Tag Archives: sintax77

3 Days Hammock Camping with 8 Pounds of Gear

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3 days of Hammock Camping & Solo Ultralight Backpacking in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest.

FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this backpacking trip, I headed down to the border of Virginia and West Virginia for some early spring camping to get a dose of some warmer weather, babbling brooks, and mountain views.

With the milder temps and decent forecast, I was able to get my base weight down to 7.75 pounds, a welcome change after hauling some pretty heavy loads my previous few backpacking trips.

For sleep and shelter, I went with my minimalist hammock camping setup consisting of a 10 oz hammock, 5 oz tarp, and a pair 40° down quilts.  The 14 mile Little Schloss Loop has a decent amount of unofficial, but preestablished campsites with some nice  open areas and decently spaced trees, making it a great loop for hammocks. You can find my full backpacking gear list for this trip at the end of this post.

Water is plentiful on the Little Stony Creek side of the loop, but the ridge side of the loop that I started with is dry for the first 5 miles, so I packed in a full load of water for my first day.  Finding water every couple of miles on the remaining two days was no problem at all.

Route Overview – Little Schloss Backpacking Loop – Sintax77

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Deep Woods Camping & Finding a Cessna 414

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FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.

For this backpacking trip, we hiked into the Cranberry Wilderness in search of a twin engine private plane that crashed in 1995 and went missing for 6 years, deep in the forests of a remote West Virginia mountaintop.  There was also a hiker who went missing here back in 2011.

For sleep and shelter, Frank and I both decided to pack in our Amok Draumr Hammock camping systems. This would allow us to get a comfortable camping setup even if we were forced to camp in one of the mossy rock fields that are often encountered along mountain ridges in the Cranberry Wilderness.  A detailed gear list can be found at the bottom of this post.

On the morning of November 28th, 1995, a Cessna 414, tail number N28901 took off from Braxton County Airport in Sutton, West Virginia headed for Lynchburg Regional, Virginia.  After encountering low visibility due to foggy conditions, the lone pilot contacted air traffic control to request an IFR (instrument flight rules) flight plan in order to continue navigating the approaching mountainous terrain.  After a period of apparent poor communications, possibly due to a radio issue, ATC lost contact with the pilot.  Transponder signals ceased not long after the last communication, and the plane was never heard from or seen again until it was spotted from the air over six years later.

More info on N28901 can be found in this copy of the NTSB report.

Cranberry Wilderness Cessna 414 Search Route Overview - Sintax77

Route Overview – Cranberry Wilderness Cessna 414 Backpacking Trip  – Sintax77

No permit is required to backcountry camp in the Monongahela National Forest.

Full GPS track data, including campsites, etc, for this trip and many others can be downloaded on my Trip Data Page.

Trailhead Used: Big Beechy Trailhead, 38°17’44.2″N 80°14’55.7″W
Highland Scenic Hwy, Minnehaha Springs, WV 24954

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Utah RV Camping – Bryce Canyon to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument

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Exploring Southern Utah with an RV from Bryce Canyon National Park to Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for awesome views, Hiking & Boondocking adventures.

We kept our itinerary pretty loose for this trip, but our general plan was to head from Las Vegas, where we rented our motorhome, towards Bryce Canyon and Escalante in Utah.  We ended up having no problem at all finding boondocking (free) options for all but our last day of RV camping.

Filming Date – Fall, Early October 2020

Day 0 (night before video starts)

  • Fly into Las Vegas Airport
  • Pick up the RV rental at the airport Walmart (we used RVshare.com)
  • Head west 2 hours to St George, Utah.
  • Do a quick boondock camp outside of town in the desert.

Day 1

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Backpacking the Devils Path – Most Dangerous Hiking Trail?

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Some say it’s the Toughest, most Dangerous Hiking Trail in the east. We set out on a backpacking trip to find out how tough the Devil’s Path trail really is.

 

Set in New York’s Catskill Mountains, the Devil’s Path is a 24.6 mile long end to end hike on steep, rocky terrain with around 8,500 feet of elevation gain and and 9,000 feet of elevation loss.

The mountain range that the Devil’s Path traverses is basically one large plateau with a handful of deep notches carved into it. The result? Almost all of the elevation change is crammed into a handful of 1 mile or less stretches, with little to no distance in between each ascent and descent.  Scrambles, loose rock and mazes of gnarly roots add to the challenge.

Myself, Kyle from the Trail Tails Podcast and Flossy packed up our backpacks with some tents and hammocks and hit the trail on a mid-August morning to find out if this hiking trail would live up to it’s devilish reputation.

Catskills Devil’s Path Route Overview – Sintax77

There are 5 Major Summits (Catskill 35ers) on this hike

  • Indian Head Mountain 3,573′
  • Twin Mountain 3,652′
  • Sugar Loaf Mountain 3,806′
  • Plateau Mountain 3,840′
  • West Kill Mountain 3,880′

Starting Trailhead Used (East): Platcove Trailhead , 42°08’02.5″N 74°06’16.1″W
Prediger Trail Road, Elka Park, NY 12427

This is an easily accessible parking lot with room for a decent amount of cars, but it does reportedly fill up by early morning on weekends.

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I Finally Upgraded my Winter Backpacking Gear!

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I finally upgraded some of my Winter Backpacking Gear Essentials and made my picks from Backcountry’s full inventory of outdoor gear.

FTC Disclosure: This video is in partnership with Backcountry. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through my links. Individual gear selections were made by me and all opinions are my own.

For detailed specs on the items I found most attractive, here are the
Three Pieces of Winter Camping Gear that I Ultimately Chose

Other Backcountry Gear Seen and Discussed

MEGA Tarp for 2 Hammocks or Bad Weather – Dutchware Xenon

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Setting up my Dutchware Xenon Two Person Tarp for Two Hammocks under One Tarp or Bad Weather Camping Conditions, such as wind snow and rain while hammock camping.

This is a 12 foot long, 11.5 foot wide tarp with an end pole mod to better accommodate a two hammock spreader bar setup and two doors at one end for wind protection, privacy at camp, etc.

I’m also using an optional internal pole mode to create even more space inside.  I’m using a single one in the middle, but it’s also possible to use two of them for even more space.  If you want to take it even further, you can have it made with optional side pull-outs as well.  I don’t really find this necessary with the internal pole mods that I’m using. I suppose you could go that route if you’re looking for a lighter alternative to the internal pole mod.

The double hammock spreader bar system I’m using is a Dutchware Beetle Buckle suspension with 32″ spreader bar pole, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use this tarp with any other DIY spreader bar solution you may already be using.

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