Pit Vipers In The Citico/Slickrock

[Tipi Walter]

Six Days With The Snakes
June 1-2-3-4-5-6 2008

DAY ONE
I leave Tellico in the pouring rain and arrive at the Beech Gap/Citico trailhead in wet conditions but cool temps so it's perfect backpacking weather to hump enormous loads. Right now I'm about 3 miles in and resting upon the Bob Bald shoulder after the steep 1000 foot climb on trail 54A. I see horse hoof prints where they're not supposed to be so I guess a group came up to explore the high ground and the Bob. Here comes more rain so my rest break is over and I'm gone.

5 MILES ALTOGETHER
Here I sit in the rain under nylon at Landon Camp in Naked Ground and with me in another tent are 2 fellows from Georgia. They are camped by the big firepit around 50 yards away and are quiet and look to be a father and son duo.

READING MATERIAL
I brough Jim Wickwire's book Addicted To Danger: A Memoir About Affirming Life In The Face Of Death, and Eric Ryback's "The First Step" chapter in the 2 volume set, Hiking The Appalachian Trail. The Wickwire mountaineering book looks especially good with chapters like "Crevasse", "Discord On K2", "Loss Of Innocence", "Bivouac On K2", and "Return To Everest".

ALL SET UP AND READY FOR NIGHT
I layed out my food in 2 groups and fotoged the whole of it for the trail journal account, letting the one reader I have see all of it in color. Most of my excessive pack weight comes from surplus food, books and the 16 pounds of just 2 items, the tent and the pack itself.

DAY TWO
A warm inviting sun enters camp so I go out to burn some of the Wickwire book and brush out the hair. Soon I'll be packing up the green dome and heading down the Nutbuster which will get me off the high ground on the 2nd day for some quality time near water. All the new dog food I brought Shunka will not eat so it's gonna be an interesting trip for him. He's a picky sort but for these 6 days he may change his mind.

DOWN THE NUTBUSTER TRAIL
I do not recommend going down the Nutbuster trail at any age, especially going down past the age of 50 and carrying a 70 pound pack. This makes my 20th time on the Nutbuster, 17 up and 3 down, and this time down will probably be my last as it's a steep, slick, muddy exercise in concentration and eyeball focus. One slip and I'd be pinwheeling out into open space with snapped bones and a torn off scalp. No thanks. The secret to going down is to GO SLOW. Let me repeat, GO SLOW.

I sit resting in the Open Cove of section 5 and the worst is over, just a big blowdown to crawl over and some steep falls on section 4 and I'll be at Little Snaketooth creek for a longer rest with some water pickup.

LITTLE SNAKETOOTH RESTSTOP AND ANOTHER RANT
Boy, there's nothing like a big gulp of ice cold spring water. It's what the earth offered early man on every continent but modern man ruined it for future generations by his out-of-control population growth and by his polluting lifestyle. I found out recently the Tennessee River that runs thru Knoxville was an open sewer as late as the 1960s because the Knoxville city fathers saw fit to allow all human waste to flow freely into the once pristine water. No wonder the Cherokees fought long and hard to keep this land.

SLICKROCK CROSSING RESTSTOP
My boots are off and the Crocs on and I'm ready to go over the creek on my way to Wildcat Falls.

CAMPING ON THE SLICKROCK
I crossed one time and set up camp at Little West Camp in the Slicnic area and will park here before heading downstream in the morning. Night falls and I get to listen to the loud water rushing past my campsite and it's the main reason I set up camp here right on the bank of the creek. A stick of incense helps the mood and keeps the bugs away.

Fotogs
The trip begins
Hilleberg tent set up at Naked Ground
My partial food load
Flesh Offering on the Nutbuster Trail
My pack next to Slickrock Creek

[Tipi Walter]

Six Days With The Snakes
June 1-2-3-4-5-6 2008

DAY THREE
Today I hope to stay on the Slickrock and make it to the Stiffknee/BMT junction where I'll stay one more night by water before heading up and out of this wild and pristine valley. Morning begins with a breakfast of toast with honey and cold creek water.

