Buff Sept. 4-7 08

Well it was a interesting few days to say the least. The river is up and all low water crossings are gone, but the last day there you could have prob been able to wade the river crossings on the old river trail. Camped in Ozark in my "Sweet Spot" site with my hammock and hammock stand. Was there Thursday and Friday and most of the day Saturday before I ever even seen anyone else. Day hiked from Pruit to the site of the old swinging bridge in Earbie. Lots of wildlife. HUGE spiders and webs. Day hiked the Center Point trail down to the goat bluff and then down to Granny Hendersons then to the site of the old school house. That was fun. It had been years since I was down in the hollow there and it brought back all kinds of memories lol. Butterflies out the wazoo. All kinds of shapes, sizes and colors. Only thing I did not see this trip was Elk. Kind of dissipointing but what the heck. Even the river was empty untill Sat. On Saturday evening I had a group of about 8 move in the site 2 sites down from me. I relized from the moment on it would be a intersting night. The temps had gotten down into the high 50's both Thur. and Fri. nights, and these nuts had only bathing suits with no sign of any other clothing. As the evening wore on I used some firewood that I had been drying for 3 days to quickly build a fire. These guys decided that they should get one going as well. With all the rain that they had gotten all the wood was wet. And only twigs that would burn was very small ceder. I ended up building a fire for them as they were about as well equiped to be there as a rock. But to save the kids I got it going and ended up sticking around till about 2am talking to them. The one guy was from Harrison and a radio DJ. He was very interested in some of the wilderness skills that I tried to show them and asked about doing a short spot on his radio program. More on that later if any of it actually pans out. We finely got more rain on Sunday morning about 4am when I was awaken by the thunder of the approching front. I quickly gathered everything and threw it into the truck. As I was going over to check on my new found freinds the bottom fell out and I simply put my poncho on, but these guys got SOAKED hahaha. Oh well, life goes on and about day break the storm lifted and I played around down in Erbie till time to leave to come home. It was a great weekend, other than I got tore up by chiggers. Gear that I tested (hammock related) went perfect. I had made a few fleece blankets and a fleece poncho for sleeping in and a fleece top quilt with foot pocket. I also tried out a idea of using a mylar automobile window reflector for a small pad. It worked great down to about 59 degrees with a fleece under quilt I think I could go down to about 55 or 50. Got lots of new ideas to work on till the frist frost....

I am glad that the hammock worked well for you. I have thought about using the mylar bubble insulation that they sell at Lowes too. I have heard good things about the window reflectors too. Sounds like you had a good time.

Dwight

NOOOOOOOOOO.. I had a great time.... am thinking about maybe attaching some fleece to the bottom of the window reflector or maybe sandwich the fleece between two reflectors.. to increase the thickness. Maybe a kind of liner that you simply slip the mylar into.. hmmmm

Sounds like you had a great time Monkey. Glad you could show some civilians a few wilderness skills.

I hope the radio thing pans out so you can shamelessly plug the website! You can be sure you'd be handsomely compensated for your advertising.

Thanks for the trip report!

As far as the fleece liner, they do make a segmented pad extender (SPE). It is made by Speer Hammocks, but it is easy to make as well. Most people use ripstop nylon since it is lighter, but fleece sure would be comfortable.

Dwight

Thanks for the trail report...of sorts. You've already reiterated that you had a great time! I think you're making us envious!

I'm interested in the fleece items you've made. Do you have pics and details on these or patterns and instructions? Did you use a sewing machine?

I made a fleece liner by getting 2 yards of Wal-Mart fleece, folding it in half, sewing the bottom, and putting velcro on the sides. In the summer, I usually open it up and use it like a quilt.

Dwight

Dwight,
Which Walmart in the area still has a fabric dept? Also, have you found any sil/nylon...or material to make tarps from?

The wal-mart by the Fayetteville mall has one, and the Springdale Wal-Mart on 71hwy has one too. I have found good DWR ripstop, but never sil. Bentonville Wal-Mart has a fabric Dept. too. It is sad that I know what stores have fabric departments in a 50 mile radius of my house . You can make a tarp out of DWR ripstop, but it will not keep you dry in a downpour unless you coat the entire thing.

Thanks Dwight!

Have you checked any of the other fabric stores or Hobby Lobby for Silnylon?

Hope to make everyone jelious enough to get you guys in the darn woods. I am already planning my next trip up to the ol Buffalo next month, maybe hit the peak of the colours. Any one wanting to do that photo clinic thing should maybe start talking to see if we can get together.. it would be perfect time of the year. Commandokanak, good luck on finding sil anywhere other than online. I have never seen the stuff in any of the brick and morter places around here and if you ask for it, you usually get quite a few dumb looks. Heck most the people in Wally World fabrics dont know what the heck ripstop is.. hahaha. don't have any pics of the fleece projects but all I did was sew 2' of the bottom together after lining the outside with nylon. I put nothing on the sides to keep it together. Actually did not have any problems with that. The nylon on the bottom is so that I can step into the foot portion while standing on the ground without the fleece picking up every stick in the next two countys... The other thing I did was simply took about 3.5 yards of heavy weight gray and folded it in half long ways, then cut a neckhole in it to stick my head through. I cut it kind of in a swooping V to make sure I did not choke on the damn thing in my sleep. But I don't toss much in my hammock anyway so I am not too worried about that. I need to cut the bottom in a v as well cause I found that this fleece poncho is very nice early in the morning to mull around the camp in. I am thinking about laminating a blue wally world pad to the bottom of my mylar sunshade. That should be plenty I think.

Trail Monkey, do you play poker? The reason I ask is that "brick and mortar" is often used amongst online poker players when discussing poker rooms in the real world.

If there are poker players on here, maybe we should schedule an AB poker tourney?

No poker.. I only gamble with my life in the great outdoors... never my money. Brick and mortar was instiled in me when I worked at Staples. The buzz word was "Brick and Morter" vs. "Virtual Store" They were in the process of creating, in my honest opinon, one of the greatest web sites for office supplies. Most of the greatness was for the store level and most consumers would never see some of the coolest of inventory tricks but trust me it was years ahead of its time.

NO stores in Northwest Arkansas have Silnylon. Hancock fabrics have some pretty good 1.9oz ripstop nylon for $7.99/yard, but no sil. THe best place to get Silnylon is from Ed Speer's (Speer Hammocks). The price of sil has gone up in the last couple of weeks, because nylon is made from oil . Good luck on your search.

Eddie, I like the camera class idea too, maybe someone can start another thread!?!?!?!?

Dwight