for this approach too, but it works.

[Crazytown3]

Took the Kab-Ash trail. I believe this site and that trail has the only two backpacking sites in the whole park. Never even thought of a tensa! That would've helped for sure.



WHOA! My trip was certainly not that eventful.

I am glad I made the call to hike out and head home. Its hard to describe but I just wasnt "feeling" that site. Between the subpar hang, my water situation, and just a general sense of not really being committed I guess for lack of a better word, I just felt like walking back and heading home for the night.

I was glad I got to spend a bit of the day hiking and hanging at least.

I commend you for listening to your gut on this one. I felt the same way; at least I got a good hike in.

[alt.thomas]

I’m always paranoid about water after running out and making a very miserable and cramp filled retreat. I have taken many precautions since then.

Was the plan to dry camp with 1l of water?