ON THE TRAIL TO KATHMANDU
Just kidding, but the trail I'm on is just as good. I left the Slicnic Camps(SLICkrock/NIChols Cove), and crossed once to arrive at Wildcat Falls with the water up and loud. 5 more crossings and I sit at Butterfly Rock noticing how high the water actually is, about 18 inches higher than normal, making the crossings a bit tricky and the swirling water pulling at my legs and hiking pole. Clouds are building up and my goal is the Stiffknee Camp, 2 more crossings downstream. Creek crossings are always tricky and care must be taken to avoid falling into the water with a full pack.

MY TRIPS 30 YEARS FROM NOW
30 years from now people will read my Trail Journals and think I must've been the last of the mountain men, an old geezor and cranky codger who valued his freedom enough to live outdoors above all else. People who read my stuff in the future will weep as they sit on a 2 year waiting list to get a permit to hike in this wilderness. They will wonder how I did it all those long years ago when they have to pay $50 a night to camp where I'm camping tonight for free.

It will be a time when the bureaucrats and lawyers take over what's left and the nanny state dictates what color diaper to wear and how often to wipe. My kind will be a laughable myth, a Paul Bunyan ghost with a pack the size of a Blue Ox and his pet a pack-wearing mountain lion. By then hourly helicopters carrying rich tourists will swoop down and follow Slickrock Creek from the top all the way to the lake and Tapoco will be another frightful Gatlinburg edged up to the wilderness boundary with cigar smoking zombies and 60 year old newlyweds shuffling along sidewalks next to Hiway 129. I write this as I sit all alone in a postage stamp wilderness waiting for the anglo-saxon hordes in their coats and ties to come sweeping over the ridge and down into camp with their briefcases and legal forms, surveyor stakes and bulging blueprints of a master plan for a master race.

END OF DAY 3
There goes the sun down behind the Fodderstack ridge and Little Fodderstack Mountain. Let's change the screedful subject of before and talk about the dear ultralighters again:

JIMMY SCROAT'S ULTRALIGHT TRAIL JOURNAL
Hello, my trailname is Scroat the Goat and I'll be describing in detail my next backpacking trip into the Pisgah NF of North Carolina. After spending over 800 hours sitting at a computer screen studying UL websites and forums, I feel ready to mail order my lightweight gear and ready to begin my trip. To be honest, I have never backpacked before in my life and have never even slept outdoors in a tent, so this will be a grand adventure and a wondrous call to discover nature for the first time, etc.

MY GEAR: PACK
My backpack is a titanium-coated tyvek model called The HeadPack and was made by sherpas living in silicone valley who have all had gastric bypass surgery so they know the importance of going light. It is designed to be worn on top of the head in a balanced state and so organizing gear in the pack is critical. At the bottom of the pack is a lexan skullcap which is heat-formed and has been weight-sealed to my head. The pack empty weighs 15 grams and has no shoulder straps or hipbelt. It is white in color with the words "Tyvek" across the front and back. It's a beautiful pack and costs $800 and is worth every penny.

MY GEAR: TENT
The tent I will be using is a black poleless hoop tent made by the Dullards out of Montana. The Dullard family designed the tent to be used with the tyvek HeadPack resting on my chest as I sleep thereby elevating the 10 micron thick gossamer spun black-widow web tent-fabric over my body. When empty the tent looks like a long wide line of dried spit, but when occupied it resembles a dark translucent silk cocoon. At 10 grams and at the cost of $2800, I feel I've got a shelter that'll take me anywhere I dare to go.

