Hammock testing and spring bliss

I'm lucky to have some nice places to hike close to where I live in the southern part of Oslo, and since the snow has finally melted,  I've been doing some day hikes to practice setting up my hammock rig, and to enjoy the early signs of spring.

Spring really coming along now, even though we got a freak snowfall last monday, the day after the pictures above were taken. Can you believe it? I hope its the last one this year, because I hope to do lots of hiking this spring, summer and fall. Never been much of a winter hiker, so I'm feeling to urge to get out there after a long and cold winter.

The spot where I took the first picture had a great view and was sufficiently sheltered from the wind, definitely a place where I will do an overnighter soon. After putting up the hammock and installing the tarp and underquilt, I took some time to read and to dose off. Even though it was only like 10-15 degrees celsius with some wind, I was toasty warm laying on the underquilt sheltered from the wind.

The pack I brought this time was a bright orange Alpkit Gourdon 20, a robust drybag type pack that carries well and has some nice pockets and elastic cord on the outside for some additonal storage options.

In the pack I had my tarp, hammock, underquilt, platypus + evernew water bottles, leather gloves (?), cook set (Jetboil) + food and snacks. Not bad for such a small pack. I think it's a nice buy costing only 18 pounds. Been pondering getting another one in black, or the 30 L black "Stealthy Gourdon" since the orange Gordon is a bit too bright colored for some situations.

The weekend before I went out to test my newly made MYOG Grizz beaks on the tarp. They're detachable silnylon doors to use one end of the tarp to block wind. I considered buying the beaks ready made from 2QZQ for about 50 dollars, but since I had some 1.1oz silnylon lying around I decided to to make my own. They didn't come out as pretty looking as 2QZQs, but good enough.

Here's a video where the designer, Grizz, a well known member of hammocksforums.net, explains how they're used.



The spot I chose to setup the hammock rig with beaks was close to "Nøklevann", a small lake where people love to do outings, but where it is easy to get away and be alone if you want too. Perfect place to hang with lots of trees ;). For me it's only a short and enjoyable 10-15 minute ride on my scooter. I love living so close to good hiking terrain.

(kind of goofy looking with softshell, beanie and BPL hoody, but warm and comfortable :)

I hope you all have a great week. I'm off to the woods for a 24 trip with a colleague next weekend where i'll be camping with bivy+tarp for the first time (GG SpinnTwinn and Ptarmigan). Looking forward to it - I've already packed everything so I am ready to go! :-D.