Hey all just a little AAR of a small backpacking trip my brother, friend, and I did. We hike the Manistee River trail in NW Michigan. We had hot weather over the three days with one small rainstorm. We backpacked about 6 miles the first night we stayed in a rustic campground. My bag is a ILBE and I loved how it worked for me. I grabbed it and went camping...no other preparation. It was loaded down with everything I would normally carry in my BOB plus some IV supplies since I knew it was going to be super hot and humid. It weighed in it 45lbs with water. I strung my hammock for the first time. I did not have enough of a space between trees so when I got in it I could not sleep comfortably since I was pretty much bent in half. I resorted to my sleeping pad and poncho for that night.



The next morning we hiked about 3 miles (one of group is extremely out of shape) to a camp on the trail where we were able to set up for the day. It was on the river bank and next to the waterfall so we had good cold water. I slung a hammock using paracord and set up a rain fly...which came in handy and did its job. I ate mostly mountain houses, protein bars, and jerkey I smoked. We filtered all our water and I cooked in my canteen cup over a fire. We pretty much relaxed since this was more of a leisure activity than a survival drill. I got a good night sleep by making sure the hammock was tight enough.



The next day we ate packed up and hiked on out. I have no complaints of any of my gear and the only thing I really learned from the trip was my boots are shot and I need new ones...its been ten years with the same pair, and to properly place my hammock to make it comfortable.