MY GEAR: SLEEPING BAG
Here's where my research really paid off! I found the most up-to-date bag in the world and it's made by Eastern Block Mountaineering and is a dried spittle shell filled with Thought-Hot clusters and is rated around 70-80 degrees. The secret is in the clusters. The Thought-Hot clusters are revolutionary in that the sleeper must think hot thoughts to stay warm and by doing so the clusters transmit these thought waves into heat producing capsules of warmth. Weight for the total bag is 5 grams and the cost is $6600. So far my total gear weight is 30 grams.

MY GEAR: SLEEPING PAD
I'm using the Crotchpad made by Little Tony Industries and it's a matted 10x10 inch noninflatable hair pad. Using nanotechnology, the pad is made using hollowed out pubic hair woven into a tight mesh and weighs in at 2 grams and costs $840. It works great on snow, too. (End of Part One of Jimmy Scroat's Trail Journal. Part Two will continue).

A DARK NIGHT FALLS ON THE STIFFKNEE
Camping in this kind of dark night stillness spooks some people, especially those out for the first time. In a summer NC creek valley when the tree leaves cloud the sky and the deep Nantahala gorge consumes all light before it ever reaches the bottom, night camping becomes a tricky time spent in inky blackness. You hear a screech owl and flinch, or a yelping coyote nearby, or an angry deer grunting, snorting and cryling like a baby, or the mating calls of 2 owls talking like 2 people in conversation.

TOMORROW'S PLANS
At first light or second I'll pack up and begin the long climb out of this valley and thru the Stiffknee valley to finally arrive at Tallassee Gap, the first part of the climb finished and the steepest yet to come. Turning left in the Gap, I'll hit the hideous switchback up and around to reach Spiritwind's blowdown and to get water at the high spring before Farr Gap. At the gap my hump is not over for here begins a long boring logging cut climb up and around the Little Fodderstacks and around the pleasant spot I call the Little Horn in the West. Eventually my final half mile will be down to Crowders and the open grassy campsite, but all this comes later.

DAY FOUR
Thank goodness for the cool night air but I'm up to brew morning nettle tea after tossing around on the pad for several minutes. At first light I will pack and start the slow journey up the Stiffknee valley.

THE BENEFITS OF NETTLE TEA
There are none but it sure tastes good!

ON THE STIFFKNEE TRAIL
Momma Nature and I had a long conversation as I was humping out of the Slickrock valley. I gave her my legs, my crotch, my heart and my head. I told her I'm keeping my stomach for myself and she's okay with this arrangement. The next section of the Stiffknee is a real nutbuster and gives the trail its "stiff" name. It is short but very steep so wish me luck. At least there's a breeze up here.

RESTING AT THE HIGH STIFFKNEE SPRING
What a relief to wash the head, face, arms and hands in the cold Fodderstack waters! Shunka is bathing down below while I bathe above and filled a liter bottle with the precious stuff as I'll need it on the next leg of my journey. I will soon be passing Spiritwind's Spectral Blowdown, a terrible blowdown much improved by his efforts.

RATTLESNAKE ON THE STIFFKNEE
Shunka walked by what appeared to be a black snake curled on a log next to the trail. The snake saw Shunka and coiled fast and buzzed loudly. I meanwhile backed off and yelled like a 12 year old girl and then pulled out my camera and started pushing aside weeds to get a good shot. My snake brother slowly turned down his rattle volume and we hung out a bit and talked. I pity any horsebasck riders passing by this fella, he'll buck their pony quick and the fat saddle-potatoes will be slung off the mountain to their misfortune. Advice to Cherokee NF backpackers: Keep your eyes open and on the trail. In the winter look everywhere else and stumble thru the brush, but in the summer focus on your feet!

LITTLE HORN IN THE WEST
Phew, the climb up to here from Farr Gap is one mean mother, a nonstop bung buster and grabfest. The rattlesnake is a distant memory and long forgotten though when I get to camp at Crowders I'll scroll thru the fotogs and relive the moments.

