Backyard Camping

Posted on September 2, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, since I knew I wouldn’t have to be anywhere on Labor Day, I thought it was the perfect excuse to put the hammock up in the back yard. I still hadn’t had the chance to try it out in the rain and hoped I’d get my chance.

I have to say that I had a horrible night until I finally got to sleep around 2am. One thing I didn’t have that would’ve been a great help is ear plugs. The frogs were something else! Not to mention my neighbor’s AC kicking in every time I was ready to fall asleep.

I also realized how crucial tarp placement is. I thought I’d done a good job. Unfortunately, I created a sauna. The tarp kept right up against the netting and I got almost no airflow. I was just hot and uncomfortable. I got out at one point to change it but the skeeters ate me alive. I rushed and didn’t do much better.

I did finally get to sleep and must’ve been out good. I didn’t wake up until 9. The wife wanted to go to the beach at 9:30 so we didn’t quite make that. I think a good pillow is a must. That’s now on my shopping list.

After the beach we came home, ate lunch, and it was time to nap. I know, it’s rough, but somebody has to do it. 😀 I did a much better job with the tarp before my nap. I separated it from the ridgeline and connected it to dedicated lines via Figure 9 biners.

*Ignore the rope on the tree. That’s from another project. 🙂

This worked well and I got a great deal more ventilation. However, I think I’m going to try running a separate ridgeline as a single piece between the trees instead of using two shorter lines.

As luck would have it I got the rain I was hoping for. I napped for a couple of hours and then it came down. It wasn’t real heavy and didn’t last too long, but I was pleased to see that the tarp worked great. I’m a little worried about the stock Hennessy cut as it doesn’t seem to provide quite enough coverage. I did get a little water on the side of the hammock towards my head but it wasn’t bad. Had the wind been harder I think that’d be another story.

I did have some cleanup to do after the rain. The tarp had a lot of pine sap on it so I had to remove that for storage. I hope the Goo Gone and mineral spirits don’t have an adverse affect on the material.

I’ve started using the Figure 9 devices everywhere. I’ve added them to the tie-outs for the hammock and the tarp. They really make it so much quicker and easier to get things taut.

Well, that’s it for this Labor Day.

It’s Aliiiiiive!

Posted on September 1, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, not quite, but I did finish my very first sewing project today. I decided to start simple and knocked out a ripstop stuffsack. I figured I’d start with a small one so I wouldn’t waste a lot of material in the event it was a failed exercise. I actually thought that was how it was going to turn out but thanks to some encouragement from the folks at Hammock Forums I kept going. Here’s how it went down.

1. Measure and mark.
It’s hard to tell but I used a fabric pencil to mark things up. Sadly, I learned that you can’t just follow the lines in the ripstop and expect things to come out square.

2. Marvel at your cutting job

3. Get stitchin’!

4. Stitch the sides

5. Stitch the bottom

6. Add a reinforcement patch and add a manual buttonhole.
This is where the drawstring will come through the fabric after creating a channel for it to run through.

7. Giggle with glee at your finished product.

Uncinched

Cinched

The Whole Shebang

I really wanted to use black paracord for the drawstring but all I had left was camo. Oh well.

Fay Kilt Me

Posted on August 30, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, I didn’t get much training in last week. TS Fay kept my pretty busy. I was the acting Emergency Coordinator for the county so I spent Wed-Fri managing the emergency communications between the EOC and the Red Cross shelters as well as staffing one myself.

Hopefully training will pick up again this weekend.

Beach Training

Posted on August 18, 2008 by Kudzu

After hiking the local bike trails a couple of times I had a painful realization. It donned on me that I wasn’t really training for the type of terrain I’d be hiking in Sept and Oct. The sections of the Florida Trail I’ll be doing have a good bit of sugar sand and they’re out in the open. Hiking regular dirt trails under the cover of trees isn’t really a good simulation to get ready.

