19 Days in a Rattlesnake Furnace

[Tipi Walter]

Okay boys, I pulled a 19 day backpacking trip into the Tennessee mountains of Citico wilderness and here is my trip report. All pics can be seen here---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backp...a-Rattlesnake/

TRIP 175
June 13--July 1 2016

HIGHLIGHTS
** TRAILWORKED CROWDER BRANCH TRAIL

** TRAILWORKED BIG STACK GAP TRAIL

** 5 BACKPACKERS AT WILDCAT FALLS ON SLICKROCK CREEK

** 4 BACKPACKERS ON THE NUTBUSTER TRAIL IN BURNTHOUSE CAMP

** JOHN QUILLEN WITH LAUREL AND TERRY IN NUT GATE CAMP ON THE NUTBUSTER TRAIL

** 41st CLIMB OF THE NUTBUSTER TRAIL

** 15 BACKPACKERS SEEN

** TRAILWORKED THE NUTBUSTER TRAIL

** BRYAN DELAY WITH EVA AND WINSTON ON BOB MT

** BMT MAINTAINER LARRY ON 54A SOUTH

** RATTLESNAKE IN IRON CAMP ON THE SOUTH FORK TRAIL

** SOUTH FORK/NORTH FORK BRUSH MT LOOP

** RATTLESNAKE ON BRUSH MT TRAIL


TRAILS
Entrance Beehouse Gap
Beehouse Roadwalk
Warden Fields
Rocky Flats
**Ed Abbey Camp**
Rocky Flats
**Johnny's Spur**
Rocky Flats
**Chimney Site**
Rocky Flats
Doublecamp Roadwalk
Crowder Branch
**Mid Crowder Camp**
Crowder Branch
**Crowder Horse Camp**
Crowder Branch
Fodderstack Ridge
Big Stack Gap Trail
Slickrock Creek
**Wildcat Falls Camp**
Slickrock Creek
Nutbuster Trail
**Nut Gate Camp**
Nutbuster Trail
**Buckeye Camp**
41st Climb of the Nutbuster Trail
**Landon Camp Naked Ground Gap**
Four Mile Ridge
**Fir Tree Grove Bob Mt**
54A South
Cold Gap
Trail 149
**Barrel Gap**
Trail 149 Backtrack
Cold Gap
South Fork
**Iron Camp**
South Fork
**White Rock Camp**
South Fork
North Fork
**Stump Site After 6th Crossing on North Fork**
North Fork
Cherry Log Gap
Fodderstack Ridge
**Snow Camp**
BMT Connector aka Snow Camp Connector
Trail 149
Brush Mountain
**Bug Hollow Camp**
Brush Mountain
South Fork
North Fork
**North Fork Crossing 1 Camp (2)**
North Fork
South Fork
Beehouse Roadwalk
Indian Boundary Roadwalk to Skyway and OUT




My trip begins at home by washing out my 7,000 cubic inch Mystery Ranch pack in Dawn soap and it's finally clean and ready for a June outing.



I get dropped off at Beehouse Camp and in about 7 miles I'm on the Rocky Flats trail in the Citico wilderness and looking for my campsite by the old homestead chimney.



I leave Rocky Flats trail and connect to the Crowder Branch trail and reach crossing 5 of Crowder Creek and set up camp beyond.



At the top of Crowder Branch trail there's a springhead and I set up my big Hilleberg tent with both doors open, basically changing my tent into a tarp.



CROC INFESTED WATERS!!! I leave Crowder Branch and pass over Fodderstack Ridge and take the Big Stack Gap trail down 1,500 feet in two miles to Slickrock Creek and pause at the Wildcat Falls crossing to watch wild crocs in a feeding frenzy.



I make it to Wildcat Falls on Slickrock Creek (now in the Kilmer-Slickrock NC wilderness) and watch 5 backpackers from Knoxville sport in the pools.



On Day 7 I leave Wildcat Falls and begin my journey up the dreaded Nutbuster (Upper Slickrock) trail and run into old backpacking buddy John Quillen and his girlfriend Laurel.

[Tipi Walter]

I leave John Quillen and begin my 41st climb of the Nutbuster trail and stop to say hello to these 4 backpackers from near Memphis, TN---Jason, Andrew, Mike and Joel.



This is my favorite pic of the trip as I watch the four backpackers leave the Nutbuster trail and cross the low water of Hangover Creek. We're in a drought so all water features are low.



