Two days on Slickrock Creek

[Cadenza]

In 35 years of backpacking the combined Citico/Slickrock/Joyce Kilmer wilderness areas, most often I have tended to go in from Farr Gap, frequently from Beech Gap, sometimes from Wolf Laurel, and occasionally from the lower Citico side along Doublecamp Creek road or Warden Field, and a few times from Rattlesnake Rock, and rarely from Tapoco. Until now, I had never entered from the Big Fat Gap parking area.
Since I live in TN it just seems a long way around to come in from the “back side.”

It took me two hours to drive from Maryville to Big Fat. It didn’t help any that I got behind a pickup truck pulling a motorcycle on a trailer across the “Tail of the Dragon” on Hwy 129. He seemed oblivious that proper etiquette is to use the many available pull-outs to let faster traffic get around.

Once arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The parking area was spacious. All the trails leading off in every direction were clearly marked with new signs. The whole area seems to have new signs at trailheads and intersections. They are among the nicest signs I have ever seen in the wilderness areas.





Ready to hit the trail. I’m carrying a butt heavy pack (Mystery Ranch NICE 6500) loaded with all the creature comforts that I like to have while camping.
I have both a Silky Big Boy saw and a hatchet. My Slinglight chair. Two cook pots plus a frying pan. A white gas stove and two spare fuel bottles. A Purcell Trench grill. A spare tarp. The list goes on….
I’m also carrying a ton of food for such a short trip. A big prime ribeye steak, worchestershire sauce, 4 big potatoes, a bottle of cooking oil, mild Italian sausage, red beans and rice, a pound of bacon, half dozen eggs, 5 bananas, a jar of almond butter, a loaf of raisin bread, granola, powdered milk, a block of cheese, and the obligatory fiber bars. It’s fun to eat well in the woods.





I drop 1000 feet and a mile and a half to Slickrock Creek. It took me an hour and a half, going all downhill. Just across the creek on the “Tennessee side” (even though the creek at this point is not actually the state line) is one of my favorite campsites. I call it “Bass Solo.”
Upon my arrival in camp I find this mess left in the fire ring by previous campers.
It was full of tin cans. There were two small white cotton terrycloth towels similar to what might be stolen from a cheap motel.
There was also a pair of house slippers! No doubt some dufus thought they’d make great camp shoes. I’ll imagine that at the time they were left they were probably soaking wet.
There were a bunch of AA and AAA batteries thrown in the fire also. And an empty Coleman butane/propane canister. And even some Mountain House foil pouches. Hard to imagine that the same people who left those were the same who ate from the tin cans. It seemed that at least two separate groups had trashed the place.

[Cadenza]

There were a couple of red oak branches on the ground nearby. With the Silky saw I soon had firewood stacked up and neatly cut into forearm size pieces.
One of my favorite tricks is to string up a cheap aluminized vinyl 5’ x 7’ tarp over the fire ring to protect from rain. There have been times in the past when this literally saved my life after weather turned wet and cold. I also carry a 4’ square piece of Tyvek for covering firewood. But this time, despite the fact that I took the time to protect the fire I didn’t get a single drop of rain.





Camp all set up. For the very first time ever I tried out the camera timer on my iPhone.





Lit with the first match, the beginning of what would be a great fire.

[Cadenza]

I boiled water for coffee on the Primus Omni-light Ti stove and started cooking on the fire.
There’s nothing like a prime cut of grass fed dead cow on the grill in the back country. Fried potatoes clinch the deal.





I had to laugh. I managed to drop my steak twice!
The first time, I dropped it right onto the ground. One side was covered in all matter of Earthen debris. Dirt, leaf flakes, bark, probably insect droppings and body parts.
I scraped it off with the potato spatula and put it back on the grill.
A second time I dropped it in the fire. It bounced off a stick and landed almost completely back on the grill. I tried to wipe the ashes off but only succeeded in grinding them into the steak.
The 5 second rule doesn’t apply when you are in the woods and hungry. It was the best steak I have ever cooked on a campfire!

