First hiking trip since I was a teenager when I did a small section of the AT - I'm now 54.
This obsession all started when I bought my son an ENO in the spring because all his buddies on the soccer team had one. This led to another ENO for my daughter and then I found this forum! This prompted me to make 5 or 6 tablecloth hammocks for rest of family, a bugnet from curtains, soda can stove, etc. I found videos by Shug and Sintax77 and decided I needed to give it a try.
Some may say I'm frugal, however, I like to think of myself as a cheapskate! So, I thought I would try this first trip on the cheap to see if I wanted to dive in further. Here is a summary of my loadout:
Backpack - Outdoor Products, Arrowhead 45 from Wally world - $29
Hammock - used one of the ENOs but wished I took one of my homemade hammocks. I'll list both prices below.
--ENO - $70
--Tablecloth Hammock - $12
Suspension - Webbing from Dutch, Whoopie Slings (homemade) ~ $15
-- Carabiners - Used as toggles in Marlin Spike Hitch - $12 (2@ $6)
Tarp - Thanks to this forum, I bought a Yukon Outfitters Rainfly for $20. I had planned to use a wally world tarp before this!
*Thinking about making my own tarp
Sleeping Bag - bought a $79 wally world down mummy bag - Coccoon 250.
*I already had a pad and could not dive into an underquilt and topquilt yet. Thought was to eventually convert this bag to a TQ.
Pad - already had a thermarest inflatable 3/4. Otherwise I would have got a $10 pad at wally world.
Bugnet (really didn't need it) - homemade from sheer curtains. $10
Water filter - Sawyer mini - $25 (You can probably find for $20)
Dry Sacks (probably didn't need, gallon zip-loc bags and trash bag would do) - Outdoor Products 3 for $10 - wally world (perhaps this should be called wally world camping trip!)
Coleman cook pot - $15 (ditch the plastic coffee mugs inside)
Miscellaneous items - trash bag liners, zip-loc freezer bags, stakes, alcohol (Heet), lighters, spork, etc...
As you can see, even trying to stay cheap, you can spend quite a bit albeit these are up-front costs; you won't have to buy these every time.
Trip Summary:
Friday
Virgin Falls Natural Area (http://www.state.tn.us/environment/n...-areas/virgin/) is about 2 hours from my house. I had to drop my son off for a soccer trip at 2:30 Friday afternoon and then headed out. I didn't get to VF until after 5:00pm. My original plan was to get to Martha's Pretty Point overlook campsite for the first night. As I headed into the woods, it was overcast and already getting a little dark! The first campsite at Cable-Creek was full so I pressed on to the overlook loop. Missed a blue blaze somewhere and followed a side trail up a steep ridge. Looked around for blazes and realized I was off course. Saw where others had camped before and setup camp nearby. I was surprised how easy everything went up - Found 2 good trees, no widow-makers, tarp up, hammock up, bug net on, plastic on ground underneath, hung backpack on nearby tree with a dogbone I had made with leftover amsteel, made a fire ring, got out the cook pot, started the stove, boiled some water, ate some Mountain House terriyaki chicken and rice. Note that I was doing this with my headlamp on (didn't mention above as I already had this from running a Ragnar race) and it didn't flow quite as easily as I typed it. There were several moments where I had everything laid out and was wondering - what do I do now? For example, I was setting up a bear bag before I had even cooked and ate!
Got the pad and the sleeping bag in the hammock and got in around 9:00pm. I have slept in the backyard in this setup before so I knew what to do. It got down to under 60 and I was mostly hot! Most of the time the sleeping bag was just partially over me. Slept fine, woke up twice to pee (once is my norm), woke up around 6:30. It rained lightly during the night, tarp did fine.
Saturday
Boiled some water for coffee and had a honey bun. Packed up and headed down the trail towards the falls. Stopped at Laurel Falls and had a snack and filtered some water. Note that I just carried 2 cheap plastic water bottles for my clean water. Arnold Palmer half-and-half powder pack - good!
Hiked on down to Sheep Cave and then to Virgin Falls - very pretty falls.
2014-09-13 12.28.17.jpg
Hiked up to the top of the falls and got some water to filter. Boiled some water for Ramen noodles. Also had a spam single divided in half on 2 tortillas. Took my time and enjoyed the falls and then headed out. The plan was to camp the second night back at Laurel Falls. The campsite is right at the base of the falls. It was a little overgrown and in a high traffic area. I had to leave early to get back home the next morning so I hiked back up to Cable-Crossing campsite. No one was there and I setup camp. Some other hikers showed up later and setup - there was plenty of room. I tried to get a fire going in the fire pit but most of the big logs were wet. It was still early and we just sat around and cooked on our stoves. I had Mountain Hose Chicken and Rice and a Snickers.
It got down to at least 50 maybe lower. I woke up a couple of times with cold spots where I had slipped off the pad. Got up to pee and put on some long pants. Slept fine. Woke up at 6:00 and quickly packed up. I wish I could have lounged around but I was on a tight schedule to get back home.
I had a 2 mile hike out to the car and I was on my way back home. Stopped at Hardees in Sparta and had a Chicken Biscuit - yum!
Trip was overall success for me. Here are a few lessons learned:
Backpack did fine - definitely the right size (45L) but I would like that Osprey Exos 48 I tried on at REI.
Hammock - I think I'll use my homemade tablecloth hammock next time. ENO flaps over in my face when I'm at an angle. Eventually I'd like a dreamhammock.
Tarp did fine - Not sure it would do too well in a heavy downpour. Looking to make my own with fabric from ripstopbytheroll.
Definitely want to look at buying an underquilt - will probably just use sleeping bag as topquilt, maybe convert it to a topquilt.
SHOES! OMG, I messed up here. I have some trail running shoes but they hurt my feet - I think the drop is too much and toebox too narrow. I run in minimal shoes for this reason. So, I thought I'd just use my minimal running shoes. I managed but I will definitely get some new trail shoes with some tread!
I packed too many clothes.
Planning - For this trip I should have setup camp at the top, carried minimal stuff down to the falls and back up - no need to take full pack down and back. If I was going to camp down at the falls, then yes. Also, next time make sure I get there earlier!
Thanks for reading. Comments welcome.
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