Hammock Forums- Kansas Hang January 2012

Well I needed to get ready for the Frozen Butt hang in Minnesota later in January, but the weather has been so nice so far this winter that I haven't been able to get much deep cold practice. the Kansas hang put together by Owl seemed to be a good warm up!  and Vicky wanted to go as well. This was going to be fun, but I had to assemble a good cold weather system for her.

 The area was the Woodbridge Primitive area, just outside of Lawrence KS, on Clinton Lake. This was definitely just a hang as the cars were parked only a few hundred yards from the campsite, but Vicky still carried all of her gear in.

A nice person named Don set up this Tepee in the park and invited others to use it when he wasn't present.

Our set up for the first night consisted of making the tarps one giant room underneath. I didn't want Vicky to get claustrophobic the first night under a closed in tarp

Vicky's set up Grand Trunk ultralight hammock, 0 degree Hammock Gear UQ and 20 degree T.Q. Vicky is under the Wilderness Logic Winter Tarp

 I had the Wilderness Logic Snipe Hammock and the 3/4 20 degree Hammock Gear underquilt and the 0 degree Hammock Gear TQ. I am under the Hammock Gear Cuben Tarp

 Kip came to meet us. Kip is the park dog ( who lives in a house next to the park) but evidently he runs the park!

 More Hammock Forum members arrive and we build a fire. Special thanks to Walking Bear for bringing all the firewood

 Owl, who organized the event

Sunset on the first night

 A view of the sunset from the entrance to the park. This is Kansas

 Morning view from inside the hammock and under the tarps

Vicky ( who now earned the right to have a trail name- Otter) waking up. it got down to 22 degrees the first night

 We both slept warm

Walking Bear wins the award for best eating. Bringing all real food and a nifty one egg skillet, he made venison sausage mcmuffins for breakfast and brats for dinner.

 There is a 4.5 mile loop around the park and next to Clinton Lake that we all took the next day for some exercise.

 The day started out sunny but the wind picked up, especially around the lake, and it turned cold!

Lot of different area on the walk, woods, open grasslands and the lake

Passing the 4 mile mark and finishing back at the campsite

Evening fire had some surprises- Walking Bear threw some Osage Orange wood on the fire and the sparks had everyone wearing down clothing scattering like cockroaches to avoid burn holes- Walking Bear found it very amusing wearing his carharts!

 Evening sunset the second night

 great sitting around the fire in the evening

 Waking up the second day to 28 degrees and both tarps are closed off to the wind. the coyotes and the owls were awesome in the night

The Group: Left to Right-
JBizzel, Towellie, Duderino,WebsterJ , Owl, Weasel, Walking Bear, Otter, Skygzr
missing from the night before- Fuhgawee, Psyop, 1066vik that had to leave early.

Thank you to Owl and Weasel for putting together a great couple of nights and thanks to everyone that attended.

Wildlife:
Owl, Coyote, Bald Eagle, Canada Geese, Kip the park dog.

Special thanks to Otter for being such a good sport!

Hammock Forums- 2nd Annual " Frozen Butt" Hang January 19-21, 2012

The second annual Frozen Butt hang at YMCA Camp Miller in Lake Sturgeon Minnesota, almost wasn't very frozen. The temperatures in Minnesota have been usually warm with almost no snow so far this winter. Temperatures where predicted just 2 weeks before the hang to be in the 30's, but when the time for the event arrived it didn't disappoint. Thursday night -19.8 and Friday night -14.... This was by far the coldest I have ever slept out.

Arriving and setting up camp- we had a huge parachute as a tarp to cover and collect the heat from the wood fire that burned most of each day

Above the 2 trees I selected to hang my hammock and tarp and then below it all set up for the first night

This hang brought out the legends of Hammock Forums and hammock camping

Beep (sitting ) and Fronkey

 TZ Brown

and of course Shug

and there were many more legends. Fourdog, McEntyre, Stairguy, Fin, Mr. Green, Lonetracker. Some I had met before and some I hadn't... it was a great group of guys.... and girls ( Thing 1 was a great addition) I believe about 20 hangers total by the end.

The sky was clear as the sun set on Thursday night, promising to bring really cold temperatures. It was around -11 before anyone even left the fire.

Me (Skygzr) and Beep by the fire

The conversation lasted a long time around the fire the first night, with no one wanted to make the walk to their hammocks away from the warmth of the fire.

Fronkey by firelight

 Proof positive the next morning that indeed it got to -19.8 degrees and we all survived to see it.

We were treated to a great lesson in wood carving by Book. He was a wealth of knowledge and very entertaining. It was a real extra treat to have him at the hang

 this certainly fit right in with a lot of the conversation this weekend (knives, bushcraft, primitive camping and sewing your own cloths and hammock gear) subjects I know nothing about and was fascinated to listen too.


There was plenty of time to explore the YMCA Camp Miller and while it was a little close to the highway, it still had some great trails and nice quiet areas

Sitting around the fire in conversation and food preparation was a major part of the day.

My homage to Walking Bear, I picked up a one egg skillet and brought some real food. Made the English muffin hamburger and some sausage mcmuffins in the morning.

 YMCA Camp Miller is an excellent camp and looks like it provides a lot of great fun for kids during the summer months.

Main Lodge and outdoor fireplace with seating for lots of people

A very nice petting zoo with goats and a miniature horse. they all seemed to love the attention in the winter

Lake Sturgeon was a bbeautiful setting for the hang. Frozen over with the fishing huts, it quite a typical and beautiful representation of Minnesota in the winter.

I had a great time on this hang, I knew it would be challenging with such low temperatures and for the most part I slept and did so by the end comfortably. It was so well attended that it was easy to listen and learn a lot and make some important changes to how I do my hammock and set up.

I can not thank enough:

Bridget ( camp coordinator at Camp Miller, for allowing us to use this facility).

Fourdog, Snipen, Paul for putting it all together and allowing just anyone (ME) to come.

Book for taking his time to teach a very wonderful skill.

To everyone that attended. thanks for being so generous with your time and knowledge.