River fishing / gear test

Managed to get out after work friday and take the dog and lady for a hike. Went up a river a ways passed some falls dodging mosquitoes on the way up. Had a few things I wanted to test out, (new hilleberg niak, Exped Hyperlite, sitka kelvin lite hoody) and it's getting close to the time where I need to be sure my gear works.

Well when I set up camp I was impressed at first, the hilleberg takes two poles into sleeves and sets up all in one, just like my others. No need to attach a rain fly after setting up the main tent body. Took me 2.5 minutes to put the poles in, stand it, and put in a couple stakes front and back for vestibule and interior room. I'm a big fan of it!

Fished until around 10pm when the light was fading and went to get ready for sleep. Inflated the large pad I had already used, worked fine. Inflated the new Exped Hyplerite and it seemed to take a while. Then I realized it had a hole in it and wasn't inlfating all the way! Used the supplied patch kit and fixed it all up. Surprisingly the patch worked and it held air all night long, but I'm not so certain I trust it. This is the second matt I've had of these, last year it left me sleeping on the cold ground up north after it had a pinhole leak I couldn't locate. Was assured it was a one off bad luck etc, but a new one shouldn't come with a hole?

Sitka Kevlin Lite Hoody fits really well, breathes good, and is comfortable. Kept me warm when I was in just a T shirt at night. All in all good trip, and had my favorite back country coffee in the morning while listening to the falls. Caught a few fish as well, largest being just over three pounds and a few on dry flies all around 2 lbs.

https://imgur.com/gallery/YS3w1s3