3 days of Backpacking, Thunderstorms & Hammock Camping in Heavy Rain on a section of Pennsylvania’s Black Forest Trail.
For this adventure, I headed out for a 3 day, 2 night solo backpacking trip in Pennsylvania’s Tiadaghton State Forest. The full Black Forest Trail is a rugged 43 mile loop with 8,550′ of elevation gain that I’ve done in the past and really enjoyed.
Facing a July forecast in the triple digits with thunderstorms, and the fact that my last solo hike was a pretty intense one, I decided to scale the mileage back this time. My general plan was to simply go into the woods and use the network of connector trails to come up with a route on the fly, based on how the weather played out from day to day.
Black Forest Trail Short Loop – Route Overview – Sintax77
3 days of Hammock Camping in the Rain and Solo Ultralight Backpacking in the Linville Gorge Wilderness.
For this backpacking trip, I headed down to North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest for some hammock camping along the Linville River. The particular section of river I chose was surrounded by the Linville Gorge, the upper ridges of which stand an average of 1,400 feet above the river banks below. This terrain, combined with a dense network of unofficial trails without signage or switchbacks, and often uncrossable river, can make for some rather challenging and exciting hiking. Add in a forecast of fog and hiking in the rain, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for some true southern outdoors adventure.
Despite the rain, my mid-June temp range for this trip was relatively warm at 70° – 48° or so. This allowed me to get my backpack’s base weight down to around 9 lbs by leaving my puffy jacket, base layers, warmer hat, gloves etc at home. I simply packed a long sleeve shirt and a buff and used my rain gear for supplemental warmth at camp.
I went with a fairly minimalist hammock camping setup for this trip. There are plenty of trees and fun unofficial campsite gems to be found in the Gorge that make ideal for hammocks. Water is obviously of minimal concern for the lower regions of the gorge. This allows you to save some weight on trails in those sections, but make sure to stock up when your route heads up towards the ridge. Especially if you’re looking to camp in one the beautiful ridge side campsites up there. The extra planning and water weight is well worth the views.
A free permit is required on weekends and holidays from May 1st through October 31st each year. You can find more information on the NFS Grandfather Ranger District website here.
If planning your own trip, I would highly recommend visiting LinvilleGorge.net for maps, info and extensive GPS data including official and unofficial trails, campsites, water sources, etc. Due to the nature of my trip and the fact that their data is so darn good, I didn’t package my own GPS file for this trip,but I did make an overlay map image from their track data that can be downloaded here. Just unzip it and copy the image file to your Garmin’s /Garmin folder if you’re using a Garmin GPS like me, or follow whatever instructions pertain to your particular GPS device.
3 Days of Hammock Camping, Hiking, & Backpacking in the Dolly Sods Wilderness.
For this 3 day, 2 night spring backpacking trip, I’ll be hiking a 23 mile loop in West Virginia’s Dolly Sods Wilderness, part of the larger Monongahela National Forest. Dolly Sods is located in the Allegheny Mountains on the highest plateau east of the Mississippi river and features some of the most varied and scenic terrain available to hikers in the Mid-Atlantic region.
For sleep and shelter system on my Dolly Sods backpacking loop, I packed in my Amok Draumr XL hammock, paired with the Amok Borg tarp and Amok Fjol XL sleeping pad. I chose this combo based on plateau’s less aggressive terrain and the extra time I expected to be lounging and relaxing at camp.
No permit is required to camp in the Dolly Sods Wilderness, but there are rules and regulations regarding backcountry camping. You can find more information on the USFS Dolly Sods website here.
Hammock Camping, Hiking & Ultralight Backpacking on the Quehanna Trail.
Yes, we’re once again camping in the rain. 🙂 For this overnight backpacking trip, I’ll be hiking a 22 mile loop in Pennsylvania’s Quehanna Wild Area, within the greater Moshannon State Forest. Luckily, I learned from my last camping trip, and packed more adequate rain gear this time.
Itching for another hammock camping trip, I decided to have some fun and go back to more of an ultralight backpacking load-out for this adventure, clocking in at roughly 8.5 pounds base weight.
3 Days of Hiking, Backpacking, & Rainy Hammock Camping in the Cranberry Wilderness using the Amok Draumr XL Hammock.
For this 3 day, 2 night spring backpacking trip, I’ll be hiking a 20 mile loop in West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness, part of the larger Monongahela National Forest. The specific area for this hike, located between the Williams River and the Cranberry River, is commonly referred to as the Cranberry Backcountry.
Each of the 3 days will be comprised of three different “vibes”. Day one will mostly be a lowlands hike in the woods, day two will be primarily along the the beautiful Cranberry River, and day three will be a mossy, higher elevation ridge hike along Kennison Mountain.
With a new Amok Fjol XL tarp in hand to thwart the forecast of rain, each night will be spent hammock camping and testing the new Amok Draumr XL hammock, which Amok kindly sent for evaluation.
Route Overview Cranberry River Loop – Sintax77
No permit is required to camp in the Cranberry Wilderness, but there are rules and regulations regarding backcountry camping. You can find more information on the USFS Cranberry Wilderness website here.
Join me for 3 days of Winter Hammock Camping, Backpacking & Hiking in the Smoky Mountains.
For this winter camping adventure, I’ll be doing a Gregory Bald Loop Hike, incorporating campsite 13 Sheep Pen Gap, campsite 113 Birch Spring Gap, and a hike to the Shuckstack Fire Tower. This is my second backpacking trip to the Smokies, but due to the shorter winter days, ice, and snow, I’ll be slowing the pace down a bit compared to my previous hammock camping experience there.