[Cadenza]

It was nearly 10:00 PM by the time it got completely dark. I went to bed.
At 1:00 AM I woke up. I probably would have awakened anyway because a little girl size bladder is incompatible with my old man prostate.
But my first conscious thought was that my eyes were seeing weird lights. Then, I saw light again and thought it might be lightening.
After laying in the hammock a few more seconds I realized I was seeing flashlights. I went on red alert!
There had been no one camping near me. Now all of a sudden at 1:00 AM I had intruders. I watched as three people came in the middle of the night and set up camp directly across the creek from me.
I watched as they tried to hang bear bags. Soon they were inside what appeared to be a huge tent and lights out. The next morning after daylight I could see it was actually a tent and a hammock tarp.
As I was making breakfast, (eggs, bacon, fried potatoes)….they came to the creek for water. It was two young guys and a girl. I don’t think they had known I was there until the next morning. They later packed up and headed up the nut buster trail.

[Cadenza]

I was somewhat proud of the way I had cleaned up the fire ring considering how I found it.
I stomped most of the tin cans flat and buried them. Hopefully rust and corrosion eventually return them to the Earth.
I had managed to burn the terry cloth towels, the house slippers, Mountain House foil pouches, etc.
There were several low profile tins as commonly used for packing sardines. I never did get rid of all of them as they just kept turning up from the ashes.
Here I burn the last paper towel and the last of my trash before leaving.





On the way out I came across this hooch. Probably some bush crafter redneck playing “Batman-in-the-boondocks” had built a lean-to shelter.
Gotta admit the hippie cairn was a nice touch.




The hump back out to Big Fat Gap kicked my butt. Long and steady uphill is a calf buster. It took me three hours from Slickrock Creek back to the car at Big Fat.
An hour up the trail I met a group of day hikers. There were about eight total. Two men, one carrying a small daypack. About three women and about three young girls.
They stopped to chat for a minute. The guy told me it’s only about 20 minutes to the top. Yeah, walking downhill and not carrying packs you may have gotten here in 20 minutes but it will take me another two hours to get up this hill while carrying this load. And sure enough,....two hours later I made it back, legs throbbing, sweat pouring.

I carried too much, struggled with the load, and paid the price. But the camping was worth every second of it.

[Last Call]

Nice trip report, thanks for posting it. Where is this area?

[Cadenza]

Nice trip report, thanks for posting it. Where is this area?

http://www.bing.com/maps/default.asp...en&FORM=HDRSC4

[Cadenza]

Gear failure:

On my trip last month I had a new SeaToSummit inflatable pillow. It worked great for a week.

I go out on this trip almost exactly a month later, and it wouldn't hold air at all. I couldn't even blow it up!
It has been stored in its stuff sack, and attached to the ridgeline of my hammock. Nothing could have punctured it. There were no signs of distress. It just simply wouldn't hold air.

So much for that worthless piece of gear!

[Tipi Walter]

Thanks for a great report with interesting pics. I was the one whole scoured the surrounding area and found those slippers hanging on a tree 50 feet from camp and found all those Mt House wrappers laying a 100 feet away from camp and destroyed by animals. I carted all the crap to the firepit and dumped it as I had a week more to go and wasn't going to carry it out. I camped there recently like around July 20 etc.

What you call Bass Solo Camp I call Little West Camp and yes there's a Little East Camp as you found out with the shining headlamps.

I saw the NC ranger guys who put up all those trail signs. They fixed new ones too all along the Bob to the Hangover etc.

[Cadenza]

That's cool. Knowing you picked up trash and placed it there is better than having cretin rednecks leave it intentionally in that condition.
I know you don't generally build fires except to burn your own trash.
It took a considerable hot fire to burn those towels and slippers.
Except for some aluminum foil and sardine cans which were buried in the ashes, I got it cleaned up respectably.
I even left some good firewood for the next person who uses the site.

