My hubby has been dead set to get out into the middle of nowhere and just stay there. Yeah, sorry babe. Aint happenin'. Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping on the ground, huddling up to a campfire, and foraging for dinner and firewood. But I have got to have a warm cozy little home to go to after a few days. So, when my brother-in-law said, lets go camping in the middle of the woods, it was go time. After much groaning, the hubby decided on a hammock instead of building a shelter out of sticks and leaves.
The shelter would have been awesome, however the weekend we all got off for the trip turned out to be the coldest weekend possible. I'm talking in the 20's people. But that didn't stop us! We continued to plan out our backpacks and how in the hell to carry them. Finally, the day came and we all grabbed our walking sticks, packs, water bottles, and just about everything but a kitchen sink and headed out! It was great going in. The packs were killing us, but adrenaline was surging through us. We sang, we laughed, and stomped our way to a suitable camp site.
Three of us in hammocks and the other in an army tent, we positioned ourselves in a circle around the campfire. In hindsight, we should have been a bit closer tot he fire, so we could put our tarps up behind us and absorb the heat, but alas, we can't move the trees wherever we wish. Also, sleeping right beside the creek like we did is not exactly ideal, but this was just a short adventure. Each of our hammocks were layered like crazy to keep warm. First, the traditional sleeping pad (the heaviest to carry besides the sleeping bag.) Then we each got a one of those car sunshades and put it face up on top of that. Those work great! The reflective side works just like an emergency blanket. On top of that went the sleeping bags. Above the hammocks we hung tarps teepee style and staked them to the ground. I tell you what, I stayed warm and cozy all night!
My man got to work digging up a "Dakota Firepit." The video on how he did this is on our blog in the 'Survival Tools' label. This was probably the neatest and also simple project we had. A word of advice
though: bring some sort of back up stove. Boiling water over a fire in 20 degree weather is extremely difficult. Also, we dug a hole for the fireplace and it may have been easier to cook our other food if we could have pushed some coals to the side. My meals consisted of ramen noodles (which got cold in 1 minute) and instant potatoes. Do NOT buy the loaded baked potato kind. I thought it would be awesome, but noooooo!Besides my lovely dinner, I loved the trip! I stayed warm in my hammock, got to hunt for firewood, and stare at the fire for hours before bed. Sadly for my husband though, he did not have the most fantastic time ever. Apparently, in the middle of the night his hammock fell to the ground and he ended up sleeping on top of cold rocks because it was impossible to fix when it is pitch dark and freezing. Plus the paracord had stretched a good bit. At least he was all layered up. If he didn't have 5 shirts, 2 pants, and several socks on, he may have turned into a popsicle.
Actually all of our hammocks stretched down a lot and we used 550 paracord so I'm not sure what we did wrong. Anyways, we learned a great deal from the trip. Plan it when its warmer, bring a back up stove, either bring a tent or build a shelter, and pack lighter. The hike back to the car was the worst. We were all freezing and hungry since we left in the morning and those heavy backpacks were not ideal! It is way worth the money to buy the lightweight fancy stuff. Anyways, that was our Camping Adventure and I can't wait to go again!
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