R-C Cub Adventure Camp Hammock Camping

Last weekend (Father's Day Weekend) was the annual Pack 653 trip to Cub Adventure camp, the overnight cub scout camp for the Grand Canyon Council.  This was John's last year as a camper, he will be crossing over to Boy Scouts in the spring.  This was Kyle's second year on staff as a Den Chief, helping out the campers in getting around and helping the program staff with activities.   Next year maybe John will join as a Den Chief, and it will be Kyle's last year as a Den Chief before he can be "unpaid staff" at the camp (we have to pay for Kyle to be a Den Chief, and pay for an adult to go along and help out also, so unpaid staff will be an improvement money-wise...).

I did take a lot of pictures, of scouts doing activities, some are posted below.  This year our unit had 2 scouts along without parents, so we setup a tent with just 4 scouts in it (since boys can only share a tent with their own parents).  John joined in that tent, so I didn't have to share with anybody - which made a great opportunity to try out my new hammock.  I picked up an Eagle's Nest Outfitters DoubleNest Hammock for $16 at the REI Garage Sale.  The damage tag said there was a small rip in the hammock, but I couldn't see anything but a snag in one spot.  I wanted to try out the hammock for backpacking, since the hammock parts are easier to pack (and pack around) than a tent - this was a great opportunity since I didn't need to setup a tent for John and myself.  The weather was clear all weekend, with highs in the low 90s and lows around 50.  I had the hammock along for free time napping, with John in another tent I could use it to sleep in.

Sleeping in the hammock worked well after I figured out a few things.  I did bring my sleeping pad in and slept on that in the hammock - quite important since colder air circulating under me caused my back to get cold when I slipped off the pad (and I slipped off the pad a few times the first night.  For the second and third nights I adjusted the tension on the hammock, bringing in more of a sag, and that worked well to help keep me centered and on the pad.  50 degrees did feel pretty chilly in the middle of the night - but the sleeping bad kept me plenty warm as long as I stayed on the sleeping pad.  Since the weather was going to be clear, I didn't setup a tarp over the hammock - which meant that I was up with the sun rise around 5:30 - but I will also say that I had a fantastic view of the stars in the night, through the trees.

The only real fun was on day 3 when I got back to camp to find a stream of ants walking down the suspension lines and through the sleeping bag and everything in the hammock.  They seemed to have taken offense to my setup on one of the trees, so I moved to another pair of trees and shook them out of everything...  I will probably invest in a bug net - there isn't a great need here in Arizona (I didn't notice any bugs at all) other than to catch the little twigs and needles falling off the trees.

The hammock won't work on all trips - winter trips in the desert don't often have suitable trees for hanging from - but I was able to see that it works out.  I didn't have any trouble sleeping, and didn't wake up with any stiff or sore joints like I often do sleeping on the ground.

Christopher Cree runs through the scout camp

John ready for Archery

John on a horse!

Feed Me!!!

Cow skull or tree?