Hammock opportunities in Segments 8 and 9

[Namtrag]

My wife and I are going in mid-August to visit friends and family, and will have time to do a 4 1/2 day, 4 night section hike of the CT. My friend lives in Dillon, so our planning so far is centering around doing Segments 8 and 9 We are from sea level, and we aren't extremely fast, so the mileage total of 38ish is right at what we would be comfortable doing. Right now, we are looking at our friend dropping us off 1.6 miles into Segment 8 at the Copper Mountain parking area on a Sunday morning. We would then try to hike up to just before treeline to camp at around mile 6 of the segment. Then on Monday, go over the passes, and down to Cataract Creek area to camp. Tuesday, finish Segment 8, and find a place to camp around the end of 8 or the beginning of 9. Wednesday, hike to Porcupine lakes or Bear Lake. Then on Thursday, have a fairly short day to finish Segment 9, where our friend will pick us up for a lunch trip and tour of Leadville.

I just wanted to see if I could get a little advice on a couple of things:

First, based on the general plan above, do you think we will be able to find places to hang our hammocks, or should we play it safe and bring our tent instead?

Second, if hammocks are useable, which one of the lake areas (Porcupine vs Bear) would be better for that? From the vids I have watched, which don't show a lot of detail, it looks to me like Porcupine had more places to hang.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give. We are really excited about seeing the CT!

[Slo-go'en]

I would bring tents. I didn't make it to those segments, but there are two types of trees you will encounter. Aspens and pines. Aspens tend to clump fairly closely together and pines are thickly limbed and difficult to get to the actual trunk. Aspens also tend to be kind of skinny. At the higher elevations you'll mostly only see the pine trees.

[ddanko2]

I'd think you'd have a bit of trouble finding suitable hammock spots, but it is certainly doable, as long as you have a fairly open window for finding spots and are willing to carry water a bit.

Mile 6 of Segment 8 I recall as being pretty scrubby, especially as you get around tree line (around Janet's Cabin). The closer to Copper, the better the tree selection.

Cataract Creek should be good to go for hammocks.

My wife and I camped about a quarter mile from Tennessee Pass, at the end of Segment 8 (albeit we are tenters). You'll be able to find something. The next day, we camped on the last lake (may have been an unnamed one?) in the series of high altitude lakes up there and we were the only ones there. Absolutely beautiful. We tented in a spot that had enough trees around to be able to hammock.

Best of luck!

I just wanted to see if I could get a little advice on a couple of things:

First, based on the general plan above, do you think we will be able to find places to hang our hammocks, or should we play it safe and bring our tent instead?

Second, if hammocks are useable, which one of the lake areas (Porcupine vs Bear) would be better for that? From the vids I have watched, which don't show a lot of detail, it looks to me like Porcupine had more places to hang.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys can give. We are really excited about seeing the CT![/QUOTE]

[Dogwood]

There are a couple of established smallish CS's suitable for tenting and possibly two P hanging between your starting CM TH and Janets Cabin. Hanging can also be done in LNT non established areas around the cabin's vicinity paying heed to signage. Once at Searle Pass(just above Janets Cabin) above tree line there aren't trees until somewhere on the descent after Kokoma Pass(GREAT VIEW!) and between Camp Hale. At Camp Hale at Cataract Crk(?) there were some scrubby trees, abused tress, where hanging had occurred last time I was there 2 yrs ago. If you can't find appropriate tress at Camp Hale(it's mostly open) concrete bunkers can used as shelter or there is an established CS on the creek. On the rise to and for some distance after Tennessee Pass you'll be going by many trees. Both trees at Porcupine and Bear lake. Porcupine isn't much of a lake more like a shallow pond that I label as a somewhat buggy area for this reason.

Heed Ddanko's advice, "...it is certainly doable, as long as you have a fairly open window for finding spots and are willing to carry water a bit." Ie: where you may find hanging sports may not be running water!

[Namtrag]

Thanks for all the great information and advice.

As far as the first night spot, we were watching YouTube vids of a couple who thru hiked (the 2 Groundhogs), and they stayed in a nice little campsite just below treeline before Searle Pass. I messaged them last night on facebook, and they answered right back! They remember the spot being between 124.7 and 125.0, and that they could see the roof of Janet's Cabin from the spot. A little log bench sits by the trai there. From the video they posted from that day, it looks like there are a few hammock-able (is that a word?) spots in that little area. This would give us about 6 miles our first day.

