My Weekend Adventure in the Croatan...

wolfpack65

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Decided to get away for a day or so this past weekend - needed the time away, in the woods, to chill & relax.
It was very good to get away from everything in Clayton and not think about anything about home or of work.

On my way, sun coming up...
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So, decided to go to the Pine Cliff Recreational Area of the Croatan NF.
Thought about hiking from there, along the Neuse and making camp along there or in the forest, off the trail but near one of the shelters (for water).

The Pine Cliff part (where you can park, put a boat in, picnic, etc) is for Day Use only. :(
Wasn't sure about just leaving my car there overnight - would someone come looking for me??
So, ended up parking at the trailhead on 306 and hiking in to the Copperhead Landing Shelter area.

Nice trail, boardwalks over the creeks and wet areas, quiet.
Nothing but the sound of your footsteps and nature. :)

This wasn't actually the trailhead, but the sign at the shelter for distances back to 306 or on to Pine Cliff.

I think someone needs to re-measure that distance because it's more like 3-3.5 miles.
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A few pictures along the way...
I think this was the first boardwalk;
Most of the remainder of the trail was between pines and scrub, but the trial itself, nice walking.
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Along the way
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My pack had WAY too much stuff, WAY too heavy for a darn little overnight trip.
Lessons learned...

Anyways, got to the shelter in the afternoon, decided to make camp a ways off trail, & made a little lunch, then set camp up.
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Copperhead Landing Shelter and the water pump for getting more water.
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Forgot to actually get a photo of the shelter... :rolleyes:
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Some foods for the evening, next day, and a surprise for the evening. :)
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Hammocks.

Yea. :)

More on that adventure later....

A couple pics of just the sky...
Just laying there listening to the birds, critters moving around in the woods.
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Got the hammocks set up and crawled in.
I didn't like laying straight in them, too closed up with the material all over your shoulders.
So, I had done a little reading and watching some videos prior to and tried out what I saw/read.
I brought my Prolite sleeping pad with me, for insulation and managed to get that in there and then myself.
Got it on the diagonal somewhat and that was more comfortable - less claustrophobic feeling.
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Sunset...
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Campfire pic and I have one of the fire taken in Slow-Mo, but probably have to upload to youtube to post..
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That surprise in the "hiking bottle" was a bit of Woodford Reserve by the campfire. :)
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So...after time around the fire and sipping some Woodford Reserve, it was time to get in the hammocks...

I brought a 6'x8' tarp and decided to put that into the hammock, underneath the sleeping pad, for more insulation.
Low for Sunday evening/Monday morning was 49/50F per Weather.com.

Thermal shirt under t-shirt, flannel shirt, and then fleece jacket & tobaggan.
Put my jeans back on too.
Took my boots off, but maybe would have been more better to leave on.
Got to bed around 10:30-11p.
Slept till 1:30am.
Woke up cold.

Tried to look around on FB or anything else to put me back to sleep, but my nose was cold.
When my nose gets cold, I'm really cold.
The tarp did nothing but trap my breathe and cause condensation.

So, at 2am, the friend asks if I'm OK.
Me: NO. I'm cold.
Friend: OK............want me to get up and re-start the fire?
Me: YES! :D

Thinking back on it, it was funny and quite the adventure, looking forward to doing it again. :)
But, at 2am and cold, no, get your butt up and get a fire going. :D

So, fire is restarted and I'm sitting in front trying to get warm.
Finally, just lean up against the tree and close my eyes.
Never did go back to sleep...

Sun coming up, I get up to keep the fire going while my friend is napping.
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Eventually get up, fix some breakfast, leisurely start packing stuff up to head back out..

Stopped along the way to get some pictures of pretty flowers & fiddleheads I missed on the way in...
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Guess that's about it.
Backpack was too heavy for the length of time gone. Lessons learned.
Prepare better for the weather & sleeping conditions. Lessons learned.
A few other things need changing, but otherwise & despite everything, I had a great time and looking forward to going again, maybe 2 nights....:)
 
Very cool post and thanks for sharing. Sounds and looks quite peaceful. Good on you for getting out there.
 
Great pics!! That is really a beautiful area.

RE: Packing. Pack for an overnight, then take half of what you packed, and put it aside. Then take half of what's left, and put it aside. Then you will be good to go.
 