I begin my serious hump up the Nutbuster trail and here I am on leg 4 in the Big Rock section.



As I reach the top of the Nutbuster trail this owl comes to say hello and I sit with it for 20 minutes and we talk.



I camp at the top of the Nutbuster trail in a 5,000 foot gap called Naked Ground and run into these dayhikers pulling a Benton MacKaye hike from Beech Gap to Tapoco Lodge, a distance of about 20+ miles??



I leave Naked Ground Gap and climb to Bob Bald Mt and run into my old backpacking friend Bryan DeLay on right with his two friends.



Bryan preparing dinner with his alky stove on Bob Bald at 5,300 feet.

[Tipi Walter]

Bryan showing off his neato tarp on Bob Mt.



I leave Bob Mt on 54A South and run into Larry who is the maintainer for this section of the BMT.



I drop off Bob Mt back into the Citico and take the South Fork trail down to a favorite campsite and run into Jimmy who lives in the campsite. We talk and he tells me he is very proud of his rattles and thinks he's King of the Citico. I agree.



I leave Jimmy and descend the South Fork trail which is a mess in places and stop for this pic where South Fork jcts Jeffrey Hell trail.



I pull the South Fork trail down to the North Fork trail and head up it and pass thru the Blue Rocks on very steep tread.



Once I climb the North Fork I camp near Cherry Log Gap and the next day descend to the trailhead to the most rugged trail in the Citico---Brush Mt!!! #97.



As I descend Brush Mt I find Little Jimmy who is sitting right next to the trail so we talk for a long while and exchange email information.

[Tipi Walter]

I leave Little Jimmy and descend Brush Mt and stop on Brush Creek at the 3rd crossing for a break.



After a couple more nights on the North Fork, on Day 19 I pull a roadwalk and end up here and a little further for my ride pickup.



Little Mitten arrives to pick me up and so ends another great backpacking trip.

[lemon b]

Thanks for the report.

[TNhiker]

was the owl's name also Jimmy?

[Lnj]

So did you and Jimmy snuggle up at your favorite campsite that night... since he lives in that campsite or did you find another campsite that was uninhabited? I just have to know.

[Abi]

This is great!

[Cadenza]

Sorry we missed you on the trail. When we talked as you were waiting for pickup I thought we had been ahead of you coming down the South Fork. But after seeing the time stamp on your photos I now realize you were ahead of us. I saw fresh boot prints while coming down the trail but at the time had no idea who they belonged to. It all makes sense now.

You must have been a few hours ahead on the first day. By the second day you were probably miles ahead and headed up the North Fork. We stopped at the first campsite on the left just past the Falls Branch trail that goes up to Rattlesnake Rock East. On the second day we stopped at the camp just past the Grassy Gap trail post. It pretty much rained on us all night there.

Dave was struggling along with gout in his big toe. We moved pretty slow. Poor guy then got zapped by about eight "yellow jacket" ground wasps in the last half mile of the trail before Beehouse Gap.

I looked for snakes along the way but only saw garters. Jimmy must have been playing shy.

[Tipi Walter]

So did you and Jimmy snuggle up at your favorite campsite that night... since he lives in that campsite or did you find another campsite that was uninhabited? I just have to know.

Jimmy was close by but far enough away from my tent that I didn't give him a second thought. We had a meet and greet and went our separate ways.

Sorry we missed you on the trail. When we talked as you were waiting for pickup I thought we had been ahead of you coming down the South Fork. But after seeing the time stamp on your photos I now realize you were ahead of us. I saw fresh boot prints while coming down the trail but at the time had no idea who they belonged to. It all makes sense now.

You must have been a few hours ahead on the first day. By the second day you were probably miles ahead and headed up the North Fork. We stopped at the first campsite on the left just past the Falls Branch trail that goes up to Rattlesnake Rock East. On the second day we stopped at the camp just past the Grassy Gap trail post. It pretty much rained on us all night there.

I linked up with your route on Friday June 24th as mentioned on your message and spent Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday on the South Fork trail but we never crossed paths. This was your original route---

Beech Gap to Cold Gap and down South Fork (Friday)
Up Brush Mt
Fodder Ridge and down Pine Ridge.
Up North Fork to Beech Gap and out.

If you came down the South Fork right behind me you would've seen copious cut rhodo branches as I cleared the trail on my hike. By your second day I was camping on the SF next to the mandatory crossing and just beyond where you camped by the Grassy Branch trailpost. By day 3 I finished SF and started up the North Fork and off your itinerary.

