About me
Welcome to all hikers and campers
I am a long time hiker and camper.
Started camping as a kid when my parents would take the family camping and hiking
all over North Carolina. My family moved to Germany for a year in 1965 ( my father
was a Professor of Bio-chemistry ) and at age 12, I spent many hours by myself
hiking the German Black Forest.
I continued camping and hiking in the Boy Scouts and hiking in the woods in the
area I grew up in (Durham NC) which is now Eno River State Park.
Around 1970 I started hitchhiking up to the mountains in North Carolina and
Tennessee to hike parts of the Appalachian Trail. I used an Appalachia Trail
Guide Book ( that thing was heavy ) to find my way. Gear back then was heavy
compared to today's hi tech equipment. Sometimes I would hike with some friends
but mostly I hiked by myself.
I moved to Banner Elk one summer and a friend and I would hike and camp out and
go rock climbing every time we got a chance. We hiked all over Grandfather Mt,
the AT and Linville Gorge and other places I don't even remember.
I met my wife to be at Banner Elk and our first date was a camping trip. One
weekend when I was gone she borrowed my back pack which was way too big for her
and went with some friends to camp in the Linveille Gorge. My friends said that
from behind it looked like the back pack had grown legs and was walking down the trail.
I joined the Marines in 1976 and while stationed in Hawaii and California the wife
and I continued to hike and camp. When we had children we took them hiking and
camping with us. In 1993 I was transferred to MCAS Cherry Point and I retired in
1996 as a Chief Warrant Officer 3. The wife and I continued to travel to the mountains
where we met to hike and camp.
The days of sleeping on the ground are long over and when the wife and I camp out
now in the woods, we do so in the confort of our camping hammocks. The wife uses
a Black Bird 1.0 or a
Ridge Runner Bridge
Hammock and I use a Black Bird 1.7 (which I haved used on the AT) or a
custom built
Hammeck EnvyS hammock .
The wife and I also host three group hammock hangs a year at Merchants Mill Pond
State Park where bear burritos ( hammocks ) and bear forture cookies ( tents ) are
welcome to join us for a weekend of camping in the woods and cooking over a fire
and or Dutch Ovens ( and we have a lot of good stuff coming out of those Dutch Ovens ).
These group hangs are family friendly and open to everyone from long time hammock and or tent campers to folks who have never camped out before and want to learn more about camping in hammocks. We have chldren under 2 to folks close to 80 and their wives or husbands, boyfriends, girlfriend ect attending. Email me if you want more information. The hangs are held in January, April and October. I also conduct hammock classes for any interested parties ( mostly Boy Scouts ) and have been asked by Merchants Mill Pond State Park to conduct a hammock class and demo 30 April 2016 during their Mill Pond Days ( and we got invited to back for 2017 ).

Me at the Hwy 306 trail crossing
