Monday, February 29, 2016

First experience of hanging in my hammock (PCT d - 79)

After the strong and chilly wind didn't let up at all on Saturday, I finally managed to get out for a 2.4 mile walk on Sunday morning (thanks, Traci!) It was just in my own little neighborhood but it was up and down some steepish hills, including the once-intimidating Buttercup Hill (200 feet tall) at the end of my street. It was hard going, so I know that I'll have to spend several of the next 79 days working on climbing steep hills. I had my backpack on, with about half the stuff that I'll be taking with me to Oregon in May. It weighed nearly 14 pounds.

First time putting up the hammock, lessons learned
On a different tack, I finally got to try out my hammock at the Vigilante campground near York today. It took a couple of goes to get the angle of the dangle correct. The big takeaway from the whole experience was that I need to practice tying proper knots. Evidently, all those YouTube videos I watched didn't help enough. I need to tie so many of them myself, using real rope or cord, that it becomes second nature.

The whole hammock setup was much smaller than I had imagined but, once I'd made some adjustments, it was pretty comfortable. Getting in to it was amusing. Getting out again was like something from a slapstick movie.

Now (on Wednesday) to order the last major piece of gear, my down quilt, and I'll be all set.

No comments: