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Ramble~On
01-02-2007, 22:53
Monday January 8th there will be a work trip to clear the many blow downs from BMT section 18 (Stiffknee Trail.) We will gather at about 9am at Farr Gap. While the objective is on clearing the debris brought on from several strong windstorms "on the spot" trail work will be conducted on anything that needs it. Plans are shaping up to place a sign at the junction of Stiffknee and Slickrock Creek.
For those interested several of us will be heading out early to camp out Sunday the 7th at one of the many campsites along the road near Farr Gap. We will celebrate the new hiking and camping year with food and lots of drink. We will be easy to find just look for the Pirate Flags.
Monday night will be a "maintainers munch" with more food and drink.
If the trail was not cleared Monday we'll finish it up on Tuesday.
All are welcome.

Tipi Walter
01-03-2007, 01:02
Zowie!! I hope to be coming in from Beech Gap and meeting up with you guys on the Stiffknee Trail! How is the Farr Gap - Doublecamp road from Citico Creek?

Ramble~On
01-03-2007, 06:30
Tipi the road is in good shape and my past few trips I've seen people
on it in passenger cars.

We hope to see you.

Frolicking Dinosaurs
01-03-2007, 06:43
I drove the road about six weeks ago - except for a few easily avoided deep potholes and one narrow section where part of the road slid down a hill (passable, but barely), the road was in good shape.

We would love to come but 3 grandkids have birthdays that week - parties galore.

Ramble~On
01-04-2007, 05:49
Thanks Dinos it would be great to meet you and perhaps one day soon we will....there will always be such get togethers.
And I have been looking at the photos in your Gallery of Ike Branch and noticed the he Dino with the saw in hand :clap.

Tipi Walter
01-04-2007, 13:52
Thanks Dinos it would be great to meet you and perhaps one day soon we will....there will always be such get togethers.
And I have been looking at the photos in your Gallery of Ike Branch and noticed the he Dino with the saw in hand :clap.

Hey, just a quick note but I looked at your Bob fotogs and they look almost exactly like some of my Slickrock shots! It was eerie. That white ghost tree on the nutbuster upper slickrock - I took one just like it. I like the one of you standing on the "Death Tree" in Bob Bald. That thing was standing when I saw a group of Boy Scouts camping under it in a fierce cold windstorm and so I told the leader about it and he shrugged. Four months later it fell and luckily it fell without injury - hence the name death tree.

Ramble~On
01-05-2007, 07:53
Yes, I read your trail journal and went through your photographs..i thought in a post somewhere I mentioned having taken a shot of the "Ghost Tree" as you called it from almost the same position you had taken your shot from...
I too remember the death tree standing and the area around it is a special place within a special place.
The BMT doesn't take this route and that is a shame as it's the highest point in the combined wildernesses...then again the BMT misses the waterfalls as well.
Your photographs and trip reports get me day dreaming of my hikes in this area. We almost met on the trail.....I had planned to be on the work trip for brushing out the Big Stack trail that you ran into and camped with at Crowder Place ...
It is a small world and it's pretty ironic that we both took the same shot, from the position...of the same tree.

Tipi Walter
01-05-2007, 08:24
Yes, I read your trail journal and went through your photographs..i thought in a post somewhere I mentioned having taken a shot of the "Ghost Tree" as you called it from almost the same position you had taken your shot from...
I too remember the death tree standing and the area around it is a special place within a special place.
The BMT doesn't take this route and that is a shame as it's the highest point in the combined wildernesses...then again the BMT misses the waterfalls as well.
Your photographs and trip reports get me day dreaming of my hikes in this area. We almost met on the trail.....I had planned to be on the work trip for brushing out the Big Stack trail that you ran into and camped with at Crowder Place ...
It is a small world and it's pretty ironic that we both took the same shot, from the position...of the same tree.

Too bad we missed each other at the Big Stack trailwork - I met up with the BMTA boys and only spent a day clearing trail with them and the next day kept to my trip schedule while they stayed to work.

Will you still be heading out in 2 days for the Stiffknee work? There might be some rain today(Friday)and Sunday(8th), just wondering if it will change your plans, etc.

I look forward to swapping Slickrock stories and hope to see you out there.

Ramble~On
01-06-2007, 04:09
Rain Snow Sleet or Hail...We're going and if you do come out you'll be in good company as I'm not the only WB'er going or the only one with stories of Slickrock. The weather for this area and this time of year is sounding like it will be excellent. Most of us heading out on Sunday have done trips like this one in much, much worse weather.:rolleyes:
Yes, there will be tall tales told.
This is one way to pay back some debt owed to an area we all love very much.

Tipi Walter
01-16-2007, 11:09
Rain Snow Sleet or Hail...We're going and if you do come out you'll be in good company as I'm not the only WB'er going or the only one with stories of Slickrock. The weather for this area and this time of year is sounding like it will be excellent. Most of us heading out on Sunday have done trips like this one in much, much worse weather.:rolleyes:
Yes, there will be tall tales told.
This is one way to pay back some debt owed to an area we all love very much.

Hey, it was great running into you guys on the Stiffknee! Ken Jones and Creepy Uncle and SpiritWind(and others): Thanks for the trailwork on a great section of the BMT in the wilderness. I wonder if Ken ever got back down to set up the new trailpost on the Slickrock? When I left you guys you were working on a massive hemlock blocking the trail and beyond it there is even a larger one that requires some crawling.

I set up camp on the Slickrock after I left you and then the snow came the next morning as I packed up and went downstream to the main creek crossng which was high and cold, I barely got across after 4 tries.

On the Ike Branch section I ran into a mean blowdown right at the beginning, a double tree trunk thing, but this won't concern you. Did you guys get caught in the snow on Tuesday camping on the road?

Creepy Uncle
01-16-2007, 14:59
Hey, it was great running into you guys on the Stiffknee! Ken Jones and Creepy Uncle and SpiritWind(and others): Thanks for the trailwork on a great section of the BMT in the wilderness. I wonder if Ken ever got back down to set up the new trailpost on the Slickrock? When I left you guys you were working on a massive hemlock blocking the trail and beyond it there is even a larger one that requires some crawling.

I set up camp on the Slickrock after I left you and then the snow came the next morning as I packed up and went downstream to the main creek crossng which was high and cold, I barely got across after 4 tries.

On the Ike Branch section I ran into a mean blowdown right at the beginning, a double tree trunk thing, but this won't concern you. Did you guys get caught in the snow on Tuesday camping on the road?

yeah, it was great bumping into you again!

we never got to the blowdown after that one hemlock, though we did everything we could without a crosscut to make that passable. 'ol spiritwind went back yesterday with ken to work on the retread around that huge uproot about 1/4 mile from farr gap. it may be a couple of weeks until we're able to go back for the other blowdowns and if we get sgt. rock's permission, we'll take out that obsticle on ike branch (i think that's part of his section). me thinks ken will get the sign in next week.

and yes, the snow hit us on the road back to town. had we waited any longer to leave on tuesday, the cherohala would have been nigh impassable (there was some three inches on the road when we drove it at noon).

glad you made it across the creek, though i was more concerned about the dog making it after the snow melt. hope the rest of the trip treated you kindly, and i'm sure our paths will cross again (sorry about number of texans with me last time; had we more guides that knew that area, i would have split that group in half). i'm sure spiritwind will keep everyone posted of our next trip.

-creepy

jlb2012
01-16-2007, 15:10
wrt Ike Branch - in addition to that beech mess previously mentioned there is a 36 inch oak (maybe partly hollow) just up a bit from the beech. I had cleared the rest of Ike Branch Tr. up to the oak. Just down hill (5 feet or so) from the oak is another leaning tree that had taken out the treadway so some treadway reconstruction is needed there also.

Ramble~On
01-16-2007, 17:48
Great to meet you Tipi. I wish I could have stayed out for the snow.
As Creepy mentioned we opted to bug out before noon on Tuesday as I figured if it was snowing that hard down low the Cherohala would be a mess -I was right.

I went back out yesterday and meet Ken. We repaired the large uproot on Stiffknee and a bit of retread.
It will be a few weeks before I am able to get back out and finish lower Stiffknee. Ike Branch can be looked at during that trip as they're so close together. I noticed the Dino's had some recent photos of the Blowdowns in their gallery. Then there are the blowdowns up on Fodderstack !!!
I need the exercise !!!!! So it'll be a busy spring :sun

Tipi Walter
01-16-2007, 19:36
wrt Ike Branch - in addition to that beech mess previously mentioned there is a 36 inch oak (maybe partly hollow) just up a bit from the beech. I had cleared the rest of Ike Branch Tr. up to the oak. Just down hill (5 feet or so) from the oak is another leaning tree that had taken out the treadway so some treadway reconstruction is needed there also.

I remember the big trunk laying across the trail, I scooted over it with no problem. Further up I noticed all the good work and all the many blowdowns you cut as the dead scrub pines seem to be abundant higher up. I'd say the lower mess is the worst of it.

Ramble~On
02-20-2007, 16:54
Hey, it was great running into you guys on the Stiffknee! Ken Jones and Creepy Uncle and SpiritWind(and others): Thanks for the trailwork on a great section of the BMT in the wilderness. I wonder if Ken ever got back down to set up the new trailpost on the Slickrock? When I left you guys you were working on a massive hemlock blocking the trail and beyond it there is even a larger one that requires some crawling.

I set up camp on the Slickrock after I left you and then the snow came the next morning as I packed up and went downstream to the main creek crossng which was high and cold, I barely got across after 4 tries.

On the Ike Branch section I ran into a mean blowdown right at the beginning, a double tree trunk thing, but this won't concern you. Did you guys get caught in the snow on Tuesday camping on the road?

Stiffknee is Clear. Creepy Uncle and I went back out and chopped out the rest of the blowdowns the old fashioned way. The massive hemlock is now an easy step over and will be removed entirely on a future trip. The MASSIVE tree further down from this one is still there and will be until warmer weather. We cut in a temporary reroute up and around the root ball so it can easily be navigated.
The confusion at the junction of Slickrock Creek and Stiffknee has been cleared as well. The original route of the trail had become overgrown as most people were using a side trail that over time became the main trail...this caused hikers to miss the sign. Stiffknee now travels directly to the sign and it can easily be seen as you approach the creek.
A BMT specific sign will be placed at this junction in March.