If you watch this video, they are at the site starting at about 4:15 in. They sit and talk for a while, then he pans around the general vicinity. It looks very promising behind where they are sitting, especially after he showed where their tent was, and turned around to walk back where his wife was sitting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga7begT2BFQ

The advice about being willing to carry water a ways is great, as we won't necessarily need to stop at established sites, as we do not need flat ground to hang.

We have been using the CT Guide to plan this thing, and it looks like we may have to do a long (for us) day one of the days, but I think we can handle it. I know 10 miles there may seem like 15 to us since we are from sea level, but I am confident we can handle it, especially since we will have long days to do it in. We can get up early and hike all day, taking frequent breaks if needed. Our main concern is Day 2 when we have to climb over Searle Pass. As long as we make it back down the other side into the trees by lunchtime in order to miss being exposed during the inevitable thunderstorms, I think we are good!

Thanks again for the help.

[Ksatterwhite]

Interesting topic as I want to hike sections 7, 8 & 9 next year (2018) and wanted to use my hammock rather than a tent. I would be interested to know how your trip turns out and how easily you can hang in these sections.


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[Namtrag]

We will be sure to keep track of it and post a trip report!

[Ksatterwhite]

We will be sure to keep track of it and post a trip report!

Thanks.


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[Ksatterwhite]

Check out Hurlgoathiker on YouTube. He has a video series on the CT.


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[Namtrag]

We actually have watched his videos. Lots of good information, I just wish he were a hammock guy!

[Ksatterwhite]

We actually have watched his videos. Lots of good information, I just wish he were a hammock guy!

Yes. Me too. I have been watching his videos for segments 7, 8 & 9. Between those videos and the data book, I think I can do what I want if I can cover around 13 miles a day. If not, segment 7 will be difficult to hammock camp in.


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[Trailryder42]

When I did 8, I hung in the last few trees above Janets cabin, heading toward the pass. And I don't remember having a problem finding suitable trees on 9 either.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISui...2e-a_&index=13

[Rob Just Rob]

Just finished my thru-hike and only had to go to ground twice! Segment 8 I hung at 5.2(beware of the porcupine) and again at 21.7. Made it through segment 9 so next hang was segment 10 at mile 0.4.

[Namtrag]

Thanks @Trailryder42 ! That is a great spot.

I looked at google maps satellite view and it looks like you took a left off the CT (if you were heading south), went down what looks like a game trail, and camped in a clump of trees next to Guller Creek just south of the hut. Am I close?

@Rob Just Rob , thanks for the tips on spots. Exact mileage helps a lot because I have the Guthook app and will be able to find the spots!

[Namtrag]

We just got home. It was a great trip. We took it pretty easy, and our longest day was 11.4 miles. We did 5 days and 4 nights. On the first night, we camped at mile 124.9. This site was great. You are going up toward Searle Pass and you come upon an open flat spot with a large tree trunk functioning as a bench. As you approach the bench, look to the right and see a trail going off to the side. It has a small creek just as you step onto it, then several campsites. We hung at the second fire ring.



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[Namtrag]

Night 2, we had crossed the passes and we're heading downhill towards Cataract Creek. Off to our left was a wide flat area with the sound of the creek. We spotted a campsite but no trail to it. I ventured down the hill and over to it, and it was great. The creek was close by the site. The first pic is the view of our setup from the fire ring. Second pic is the view of the site from the trail. Site was at 132.4. .


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[Namtrag]

On day 3, we passed several sites after crossing cataract creek, all on the right. It would not be hard at all to find a spot along there. We ended up walking through Camp Hale and up the other side until we came to Fiddler's Creek. The trees looked singed, but were still live, and we had no issues finding spots near the creek. This is at mile 138.8.


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[Namtrag]

Our last night was spent in segment 9 at Porcupine Lakes, mile 150.3. What a beautiful spot. During that day, we passed several great spots after entering Segment 9, but we kept going. You wouldn't have trouble finding a spot for sure in the first 7 miles of the segment. I remember crossing two large creeks with really nice sites. Here is our hang at Porcupine Lakes.


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[Namtrag]

On day 5 as we hiked to the end of Segment 9, the best spots we saw were along the last lake, I believe it is called Galena. In the image, it is where the little arrow is


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[Namtrag]

This may ruffle some feathers, but I found the CT to be much easier than hiking the AT, even taking our lack of altitude adaptation into account. I believe if one were acclimated, it would actually be pretty easy. The big difference I saw was that you don't go up and down the same 500' 18 times in a day as you do on the AT. lol

Of course, we only did a small part of the CT, so my evidence is fairly subjective and anecdotal in nature, so please take that into account before ripping me a new one!