My new Hammock arrived last week, and I was eager to take it out on the trail. However, the week was chock-a-block, clearing the decks because I’m at a conference next week. Friday was booked with a customer, and I had a meeting first thing Monday. The question was, whether to try and squeeze something in or wait at least a couple of weeks? I studied the weather and decided I could fit in a quick hike with one night in the wilderness if I left straight after my meeting on Monday (April 9).

Besides spending a night in my new hammock, I wanted to try out some different sleeping gear and make some other minor changes. The original forecast was for temperatures of 35°F overnight.

I decided to take my 0°F sleeping bag and the huge (77″x24″) but warm and comfy Neoair pad (Contrary to what I said when writing up my last trip, while bigger when in use, the Neoair packs smaller and is lighter than the Thermarest pad). Instead of my hiking huaraches, I wanted to try out my hiking sandals (also from Xero Shoes), and with no rain in the forecast I decided to give a heavier Utility Kilt, and my down jacket a trail test. The cooking gear remained the same, but I had two new Mountain House meals to try out; Beef Stroganoff and Breakfast Skillet. I fixed the ripped out grommet in the tarp (damaged on my last trip) by gluing in its place a plastic washer made out of an old page divider. I wanted to try out a larger Tyvek ground sheet, but I couldn’t find the spare Tyvek. Oh well.

The Plan

I decided to go back to Hercules Glades Wilderness, only this time hike the Pees Hollow trail. Pees Hollow is a six miles loop, which makes for a good day hike — if you don’t get lost. As I would be starting later in the day, I would hike the trail clockwise, starting at the western (furthest) end, and hike the mile and a half down to ‘The Cab’ — an old truck cab abandoned in the wilderness — there is a fire ring by the cab, and I’d either spend the night there, or do some exploring and find a spot to camp along what we call ‘Cab Creek’. The next day, it would be fairly easy, but, uphill hike for the remaining four or so miles of the trail to complete the loop.

Day One

It was around eleven-thirty by the time I got back from my meeting, and while I’d gathered everything up ready, it all needed to be packed away. Again I didn’t weigh my fully packed rucksack, but it was 21lbs without water and my 4lb sleeping bag, so probably somewhere around 30lbs. I managed to get out the house and on the road by one p.m. (with one false start where I set off and then realized I’d forgotten to pack coffee).

A little over an hour later and I was on the trail. Taking the Tower Trail to the Western end of the Pees Hollow Trail. The hike down the ridge to the glades was nice and easy.

There is only one spot on this half of the Pees Hollow loop where it’s easy to miss the trail, and that’s a little over half a mile in. After you’ve dropped off of the ridge, you start to go south-west across the glade that is rapidly becoming overgrown. It feels like you are, almost doubling back. After a while, there’s a point where the trail crosses a small creek on the right, and that can be easy to miss.

I stopped and took lots of pictures all along the way, so, it took me a nice leisurely hour and a half to get to the cab. Someone had left a good supply of firewood at the fire ring, but I don’t like to camp right on the trail, and the trees are fairly open here, so I decided to take a look along Cab Creek.

After a short walk on this little-used side-trail, I found a nice little fire ring next to the creek. There was a spot I could have hung my hammock across the trail there, but I decided to go a bit further on and set up well back from the trail.

I took my time setting up the hammock – it was very simple. The new buckles are quick and easy to set up and the hammock set really well. The Neoair pad fitted okay diagonally in the hammock. I realized I’d not packed any ‘S’ hooks, so I lashed my rucksack to the foot of the hammock.

As in my last trip, the temperature dropped fairly rapidly, and the last forecast I checked when I got to the trailhead was for 29° overnight, a lot cooler than I was expecting. With that in mind, I decided I’d try having a fire to pass the evening. With plenty of daylight in hand, I collected wood and prepared the fire, and left a nice big pile of prepared wood by the fire ring.

I had dinner sitting under the tarp. The Mountain House Beef Stroganoff was tasty enough but seemed a little salty.