I've always used a tent when overnight hiking the past couple of years because sleeping on the ground seemed to alleviate my back problems (the harder the ground, the better). Of course I sleep better in the hammock but I've only done a night or two here and there and I wasn't sure how my back would behave after several days of travel and doing the hammock several nights in a row. I finally decided to give it a try on the MST trails near the house ("Section 10") so I'd be close to civilization should the back decide to "go out" on me.

Well, I planned my trip and had it so the wife would join me on the couple of days where I would end the day at a state park campground (water, electricity, fire pits, picnic tables, BATH HOUSE). I think this insulted her and she wanted to know why I hadn't planned on her doing the whole thing and why I wanted to be "alone". I explained that four of the nights were going to be primitive camping and I wasn't sure she wanted to do that but that didn't deter her at all. She was adamant about doing the whole thing with me.

So......a couple of trips to REI for a pack, shoes, etc, a couple of items off of Craigslist (an expensive hammock with a bugnet and a quality underquilt), a test drive of all the new gear at the Fat Butt Hangout in March (can't thank that group of hangers enough for all their help, advice, and just plain general friendliness), some purchases of some more gear that she tried out and really liked at the Fat Butt Hangout (including another hammock that was less expensive than the first but still not "cheap", a bugnet setup that wasn't attached to the hammock, and a great top quilt), then I find out that RipstopByTheRoll is literally less than 5 miles from the house and after hearing/seeing everyones DIY stuff and talking about sewing at the hangout decided it was time for me to learn so I made my first hammock for less than $25 (....and guess which hammock she ended up liking the best and using for the trip....) and we were off like a herd of turtles....

May 4 - 10
The weather could not have been any better. Clear skies, low humidity, and cool temps. The only two times it rained was once on the trail for 5 minutes and once at night for about 10 minutes.

We went Eastbound from Hillsborough, NC, through Durham, and ended in Wake County at the Falls Lake Dam for a total of about 78 miles. There are three primitive "MST" campgrounds that are provided for FREE and are maintained by the great folks of Friends of the Mountains to Sea Trails. The Ward Family Campground is on private property and has a REALLY large shelter (50'x30'?), a fire pit with benches, a grill, a picnic table under the shelter, another picnic table outside next to the grill, and seven (?) campsites back in the woods away from all the other stuff. There is no water provided and access to the river for filtering is not really a viable option either so be sure you bring your water with you. The other two campgrounds ("Redwood" and "Possum Track") are both in the woods near the lake. Both campgrounds have two picnic tables each (all in good condition) and several "tent pads" that are just cleared areas. Not a lot of spring cleaning at these campsites has happened yet so we really had to pick and choose where we wanted to setup based on where the poison ivy and poison oak wasn't.

Our son was our "support team" and dropped of supplies and resupplies at the two state campgrounds (Rolling View and Shinleaf). He also dropped off a gallon of water at one of the trailheads for us.

Things that went really well:
  • Sleeping in the hammocks - My back felt great (tired but great) the entire time and the wife's newest setup worked great for her.


  • Cooking in this stupid little pan I bought at Walmart for $3 - It's lightweight, non-stick, fits perfectly on my stove, and I can remove the handle for easy packing. Cooking eggs and summer sausage in that stupid little thing in the mornings was awesome.


  • Making coffee with this $10 filter combined with a paper filter (for stronger coffee - drains slower)


  • The wife got really proficient at setting up and taking down her own gear. This was impressive to me because her setup required a lot more guy lines and tie outs due to the bugnet. By the fourth day, she didn't need any help at all.


  • My Costco "Gemini" UQ. One, I NEVER got even the slightest bit chilly underneath (and I think the lowest it got was 51 degrees). Two, I came up with a process and a method for securing all those wonky clews so that it was easy to pack up and deploy without encountering any type of tangles.


  • Having our son drop off supplies at the state campgrounds



Things that didn't quite go so well:
  • Redwood Road. The road was closed last fall due to a sinkhole and the satellite view on Google Maps still show that sinkhole and it looks like you could just walk around it on the sides to avoid the 2 mile detour stated in the trail guide. In reality that section of road is now GONE so you have no choice but to add the 2 mile detour to your hike. The detour itself is pretty sketchy. A large portion of it consist of going through some very lowland terrain to get to Panther Creek and then there is nothing setup to cross Panther Creek. There's even a warning at the start of the detour that Panther Creek may be difficult to cross if there has been any rain. I imagine that after a day of rain, you would be better off just swimming across the missing section of road than to take the detour (you'd be just as wet without all the mud)



  • The wife sleeping in the woods. Between the coyotes howling at each other, the pitter patter of little feet on the leaves around the campsites, and the noises she couldn't figure out what they were (once it turned out to be her eyelashes rubbing on her topquilt as she had covered her head in fear), the wife did NOT like sleeping out in the woods. The first night we setup "near" each other and every night after that we setup a little closer and a little closer while trying to figure out how to use the tarps in case it started sprinkling. By the final night I had to find two trees close enough that I just used a single tarp over both of us. The state campgrounds weren't a problem but those four nights "out in the sticks"?....



And just for the curious, here's the trail map:
https://caltopo.com/m/7849


Overall, it turned out to be a better trip than I had even hoped for. We completed the entire section (she started dealing with blisters on day four), my back behaved, the weather couldn't have been better, the bugs were at a minimum and me and the wife got to spend seven days of uninterrupted time together as just the two of us.