Hammock Forums Perry Lake Kansas Hang April 5-7 2013

The Hammock Forums Kansas Hang was held at Perry Lake Wilderness Area just north of Lawrence Kansas. There were seven of attending, 6 coming in on Friday and 1 arriving Saturday. the weather forecast was for good weather, quite warm, with showers on Sunday morning

 There is a series of colored trails in the area totaling about 27 miles of trails. This was planned for an easy overnight 1.5 miles the first day, 1.5 miles the second and then the 3 miles back out on Sunday. There were some first time campers/hikers with us this trip

 I arrived about 6 pm at the campsite having caught an earlier flight back to St.Louis and then driven the 4 hours to the hang site. the first night was relaxing, seeing friends I knew and getting to know the new members

 the temperatures were good the first night- high 40's, low 50's and calm. a nice fire before bed was fun to sit around and chat.

a view from my hammock in the morning

wondering in the woods the next morning I came across a full beaver

skeleton and various other items like this snail shell and turkey feathers

 

the "Gang"

Raman Shamen, Hoot, 1066Vik,


 Owl

The trail was hyper marked- it seemed every 50 feet their was a blaze

on the trees- if you look closely you can see 3 blazes in this photo

 

the lake was very low and receded back to show a prairie of grass

 

-Interlude-

well we made it the second 1.5 miles, but a member of our group

was not feeling well and doubted that he could make it back the 3 miles

if the weather turned foul the next day, so Ramen Shamen and I walked

the 3 miles back to the parking lot, got our cars and swung around

the roads to pick them up and bring them back to the original parking lot

where it was only a 1/4 mile to the first established pavilion in the park.

 

 The area managers had been kind enough to turn the water on for us, as
Ramen Shamen had called to let them know we would be hiking in the area
 that weekend.

Radiohead and 1066vik

Once we arrived and everyone was settled it was time for some lunch and rest

I took advantage of the pavilion and set up my hammock under the roof

 

The day turned out to be quite nice

 The evening brought out the fire makers and we had a roaring one in no time.

there is always someone in the group that brings SPAM- yuck!

 The evening was very nice and the sunset over the lake was beautiful

The morning dawned with brilliant colors and many animal sounds in

the campground 

Turkey, woodpecker and owl, were all awake at dawn and

making their presence known.

it was a very relaxing and restful day to spend laughing and chatting.

 

Epilogue:

I had not anticipated the very warm weather (85 on Saturday) and that the

bugs would be out so soon. I came home as one big chigger bite. In addition

the ticks where everywhere fortunately I only found one hitchhiker later.
Thanks to Owl and Ramen Shamen for organizing!

 





I am on the GSMNP website

If you want to hike in Smoky Mountain National Park and go to the official website for information. you will see a picture of me hiking up a park trail.

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/hike-the-smokies.htmHike the Smokies

GSMNP Winter Hike- February 16-18, 2013

It has been awhile since I have been hiking in the real woods and I needed to get out. Fortunetly Christine's schedule coinsideded with mine and we planned three days on the trails in the Smoky Mountains. Unfortunely the weather did not co-operate, not in getting in the way of hiking, but the constant rain, literally washed away the roads we needed to reach the trails. Undaunted she planned three days of day hikes to be long and challenging.

Saturday started with a great hike from Tremont over to Elkmont. We parked a car at each end and hiked the 12 miles along Lumber Ridge and then Meigs Mountain Trail.

No sooner had we started the hike than it started to snow. we tried to get the first few flakes on camera, but we didn't need to, as it started to really come down.

10-15 minutes and the trail and us are covered in snow

What a beautiful day it was walking in the snow and noticing all the beautiful small details as well as the large.

Day 2 - Sunday- saw a change in the weather- clearer skies after an unusual cloud display as the high pressure tried to move in

We were headed for the top of the smokies today. Taking Lower Mt. Cammerer Trail 7.5 miles up to meeting the Appalachian Trail (AT) and back down, for a total of 15 miles

Sutton Ridge Overlook panorama

Several large hemlocks had fallen on the trail and made for difficult going in a couple of spots near the top

Christine moves around and through the downed trees

The trail was beautiful in the new snow- this was the first time this year the Smokies had shown its winter coat and we are the first to be on the trail since the snow.

notice no footprints ahead of us- its beautiful, but makes it harder to break trail for the first time

 

what a difference 5 hours makes- on the way down the snow has melted and revealed the trail that we couldn't see on the way up.

a warmer finish to a very beautiful hike 15 miles in 9 hours

 Monday was spent doing some errands and hiking short nature trails. The wet and warmer than normal conditions had lots of the early spring flowers trying to emerge.

 We did work for our dinner- walking 2 miles into Gatlinburg for dinner and back

 

Trails Hiked:

 Tremont to Elkmont via: Lumber Ridge to Meigs Mountain 12 miles

Lower Mt. Cammerer Trail to the AT and back 15 miles

Sugarland Vistors Center Nature trail and Falls- Gatlinburg trail- 5 miles

 

Animals Seen or Heard:

Bobcat, Turkey, Owl, Woodpecker

 

Recommended Restuarants:

Lemon Grass- Thai Food, Maryville, TN

Mellow Mushroom, Vegitarian Pizza, Gatlinburg, TN

 



Hammock Forums: 2nd Annual Kansas Hang December 7-9, 2012

We again gathered at Woodbridge Wildlife area just outside of Lawerence KS for the 2nd Annual KS Hang. While most of the guys spent two nights this year, because of work travel, we could only spend one, but it was a good time this year with some old friends and new ones.

Enjoy the video of the Hang.

Animals Seen or Heard:
Coyote
Cow
Puppy Dog's