Hammock Forums- Fall Northern Hang 2011 October 14-16

The idea- Go hike with a bunch of people I have never met and only corresponded with briefly on a forum dedicated to hammock hanging... hmmm... sounds like fun, lets go do it!. For those of you that know me, the thought of actually seeing anyone on the trail let alone going with a group is not something I actually look forward to or plan... but I had a great time! I learned a lot about hammock camping and just had a real relaxing time with a very diverse group of guys and one fantastic dog.

We were going to hike and hang on a section of the superior hiking trail (SHT) from County Rd 1 to Caribou River Wayside, about 9 miles. It had been decided to meet at the parking lot on County Rd 1 at noon on Friday. A handful of the forum members had met up on Thursday and spent the night out already.

Everyone making last minute preparations, waiting for everyone to arrive and having lunch before we head out.

8.6 miles to Caribou Wayside

All steams and creeks on the SHT have nice bridges

A sensitive area around Alfred's Pond

Alfred's pond and quite the windy day

3.5 miles to go

Lake Superior from a ridge

The only covered bridge on the SHT across Crystal Creek

 

My set up the first night

The best use of available technology- no snake skins for the tarp, I use pantyhose

Caribou River

Caribou river bridge

Fronkey gets the fire going. (hammock people don't have names they have handles or monikers)

using the bushbuddy to make my dinner using real fire to boil my water

nice evening fire

The evening showed a lot of color as the sun went down

enjoying the campfire till late -went to bed around 8 pm.. ;-)

Just after full moon in the morning sunshine

About 38 degrees on Saturday morning, chilly for breakfast time- Beep all bundled up

Stairguy and his son Steve-

Morning Sunshine

The fall colors had all fallen to the trail, because of the wind and rain, but it was beautiful on the ground

Nice pine forest on a section of the trail

Giant root ball that had come out of the ground right beside the trail

night two- Fronkey has become the official fire starter. We turned around and hiked back the way we had come from Caribou Wayside, only this time stopping just short at Dyer's Creek Campsite

Booya and his dog Sparky- Sparky sleeps in the hammock and carries his own pack on the trail, but he finds it much more comfortable to sleep inside Booya jacket when it is cold

Evening light on Saturday night

All snuggled in at 7 pm on Saturday night- Evidently I missed the venison brats, but I was so tired and I still had my hand in the splint for my finger- but the highlight of tonight's evening was the Raspberry Pie from the Rustic Inn. (also a Dutch Apple) for everyone to share

Clear night off and on, got down to 31 degrees.

Sunday morning started off with sunshine, but clouded over quickly with the threat of snow!

It is very nice to be out on the trail

Everyone left early from camp except for me, Warm Soda and BlueJean. We walked out together and then headed back to Duluth, but first stopped off at Emily's for some lunch

Thank you to everyone at Hammock Forums for making this a great outing. I will be looking forward to more of these events in the future-

Recommended:
Emily's in Knife River, MN (just north of Two Harbors on old hwy 61)
Hawk's Vittles- Southwest Lasagna
Rustic Inn- Pies- Raspberry Pie, Dutch Apple Pie
HammockForums.net

Not Recommended:
Hawk's Vittles- Sausage, Egg and Hashbrown casserole  ;-(

Trail Stat's
About 20 miles hiked
low temperature 31 degrees
max wind speed about 25 mph.