I love that campsite!
About 4 years ago David and I came DOWN the nutbuster trail. It was getting late and we were ready to stop. The first campsite we came to was maybe a little over a mile up. It's tucked back and hidden. It would be easy to miss. We named it "Stop Time." In jazz a stop time chorus is when the rhythm section drops out and a soloist continues unaccompanied.
The next day we made it to this campsite and immediately loved it. David named it "Bass Solo." That name stuck and we have called it that ever since.

[Fredt4]

Been there many times, excellent fishing.

[TNhiker]

love that area down there...


wonder how long those new signs will last?


did ya go down/up big fat gap trail?

and yes, that is a beast going up..................likewise, i think it took me over an hour to get up it from slickrock creek......

[The Cleaner]

Nice report and pics.That's about normal for backpackers these days,leaving trash and other unnecessary acts.The best way to avoid it is to hike little used areas and they are hard to find as most places look the same on a trail map.Here in the southeast a "Wilderness Area" is just a nice touch for a map.You might hike 4 hours uphill,sweating bullets only to find that the summit is a redneck 4 wheeler camp as there is non Wilderness land only a few yards past the summit.No one to enforce any laws,unless you go to Shining Rock Wilderness without a bear canister.

[Cadenza]

wonder how long those new signs will last?


did ya go down/up big fat gap trail?

and yes, that is a beast going up..................likewise, i think it took me over an hour to get up it from slickrock creek......

The signs will last until the next round of low-life folks need firewood.

I went down from Big Fat to Slickrock. I was carrying about 75+ lbs. It took an hour and a half.
Then I went back up. Carrying almost 70 lbs. That took three hours. It was nearly 90 degrees and I spent nearly half that time standing still trying to stop sweating.

Yes,....I'm slow. But I make a comfortable camp and I can cook like a 5-star chef on a campfire. I use secret ingredients.

[TNhiker]

But I make a comfortable camp and I can cook like a 5-star chef on a campfire

thats what i enjoy about the backcountry.....

but instead of a rib eye-----i take in a filet mignon.......

marinate the thing all day in a bag in a backpack----get a good fire a roaring and cook that thing over it.....

[TNhiker]

The signs will last until the next round of low-life folks need firewood.

the sad part about it is that area has a ton of firewood for the taking....

the only place that it may be tough to gather is up at hangover or naked ground...

any other place ive camped-----ive had enough wood to last 8 or 9 hours (im usually up late reading by the fire)...

[harnasb]

Nice pictures and report Cadenza.
I came upon a similar mess in the fire ring at hangover camp, in the middle of the winter, 20 degrees. I figured some boneheads came in and couldn't take the cold. Left a lot of stuff. Four MRE's a can of fuel, lots of fire pit trash and a can of Spaghettios. I hauled most of it out. I couldn't fit two of the MRE's.

[Cadenza]

thats what i enjoy about the backcountry.....

Me too!

If you compare the two separate trips I did this past week,.....I MUCH preferred this one.

On this trip I took everything I wanted. I enjoyed making a cozy camp, I enjoyed cooking, I enjoyed the fire, I enjoyed everything except humping the stuff in.

On the second trip I took bare bones minimum. It was a forced march of a big loop on tough trails. My legs are sore, my feet hurt, and I didn't take the time to enjoy any of it.

[Dogwood]

Batman in the boondocks. LOL. I gots ta stop in your camp when the likes of Tipi, Rainman, and you get on a roll. And, you guys don't even do illicit drugs. Whew.

[Cadenza]

No drugs for me.
I don't even take my prescribed meds for acid reflux and cholesterol.

This trip was totally 'dry,' but I sometimes go with a long-time buddy who tempts me to take a tiny little sip of George Dickel while in a trance staring at the fire. Nothing radical or crazy.