EXACTLY 3 HOURS LATER
5 hours after leaving Slickrock I sit at Crowder Camp hot and bothered, dirty and tired. I stopped at the Crowder trailpost and depacked and took a quick trip to the spring for 2 liters of ice cold water and humped the short distance to this campsite where I sit looking at my tent sack and ples and wondering who's gonna set it up for me.

OVERNIGHT AT CROWDER CAMP
There's some wind but never enough, never enough. Night slowly comes and cools off camp for me.

Fotogs
Tipi by Butterfly Rock on Slickrock Creek
Stiffknee/BMT Camp
The Stiffknee Trail
Fun with the Pit Vipers

[Cuffs]

Tipi, I always enjoy reading your reports, thanks for a great job!

[Tipi Walter]

Six Days With The Snakes
June 1-2-3-4-5-6 2008

DAY FIVE
Crowder Camp is dark at 4 am and there's a pleasant breeze in the treetops above me.

PART TWO of JIMMY SCROAT'S TRAIL JOURNAL
DAY ONE
(I went in earlier by car and left food caches every 1/2 mile for my entire 75 mile route. Each cache consists of a granola bar and a pint of water). I got to the Pisgah trailhead at 12 noon and immediately loaded my new HeadPack and hefted it to the top of my head and started on the Upper Creek trail. Immediately the pack is knocked off by a low hanging branch and so I spent the rest of the day in a crouch duck-walking to my evening campsite. With the pack I now tower over 8 feet tall and I never thought about how hard it would be to carry such a pack but by squatting and duck walking I believe the pack will work just fine. And it's so light! In 3 miles(and 6 food caches), I reached my campsite by Burnthouse Creek and layed out the new widow-web tent, pubic pad and Thought-Hot bag.
DAY TWO
Today I woke up to a hard rain and though my new gear is UL, it's not really made for harsh conditions. I stayed in my fancy expensive tent for half a day and wanted to move but instead I tried everything in my power to request a helicopter rescue using a GPS beeper and Sat-phone but to no avail, so I spent all day in the tent with my backpack resting on my chest to hold it up. The 10x10 inch pad kept one shoulder comfortable but I tossed and turned all day, collapsing the tent repeatedly.
DAY THREE
Today I woke to cold gray skies and when I say cold I mean it. My digital thermometer read 58 degrees and I know my light bag probably won't keep me alive thru the night so I did what all the UL websites suggested, I called every friend I had and the district Ranger station but alas, my phone was out of range. Due to exposure I decided to hole up in my flimsy tent another night and wait for rescue but sadly I told no one where I was going and most people thought I was still on vacation in Denmark.
DAY FOUR
Last evening was my hardest and I couldn't think of any warm thoughts so I stayed cold all thru the night. Today I woke up to 6 inches of white snow and I only had sandals with no socks and though the sandals only weighed 1 gram each(made from banana skins), I couldn't wear them in the snow. I decided to pack up my gear and walk barefoot 3 miles thru the snow back out to the trailhead and my car. LATER: I finally saw my car in the distance from the trail but I could not reach it. I was lost. Shivering and shaking and mumbling gibberish, I wondered if that was even my car, and then I thought I saw a carload of bikini-clad Tropicana girls pass by and they parked below me in the lot and I yelled to get their attention. I ran screaming to their car wearing my high HeadPack and dressed in the only clothing I brought, a Speedo and surgical gloves(for warmth), and they all jumped and scattered like grouse.

I layed sobbing in the snow on the road and realised it was all a hallucination caused by hypothermia, dehydration and lack of food. My car was nowhere around and the road I thought I found was instead a dry creekbed covered in snow. When I left camp I went the wrong way and opposite the way I came in, having relied on a compass made by NASA for use on Mars, though it only weighs 1 gram. I set up camp right in the creekbed and cried myself to sleep.
DAY FIVE
Somewhere in the middle of the night a lite snow turned to a heavy rain and my creekbed site filled with water and my gear did not so much get washed away as it disintegrated. Each item had a prominent tag which read, 'DO NOT GET WET", though I paid it little attention at the time, and I never saw the blaze orange tag on the tent which said, "NEVER USE". Overall pack weight was my most important consideration. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jimmy Scroat's notebook and remains were found by boar hunters 6 years later and identified thru a monogramed pair of Speedos by his UL mentor Little Tony Beanjar. A fitting memorial to his utter indifference to common sense will be erected by Uncle Fungus at the Museum of Indifference in Washington DC.)
*******

