'Allo from Virginia

[robie]

Good tidings from Northern-ish Virginia!

So you know how when you start getting old, if you're not very careful, you end up also getting fat? Yeah. I do. I'm the sort of person who needs a "thing" in order to get motivated to makes some changes. So my thing is to get out of the house and do some "camping". I'm not entirely sure what I mean by that yet, but it needs to include walking around outside carrying some stuff. I guess that sounds like backpacking? Sure.

I was dreading the whole sleep-on-the-ground thing, until I stopped thinking silly and remembered that hammocks exist. I have __always__ liked lounging around in swinging/swaying/sketchy/bobbing things. Since I can't figure out how to sleep in a boat, I've decided to go for hammocks.

Anyway, this forum has been a pretty awesome place to root around for ideas and information. Thank you all for the great wisdom you've puked out into this place already and I look forward to chatting with you going forward.

-Robie.

[joe_guilbeau]

So, you want to join the swingers; well, you've come to the right place.

https://hammockforums.net/HF-calendar.htm

https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...lanning-Thread

[Phantom Grappler]

Way back when, county fairs sold popcorn and pistachios. Red pistachios in the shell. They were dyed red. Red would get all over my hands and mouth, even dyeing my tongue red.
We lived out in the county, and our phone was a landline. A party line served us and all our neighbors. A different sequence of numbers were dialed on rotary phone to call neighbor kids on our party line. Often I’d pick up phone to make a call, and two old women would be visiting each other on their phones. Sometimes they would be an hour before they decided to hang up, ending their conversation—freeing the phone for brief calls

Just thinking about those times, makes me feel young again. A bit of hiking and backpack camping can get us outdoors into the wild.

Start with low miles and a quick overnight or two nights. If at all possible, backpack with a friend or new friend—who has backpack camped recently.

[robie]

So, you want to join the swingers; well, you've come to the right place.

... Oh. I see what you did there

Thanks for the event links!

[robie]

Thanks Phantom! I enjoy the flashback. And the advice!

[idiotbox37]

I'm in NoVa as well. welcome. Plenty of places to hang your hammock in SNP and GW/Jefferson NF.

[robie]

I grew up camping on my neighbors' farms, and haven't camped much since I left home so I'm still trying to learn the rules in the various parks. My current understanding is you can "wild camp" pretty much anywhere as long as you are more than a few hundred feet from any formal camp ground. Is that approximately right? WRT stoves, is it correct to say either gas or alcohol are OK? I would probably avoid any of them on high fire days because I'm paranoid, but otherwise it's ok?

Sorry for the barrage of questions

[Phantom Grappler]

National and State Forests and Campgrounds have their own sets of rules. Look online for any specific locations you will use.
There are also requirements to use bear barrels for food storage in certain locations that have had problems with camper’s foods becoming bear foods—creating nuisance bears.