So today I decided to change my training regimen. I hit the beach! What better place to find fine sugar sand with no cover/protection from the searing Florida heat? I waited for the heat to kick up a few degrees, drove to the beach, geared up, and hit the “trail”. You’d think people had never seen anyone with a full pack hiking down the beach. 😀

I used my Pacific Crest pack today instead of the GoLite. When I packed the GoLite I must’ve done it wrong because I just couldn’t get it to carry right. I needed to try out the PC anyway, though, so it worked out fine. I have to say that for an inexpensive pack I’m pretty impressed. It’s a big pack (4000 cu in) but I didn’t have it full. The number of pockets is a big improvement over the lack of flexibility you have with the Jam 2. The full hipbelt and improved padding on the back and shoulder straps made a big difference. It did increase the weight by about 6.5 lbs but I almost think the comfort was worth it. As long as I kept the weight on my hips I barely felt a thing. It was wonderful! My only real complaint is that the hipbelt doesn’t lock enough. I had to re-tighten it several times throughout the day. However, this wasn’t any major issue.

I packed right in at 30.5 lbs of gear. I hope to be in the same neighborhood if not a little lighter for the actual hikes. Since this was the first hike with the new pack and in a new setting I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d planned on a quick 2 mi hike but it was going so well I kept going. I ended up at 3.7 mi. I’d hoped to get to 4 mi but hit a drainage area on the beach that I didn’t want to walk around. As it turned out this wasn’t a big deal. It started to rain about the same time. Fortunately the PC has a built in rain cover so I just hiked on back to the truck without a care in the world…except for the lightning. 🙂 My total time was about 2:20.

I’m still going to try packing the Jam 2 to see if I can get it as comfortable as the PC but we’ll have to see. I may end up dealing with the extra weight. If I can shave those pounds, though, it should make for relatively simple hikes.

Sloooowing down

Posted on August 14, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, it’s been slow in the hiking arena. I have gotten a little spur of interest in a new area, though. After checking out sites like hammockforums.net and diytactical.com I’m really keen on learning how to make my own gear. I’m waiting for a book to be available at my local library. It’s “How To Make Your Own Lightweight Camping & Hiking Gear” by Vick Hines.

I’ve also done something I never thought I’d do. I bought a sewing machine. 🙂 I went looking at some industrial machines last Saturday. Since I’m not an experienced sewer (?) by any stretch of the imagination I certainly didn’t want to spend the $950 they were asking even though it was for a complete setup with machine, table, and electro-servo motor. I called another store with a 60s Singer for $150. I was looking for an older machine with metal gears to put up with the rigors of sewing heavy material like webbing, Cordura, etc. I ended up finding an 80s vintage Singer Merritt 2404.

I’ve done a bit of practicing on ripstop nylon and cotton webbing. The ripstop is a little hard. I really need to get some fabric glue to hold it in place. The stuff slides all over. The webbing caused it’s own issues, though. My intent was to make some longer tree huggers for the hammock. When I folded the ends over to make the seam the foot didn’t sit flush. I finally figured I could use another piece of webbing to get started and that seemed to work well. I got two 72″ huggers made. However, I’m going to do them over. Cotton isn’t really a good material since it’ll stretch when wet and eventually rot. I’m on the hunt now for good polyester webbing. It’ll hold up much better and isn’t as affected by UV either. At least it’s giving me practice.

Eventually I’d like to try my hand at making a DIY hammock. Or, at the very least, buying a Speer kit.

I’m still getting ready for my upcoming hikes. Yesterday I ordered some USGS topo maps of the areas. Hopefully they’ll come in soon. I also had a training revelation. Since most of the Sept hike will be through sugar sand, it doesn’t make much sense to be training on trails that are dirt. So Sat I’m headed to the beach. I’m sure people will be wondering why this guy is walking down the beach with a pack but who cares? I used Google Earth to lay out various distances so I can watch the street signs at the beach access points to know how much ground I’ve covered. I think that’s going to be my new training regimen.

Well, that about covers it for now. See ya on the trail!

