Fred and I went out late on November 27, had a brief campfire, and spent the night in our hammocks. I selected a spot near the confluence of three small streams, just across a stream from the trail. I was looking for a spot that was not too close to the highway (to minimize highway noise), not too far from Hillfield Road (we arrived late), and provided accommodation for two hammocks.
That last one is sometimes harder than you might think. Finding a spot for one hammock isn’t too hard, but a spot for two is probably twice as hard. To set up a hammock, you need two strong, healthy trees about 12-15ft (~4-5m) apart with no other trees between them or close enough to interfere with spreading out a rain fly. In a pinch, you can just lay your rain fly over your hammock and stake it out, but ideally, you want to have your rain fly spread out enough to get under it and move about comfortably, should you need it. In eastern NC; especially on warm nights, you are probably going to need something to keep your sleeping bag dry. A heavy dew alone can make your sleeping bag pretty damp, and warm, humid nights are highly conducive to unexpected showers.
I did find a nice spot. It wasn’t very level, but it wasn’t bad and you don’t really need level ground for hammocking (a feature I really appreciate). It was well after midnight when we finally got into our sleeping bags. I think it was about 55 degrees (13C) and it warmed up to about 60 (16C) before sunrise.
I slept pretty well. I remember waking up a few times. Once I was in a weird semi-conscious state and I became acutely aware of my hammock, swaying with my movements, as I adjusted my position. That gentle swaying is another thing I love about sleeping in a hammock, or relaxing in my hammock chair.
We slept until the sun was at least an hour above the horizon and took our time packing up. I arrived back home around noon. By that time, the wind was kicking up and the weather was showing signs of getting stormy, although it didn’t get stormy until after 16:00.