I never did camp anywhere near Falls Branch or take the Jeffrey Hell trail from the South Fork in either direction. (You're probably confusing the Jeffrey Hell trail leaving the SF for the Falls Branch trail).

I thought for sure I'd see you guys on Brush Mt or close by on Trail 149 because I went down Brush on your 5th and 6th day (Tues and Wed).

[Cadenza]

We ended up not following the original planned route. Dave's gout problem seriously trimmed our trail miles.
But no worries. At our age we were content to take it easy. Some days we only moved a mile or two. Some days we were happy to zero.

David has a favorite saying: It's NOT a zero day!
What he means is, it's a good day whether we go anywhere or not.

[Alligator]

That's a beautiful owl picture. The rattlesnake pic was sharp too.

[rocketsocks]

+ 1 on the owl photo, nice catch!

[Time Zone]

TipiWalter, just a quick reply to say that I admire your spirit of adventure and willingness to truly hike your own hike, pack your own pack, etc. We need more independent thinkers such as yourself.
- cspan

[PatmanTN]

Nice report Walt ! sorry I missed you but it didn't work out this time. I'll admit I wasn't pumped about the lower Citico trails as the week before you started I looped down the nutbuster from Naked Ground (to Hangover via BigFat( and the biting insects were insane in the Nichols Cove area. Also observed a big temperature difference from the high ground. I wound up doing the AT through the Smokies across the long weekend of the 4th and even at 6500 feet it was still pretty hot. This humid TN heat sucks.

[Tipi Walter]

TipiWalter, just a quick reply to say that I admire your spirit of adventure and willingness to truly hike your own hike, pack your own pack, etc. We need more independent thinkers such as yourself.
- cspan

Thanks for the input and update. Backpacking can be all about independence and the freedom which comes from carrying everything you need on your back for the duration of a trip. Backpacking can also be about dependence on frequent food resupplies and town visits and hot showers and restaurant meals. Both styles are called Backpacking. Choose one.

Nice report Walt ! sorry I missed you but it didn't work out this time. I'll admit I wasn't pumped about the lower Citico trails as the week before you started I looped down the nutbuster from Naked Ground (to Hangover via BigFat( and the biting insects were insane in the Nichols Cove area. Also observed a big temperature difference from the high ground. I wound up doing the AT through the Smokies across the long weekend of the 4th and even at 6500 feet it was still pretty hot. This humid TN heat sucks.

I don't have to call it global warming to know I'm inside Miss Nature's oven and being baked with her timer set on 456 hours until done (i.e. 19 day trip). Every night at 3am comes some amount of relief with slightly cooler temps which means summer backpacking generally sucks. Noseeums suck. Proliferation of rattlesnakes isn't all that great as I'm seeing more and more every summer. Not whining though and will be very happy to gear up for the next trip.

[Maydog]

Really enjoyed the trip report, and it is great to see your stewardship of resources. You go one better than "leave no trace"; you make the trail better for those behind you. I've never seen anyone carry pruning shears for a backpacking trip, but I have thought about carrying them myself. I think I might just have to pull the trigger on a pair. Hope to cross paths someday.

[Tipi Walter]

Really enjoyed the trip report, and it is great to see your stewardship of resources. You go one better than "leave no trace"; you make the trail better for those behind you. I've never seen anyone carry pruning shears for a backpacking trip, but I have thought about carrying them myself. I think I might just have to pull the trigger on a pair. Hope to cross paths someday.

I carry a simple hand pruner (Felco #9) and not exactly shears but I've learned it's much easier going thru a wall of brambles by simply cutting them away than trying to fight my way thru. Safer too.

For bigger stuff I also have a Corona folding saw which will cut thru anything within reason---


I saw this mess on a recent trip and knew there's no way I could get thru with my 80 lb pack so I stopped and pulled out my saw and cleared a way.


I reduced the mess to a couple easy step-overs.

[Moosling]

Enjoyed reading that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cadenza]

Proliferation of rattlesnakes isn't all that great as I'm seeing more and more every summer. Not whining though and will be very happy to gear up for the next trip.

We ran into forest service employee Robert Thomas last year who told us that they had just released a bunch of snakes into the area. I forget the exact numbers but I remember the general scope. Seems he said 120 copperheads and 140 timber rattlers, all released at Farr Gap.