Hike Planning

Posted on August 6, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, this has definitely been an active summer when it comes to hiking & camping. We were supposed to go to Juniper Springs this coming weekend but some other things have come up so we’ll have to do that later. I’m in the planning stages for a church outing to Gold Head. Really had a good time there and I think it’ll be a good time for the group.

The “big” hike is coming up the following week. We head to Gold Head 9/19 and then I’m off to a 3-day hike through the Ocala National Forest on the 26th. I’m really looking forward to the 3-day. It’ll be the first time on a multi-day outing in the backcountry since I got out of the Scouts. I’ve got a lot of new gear I’ve been trying out, and a lot of new weight/age that I have to carry. Should be, um, interesting. 🙂

Well, not to sit too idle I’m also planning another 3-day with a co-worker. This one will be towards the end of October and we’ll be hiking about 25 mi of the Osceola National Forest.

I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed in the maps I’ve bought for the Florida Trail. They’re good for a high-level view but they’re not always real clear and the data book is very important. However, I just spoke with their trail coordinator and come Sept 15 when the maps are updated I’m going to buy the map CD. It’s actually based on ArcInfo GIS mapping data with overlays and that sort of stuff. Should provide a much better view of the trails. And for $60 I bet it’ll be well worth it.

So that’s what’s going on. Hopefully I’ll have some more planning info up before too long.

2nd Hennessy Field Trial

Posted on August 2, 2008 by Kudzu

After long last I was finally able to get out in the woods again. I headed back out to Hanna Park by myself and spent about an hour jumping from trail to trail. I had a fun time and only had moderate problems with skeeters. I don’t think I got any bites, though. I’m digging the Skintastic spray I’m using now. Even smells good. 🙂 At the end of the hike I decided it was time to get a nap in.

Step 1: Get Hennessy out of the pack.

Step 2: Hang between two trees.

Step 3: Setup hammock and fly.

Step 4: Climb inside.

Step 5: Sleep.

I was really enjoying the HH today. I think I found a very comfortable sleeping position so I have no doubt she’ll work like a dream on the hike. I do want to order the 96″ tree straps, though. I have no idea why the 42″ straps are standard. I almost had a tough time today since the trees were just a hair too far apart for easy use of the 42″ straps. Guess I’ll get those on order this coming week.

Targhee Update

Posted on July 29, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, I’m on day two of illegally wearing my Targhee boots to the office. I’m sure the folks in HR would have a coronary to know I’m not strictly adhering to the corporate dress code. Oh well. I love living on the edge.

The boots feel a lot different than my North Face shoes. There’s a lot more support in the arch and I’m still trying to get used to that. They still feel pretty good though and I can’t believe how little I feel when I walk around. The footbed is textured. That’s taking a little getting used to. I feel it when I crinkly my toes. It’s not bad, just different.

It looks like I’ll be hiking later in the day this weekend. I want to hit the Hanna Park trails again but we have a welcome home party for a Navy friend coming back from deployment. I guess I’ll leave from the party and go to the park while the little one naps.

I did end up picking up a camera. We’ll have to see how it works out. I spent more than I wanted but it’s supposed to be shock and waterproof. I got the new Olympus 850 SW. As a photographer there’s very little control that you’re allowed. That’s a downside for me but a plus for the wife I guess. I only snapped a few pics last night and it was stuck on auto ISO and picked 800. Talk about grainy. I’ll post a review when I’ve had more time to play with it.

Field Trials

Posted on July 26, 2008 by Kudzu

I finally had the chance to take the latest gear acquisitions into the field. The wife was hosting a baby shower so the last thing I needed was for our son and I to get caught up in it. It was the perfect excuse to go hiking. Before anyone arrived we grabbed the pack and headed to Hanna Park.

