I woke up to be hit hard by some big animal, I presumed a deer had blundered into the hammock, and it was pushing me towards the foot end.
It was an interesting night. Not because anything happened, but because of the odd and vivid dreams I had. In one, I was having a conversation, and someone asked me where I was staying. “In the woods at Piney Creek,” I replied, ” and this is a dream.” I woke up to be hit hard by some big animal, I presumed a deer had blundered into the hammock, and it was pushing me towards the foot end. Then I really woke up, to find … nothing. And that happened twice more, only when I woke in those dreams, there was a critter rummaging around, and I was trying to shout at it to go away because I couldn’t be bothered to get up and shoo it off. But I couldn’t talk, and then I’d wake up properly. You might think I’d been indulging in some trailside fungi! Most odd.
After many years of doing this, I have got my backpacking and hammock camping meal preparation down to a very simple process. Each meal is in its own quart Ziplock bag, and I just add boiling water and wait. No dishes to clean, nice and simple. Breakfast nowadays is a cup of hot chocolate, oats, and a cup of coffee (decaf — I’m still off the hard stuff). Most recently I’ve been heating my water on either my wood-burning stove or my Trangia alcohol stove.
In a desperate attempt to offset the extra weight of the camp chair, I switched out the Trangia for my — almost weightless — Fancee Feest cat can stove, for my emergency backup to my wood stove. I only used the alcohol stove once and that was later in the day to heat water for a hot drink and noodles before I set off back to the trailhead.
I must admit to eyeing up the bacon and eggs every now and then when I’m packing my meals. Thus far I’ve not succumbed to the temptation. However, due to this COVID thing (and I suspect some profiteering), the price of my premade dehydrated meals has gone through the roof. I may have to end up taking yet another weight hit and packing more traditional food or get our dehydrators going and start making my own meals. We’ll see.
Copyright © 2020 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.