Cave, Nubbin, Odum, Pinhoti 3/6-3/7/10

[dogwood]

   This past weekend, i took my two daughters and son(24, 23, and 22 respectively) on a loop hike of the Cave Creek, Nubbin, Odum, then Pinhoti.  We put in/took out at the Pinhoti Trailhead near the top.  Great weather!  There were a lot of springs flowing most of the trails, so there was plenty of water(especially at the Caney Head spring, where we camped).  We hiked seven miles on Saturday, then camped at the Pinhoti, Chinnabee, Odum intersection.  There was another group of four(with two dogs) camping nearby.  The dogs were fairly well behaved, but curious, so the company was pretty nice. 

   A few hikers passed through camp, including one couple doing the Pinhoti, Chinnabee, Skyway starting from Adams Gap.  I helped them find the Chinnabee down the mountain(decent signage, but not marked well) - if you guys are on this forum, i hope that you didn't have any trouble making it to the shelter! 

   I received an ENO singlenest hammock from my daughter for Christmas, and decided to use it.  I don't think winter-camping in a hammock is right for me, even though i had a 15degree bag!  Maybe in the spring...   I ended up crawling in the tent with my son around 11:30 where it was much warmer and i slept much better. 

   We walked the soreness out on Sunday morning, hiking the six miles back to our vehicle on the Pinhoti. FYI, the only water that i remember seeing on that six mile section was a small spring about a mile or so south of the trailhead.  I almost forgot how rocky that portion of the trail is - killer!  But beautiful scenery.  Overall, we all enjoyed the weekend together.  It was great to see them take initiative in a lot of areas(camp setup, fire building, breaks, etc).  They were utilizing the things i'd taught them over the years! 

[todd150hp]

Thanks, for the report. Glad to see your kids have grown up learning to take the initiative. No better way of instilling that than hiking and camping. I'm still waiting on the lessons to kick in with my kids. They are all to quick to take the initiative on the things I don't want them doing, i.e. fire building, but less enthusiastic about the mundane tasks like packing their tent or doing the dishes.

I bought the double ENO last May and took it with my kids when we did the Skyway loop back in June. We camped at the exact same campsite you used. That way the two girls could stay in my BP tent (Kelty teton2) and my son would stay with my daughters BF in his BP tent and I would utilize the hammock. Even in June I got chilled during the night. I believe it was a bit cooler than usual that night but it was June so its not like there was frost or anything. Maybe got down into the 50's. The hammock is great for taking an afternoon nap at the house or while staying at an RV campground. Put me in the prefers tent category for hiking.

It's a shame, I really wanted the hammock to work out. I like the idea of being able to hang it anywhere and not having to worry about rocks and roots. The hammock is very light but by the time you throw in the bug net, tarp, slap straps and the bazillion guy lines they utilize it comes out weighing about the same as my Kelty teton2 bp tent. Then they say I need to hang some sort of quilt underneath it to insulate the underside. So that makes it heavier than my bp tent, it's still not as warm as my tent, takes longer to set up all those guy lines and stakes than my bp tent, and even though my ENO is the double I'm not convinced two people could do much sleeping in one, nap maybe, all night sleep, doubt it.

I see alot of posts on this forum about the Hennessy hammock maybe I should try one of those.  I'll be doing the Bull Gap to Cheaha portion of the Pinhoti in April. I'll be packing the tent for shelter. Maybe I'll bring the hammock and slapstraps to have as an alternative place to lounge. However, when I load up the pack and weigh it I'm sure that extra 2 lbs is gonna look mighty tempting to get rid of.

[dogwood]

I agree!  Hammocks are great for afternoon napping, but i believe i'll stick with my North Face Spectrum 23 tent - just as light, much warmer! 

[BCM]

This has been discussed on the Gear Forum.  When you lay on the sleeping bag you crush the air pockets that keep you warm, but on the ground your pad insulates you.  That is the theory behind the Big Agnes bag removing the insulation from the bottom and using a pad sleeve to keep the pad under you.

In a hammock the bag is compressed against the bottom and top.  So, even if you have a pad, you lose the side insulation especially in the shoulder to Thigh area.  There are several solutions to this.
1. Use an Underquilt.  ENO has one.  Use the excess from your Double Nest to add wind protection from the top.
2. Use an oversized closed cell foam pad.  There are several on the market. 
3. Take two of the Blue walmart closed cell pads and cut one so you have a two pieces that will enfold you and duct tape them to sides of the pad.  This keeps you insulated.  The combined weight of the pieces is less than my Prolite 4.
4. Don't use the hammock in cold weather.

[Hetairoi]

Nice trip report, I want to do that same loop with my fiance sometime soon.

On the hammock insulation, HYOH and all, but for me, nothing beats the comfort of my hammock. I find it's far easier to setup (takes maybe 3 minutes), but it does take some tinkering beforehand (like changing the stock suspension).

Also, underquilts can be very expensive, but using a CCF pad from Walmart will get about the same result. I've used hammocks on several winter trips, lowest low was 9F at Mt Rogers, Va. and I was plenty warm (though, I admit, I'm a gear junkie and can outfit a small army with quilts).

You're not going to save much weight with a hammock vs tent, but the comfort, for me at least, is the selling point. YMMV.