Packing...yea...:rolleyes:

Osprey Ariel 65 weighs 4.5 pounds without the bladder.
100oz H2O is gonna add 7+ pounds.
I'm at 12 pounds without ANY gear.

My heaviest stuff was clothing cause I thought I'd use some for warmth.
Nope.
Other heavy stuff was miscellaneous stuff I left in - small items that really added up.

Thought about looking at a lighter pack...
My gear is ultralight stuff after doing a weekend trip a few yrs ago with all the old heavy car camping gear inside my pack.

Just want to lighten the load up as much as I can and still have things I want/may need.
 
Great write up and pictures, thanks for sharing!

My usual pack is about 35-40 pounds but its for 3+ days on average and doubles as my GHB since a lot of times I don't have time to pack before a camping trip.

Going down to the sub 13 pound pack on the Harper's creek was AWESOME. I'll be doing that again for sure.
 
I did...brought my REI wool blend or something toboggan.
Sure glad I did too! :)

It'll all get figured out...
The first solo trip with all the car camping gear in my backpack, to South Mountains State Park area.
A mostly uphill trek to the backpacking campsite area I had chosen.

Dumped that car camping stuff for more lightweight gear, but life happened and I haven't had the opportunity to get out until now.
I want to get out again soon - it was so nice to not be around technology, my home, or work.
Though I did try use the technology to put me back to sleep...otherwise I only used the phone for photos.
Didn't think about work till right before I went to bed last night...
 
Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the post, pics, trip description, and info.

I haven't done an overnight BP in years. I know I need to streamline the packing, 'cause I just ain't the spring chicken I was when I was humping 35-40 lbs at altitude. I plan to do some backyard camping to see what I can live without before I head off into the hills again.

Is there a way to add stretcher bars to your hammock? That might help with the shrinkwrap claustrophobia.
 
Awesome pics. Sounds like a nice way to get away from it all. Thanks for sharing.
 
My last back packing trip was 5 days in the Grand Canyon and my pack was over 70 lbs. But that was almost 30 years ago. The knees would not handle that now.
 
I made the mistake on the first camping trip with a hammock of underestimating the wind. The first day it was rainy so I obviously had my tarp up as shelter. The second night it was clear, so I pulled the tarp back so I could see the stars, and I didn't have a fire nearby. About halfway through the night I woke up freezing. Thankfully I had a spare wool blanket in my pack that I was able to wrap up in to make it through the night. Now I always have my tarp hanging to block the wind. It helps more than you think, even for seemingly light or non-existent winds.

Like you said, live and learn.
 
FYI, a tarp is not just for rain. Unless it's really warm, I teepee the tarp to cut the wind. If it's warm enough I lean too or take one edge straight out as a roof.

BTW, you carried car camping stuff up above the falls in South Mtns? Wow, that was a learning experience. lol. That's one of our normal hike is up around the falls and back to the picnic area.
 
@Friday the shovel was from the shelter and that was probably 100yd from where we camped.

@chiefjason yes carried a 6-7 pound REI Half Dome tent & footprint, nested set of stainless MSR cooking pots, old heavy container of utensils, some form of REI sleeping bag and big heavy Thermarest pads. Plus a bit of food & water.

Mostly up hill. Hiked up stairs & such going by some falls. Pretty area but not when lugging all that stuff!!

The tarp? I got ppshawww'd at for wanting some kind of shelter with it, that's the reason I ended up with it in the hammock with me...next time I'll have proper stuff.

Boy! Get your butt up and start a fire . I'm cold!

LOL
 
I'm so ready to go again, somewhere, to get away from the rat race. Maybe I can get out again next weekend, maybe not the same place, but somewhere.
 
Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for the pictures. I would love to go camping again, but I don't think it will happen again for a long while.
 
I'd love to get back into backpacking but with this knee, that'll never happen! Now I sit at the cabin and sip JD around the fire and sleep in a real soft bunk. It's terrible!:D
 
If I couldn't get to the woods on a weekly basis, I'd be terribly stressed out...
Don't get to go camping as often, but I hike at Clemmons Educational Forest in Clayton weekly.
Going Friday morning & maybe Sunday afternoon.
 
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