Sweetpea in a PeaPod

This weekend we attended the 23rd annual SEHHA (South East Hammock Hangers Association) in Hot Springs NC. I've been curious about hammock camping for a while, so when this opportunity came about, I jumped at the chance to go and check it out. It all started with a call to the SEHHA to see if there was still room available for a ground dweller like me to come, pitch a tent, and learn about hammocks. So I called and guess who answered the phone? None other than Ed Speer himself! The author of the "Hammock Camping" book and owner/creator/inventor of Speer Hammocks. I was a bit nervous asking him if there was room for a tent at the group camp site b/c I thought everyone would be hanging. He graciously told me there was plenty of room and even offered to put us up hammocks!!

We loaded up the car and headed up to Hot Springs. As soon as we roledl up to the group campsite, Ed walks uped and greeted us. What a super nice guy. He was way casual and made us feel very comfortable and welcomed. There were lots of other "hammock hangers" there. I met LOST, NO TRAIL NAME, THE CRUMB, SHADOW MOSS, MR. PREZ, Karen, and some other hanger enthusiasts that were more than willing to show me their gear, and even more proud to show me their DYI hammocks, tarps and quilts. Ed Speer showed us our camp spot and helped us put up two hammocks and a tarp so we could get a feel of how the system worked. I was even privileged to get the use of the Speer PeaPod. Its a down under quilt that Velcros up to keep you snugly warm like a pea in a pod. :) It kept me warm and I probably had the best night sleep I've ever had outdoors. The next morning we woke up lazily and "hung" around camp longer than normal. We usually are up, have camp packed, and are on the trail by 7am b/c sleeping on the ground hurts our backs so much. Well, we probably got out of out hammock around 9am. We just lounged around for a couple of hours, relaxing and enjoying just being outdoors. What a weekend, we met some interesting people who told some great stories around the camp fire of their AT thru-hike experiences and we discovered an awesome way to sleep comfortably in the woods. I think I'm a convert. :)