What did we have to test today?
– Hennessy Hammock (Explorer Ultralite)
– GoLite Jam2 backpack
– Targhee II Mid boots

We hit the trail and after doing the hiking trail for a while jumped over to a bike trail. There’s 15 miles of bike trails and far fewer hiking trails. They’re also pretty nice with a lot of switchbacks, slight changes in elevation, etc. Unfortunately I didn’t realize there was some sort of race going on. There weren’t too many bikers that we saw but we did have to wait on the side of the trail several times.

The Targhees felt great on my feet. I finally got the right size! No more pressure marks on the tops of my feet when I take them off! I barely felt the ground under me and I was walking on rocks and tree roots. There were a few spots of soft dirt/sand and they felt solid there also. I’m very pleased with the purchase and can’t thank the folks at Gander Mountain (both the Jacksonville [Chris] and St. Augustine [Lisa] stores) for helping me out so much.

Now for the pack. I decided to go lite. 🙂 The pack weighed in at 16 lbs wet. I had my 3L Camelback in the sleeve and 2 Nalgene bottles on either side. I also carried my Jetboil, Hennessy, snacks, diaper stuff, etc. Unfortunately I didn’t get to hike as much as I’d hoped and my pack went from 16 lbs to close to 50 when my son wanted to be carried. That put the hurt on my back with him on the front and the pack on the back. Before that it seemed to be just fine. I might need to fine tune the pack but it seemed to ride well on my hips and I didn’t feel a lot of pressure on the shoulders.

I’m going to need to do some more trail time to really make a good assessment, though. I also need to get the larger Pacific Crest pack out there again. I’ve only walked around the neighborhood with it.

After the hike and a trip to the playground we went to setup the Hennessy. We found a nice spot back in the woods a short distance from the lake. There was a good bit of shade and a cool breeze blowing (one benefit to being close to the ocean). The trees were a good bit apart from each other (maybe 16-18′) so I had to put the tree straps overhead. I have to admit that I think the snakeskins are a brilliant idea. If you’re considering a Hennessy you’re a fool not to get them. If you buy now they’re free! I got the hammock up quickly and jumped in. I decided to leave the fly off for now as I just wanted to give it a whirl (at least better than I got the first night I put it up).

My son and I crawled in and it was great. Very comfortable with the two of us. I was honestly hoping that he’d fall asleep since it was nap time. He lasted about 20 min before he wanted to get out and gather firewood. Oh well. While he did that I put the fly up and got in a few times to fine tune the positioning. I think I still need to work on that a bit so I don’t get rain on my head.

So in closing, the overall impression of all three pieces is high. I think I made three smart purchases that’ll serve me well over the next few years. I have church and a birthday party mid-afternoon tomorrow but I’m hoping to get over to the neighborhood college to hit their hiking trail if only for a bit.

Sorry I don’t have any pics. That’s the next major item on the list. I really don’t like the idea of dragging my DSLR out there. Not only is it heavy, it’s also fragile. I’ve got to find a camera I can take out with me and not worry about something happening to it.

Two Goodies Today

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Kudzu

Well, there was a little snafu with the Hennessy. It was shipped insured which requires a signature. The wife wasn’t able to sign for it and I had to wait until this morning to pick it up. Fortunately the PO is on the way to work. When I got home my GoLite Jam2 pack was here also. w00t!

I have to say that I’m highly impressed with just how little the Jam2 weighs. The 1.5 lbs is a big difference from the 4.5 lbs of my other pack. With the Jetboil, hammock, water, and Hiker Pro I’m at 10.5 lbs. I need to throw some more stuff in but so far I don’t think that’s too bad for a wet weight.

The Hennessy took a little work. Unfortunately I had a meeting tonight and by the time I got started it was about 8 and the sun was going down so I had to rush. It took me a few tries to get the tree huggers at the right height. I still need to play with it some more. I think I was still too low. I was getting eaten alive by the skeeters so that didn’t help matters.

Well, it’s late and I’m tired so I’ll keep it short. I should have pics soon.

Tomorrow should be another great day. I’m hoping to finally get my Kenn Targhee II Mids in. It’s been crazy finding the right size. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that 11.5 works for me.