My 23 year old son and I went for a 2 night fastpacking trip over the weekend. We had been planning this trip for a while as a way for him to gain some experience with hiking and moving quickly. He’s grown up camping and being outdoors, but has little to no experience with overnight backpacking and trail / wilderness camping.

This was also a good way to test some new gear that I had purchased. After using tents and bivy sacks, I decided to try using a hammock. I purchased the Hennessey Explorer hammock (attached bug net and rain cover) after talking with one of their customer service reps. I’m 6’ tall and the Explorer was what they recommended for comfort. My son uses a ENO hammock that he has had for 2 years (to go to music festivals). For his ENO, we purchased a bug net from REI so he could have some better protection.

For food, we packed trail mix, dehydrated camping foods, beef jerky, ramen noodles and some granola and breakfast bars. We each had 1 handheld bottle and a hydration bladder. I had a water filtration system and purification drops.

Also packed was a first aid kit, sleeping bags, emergency kits, headlamps, knife, fire kit, my trusty Jet-Boil stove and some utensils. We each had 1 change of clothes and rain jacket. Shorts had zip-off legs.

My pack (GoLite Pinnacle) weighed in at 16 pounds before food and water, and 22 pounds fully stocked. My son’s weighed in at 20 pounds fully stocked.

Other new gear for me was Black Diamond Ultra Distance Z Poles, which I now LOVE!!!

Friday evening we met up after work and parked at the trail head. We “jogged” 4 miles to an area that I was hoping to use, but a small group was there, so we hiked back downhill a mile to an alternate site for the night. We set up quickly and the hammocks were very easy to get up. It had rained the previous two nights, so we had trouble finding dry wood to get the fire started. I broke off some dead pine branches (as dry as I could find) and used the Jet Boil flame to get the kindling going.

My Hennessey Hammock - Wrapped up in "Snake Skin".

The hammock took some getting used to, but after I found my sweet spots, I was pretty comfortable. If I stayed at a slight diagonal (like they recommend) I was almost totally flat. The mild swaying in the light breeze was very nice. I had my Kindle with me, and fell asleep reading (not uncommon for me).

The next morning, we purified some water and packed up. We power hiked and “jogged” over 17 miles and made it much farther than I thought we would. My son was a very good XC runner in HS, but he hasn’t done much long running lately, so I was worried about his endurance. We stopped once along the way to purify water at a spring, and once to have lunch at a nice vista. 8 miles were along the AT, and we saw several section and thru hikers, but once we switched to Blue Blazes, I was breaking cob webs and we were all alone.

"Old Man" looking at view.

Our Lunch View

The second night, we set up camp in a matter of minutes at a great spot right next to a stream. We collected wood and go the fire started with 1 match. We swam in a stream and played some cards before dinner. I slept like a baby that night and the hammock felt great. I had no back or shoulder pain (like I get sleeping on the ground). It was a cool night and the 40 degree mummy bags were very nice and warm. I also learned that my son had brought a small flask with some Irish Whiskey, and that might have helped the sleep.

My Hennessey Hammock - all set up.

ENO hammock - with Bug Net

Sunday we finished out trip by making really good time on a mostly uphill push back to the car. My son was having some knee soreness from the previous days effort, so this was more power hike and less fastpack.

After we were done, we stopped for a beer and some food. Great weekend.

Appalachian Brewing Company (thought it was fitting)

Sounds like a sweet trip!  Looks like you guys know how to end a trip on a positive note

Fastpacking is how I eventually stumbled (progressed? )  into trail running- hoping to combine the two one of these days as well

I've got a pair of UD Z poles that I use and really like as well- featherlight, pack up small and so far seem to be tougher than one would think

thanks for the thread

Sounds like a sweet trip!  Looks like you guys know how to end a trip on a positive note

 

Fastpacking is how I eventually stumbled (progressed? )  into trail running- hoping to combine the two one of these days as well

 

I've got a pair of UD Z poles that I use and really like as well- featherlight, pack up small and so far seem to be tougher than one would think

 

thanks for the thread

I'd love to make it out your way sometime and try some fastpacking.  I need to get my pack weight down a bit, otherwise we did pretty well.

The poles were one of several purchases I made with my rebate money from REI.  I loved them.  When we hit some flat areas, I just held both in one and and at 10.2 oz they weren't very noticeable.