ON THE FODDERSTACK/BMT
I left Crowders by 7 am and in one full hour I pulled the hot and sweaty climb up to the high shoulder of Big Fodderstack Mt where I sit now warm and messy. My next leg will be all downhill to Little Mitten Gap(Harrison)and then another mean climb around the Rockstack Mt to Glenn Gap where there's water but I'll be too lazy to run down and get it. From Glenn Gap to Snow Camp is icing on the cake unless I decide to pull the extra 700 feet up to the Bob. Probably end my trip on the bald and why not?

GLENN GAP RESTSTOP
Phew, but here I am and it's good to be here.

THANK GOD FOR SNOW CAMP
Water run.

RATTLESNAKE ON THE BOB
I pulled out the cell phone and started dialing while walking out in the sunny field and suddenly heard that fatal buzz so I stopped and saw a big fat coiled rattlesnake and once again while it buzzed I screamed like a 12 year old. Then I took several pictures to share with my bored readers.

SOUTH COL CAMP
Can anyone say heat wave? I pity the lowland east TN valley dwellers as it's hot up here at 5000 feet, gotta pity the mobile homes down in the 93 degree valley. And this is just June, summer hasn't even begun. Finally dusk comes and the awful sun is leaving Bob Bald.

DAY SIX
A typical Bob wind pulls in and slams the bald in dialogue between Momma Nature and herself, with me the lucky bystander. I get to hear her sweet words. The birds get me up at the South Col Camp and soon I'll be off this mountain and back the 3.5 miles to Beech Gap and home.

AN EARLY START
When you get up at 6 am and leave camp by 7, what's there to say in the old trail journal? This last sentence goes out to all you summer backpackers trudging upon a warming globe. Look out for the rattlesnakes and make friends with them, never kill them cuz if you do, their brothers and sisters will hunt you down further up the trail. And somehow endure these rising temperatures, just pretend you're in a Lakota sweatlodge at the summer Sun Dance and offer up your body to the Buffalo Nation.

Fotogs
Fun with the Pit Vipers, this one on the Bob
Leaving the wilderness and the high ground

[Tipi Walter]

Tipi, I always enjoy reading your reports, thanks for a great job!

I thought of you and Eman as I was sweating up the Stiffknee. From Farr Gap to Crowders wasn't much easier, either.

[JERMM]

Tipi Walter- great report, thanks for sharing

[Cuffs]

I would have enjoyed seeing the reptiles. Thanks for sharing!

[Rcarver]

Walter, you're not carrying your puma in this heat or you?

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Tipi, thank you for the pics of the rattlers and for sharing Jimmy Srcoat's tale with us. Too bad Jimmy didn't spend as much time learning basic survival techniques as he did picking out his UL equipment. He could tell his own tale today.

[Erin]

Nice pics and your journal is great. Thanks for sharing. You are a real snake manget..unbelievable photos!

[envirodiver]

Great report Tipi...hey do you know where I can get one of those thought-hot sleeping bags. They sound cool...uh actually very cool maybe even cold at night.

You seem to have the ability to find the Rattlers on the Bob.

Look forward to seeing you up there again soon.

[Frolicking Dinosaurs]

Guys, you don't have to be a snake magnet to see rattlers in Citico / Slickrock. Unlike the AT, it is lightly used and still wild. Wildlife of all types is abundant. I don't recall having ever hiked in that area and not seeing a snake of some sort when they are out.

[envirodiver]

Guys, you don't have to be a snake magnet to see rattlers in Citico / Slickrock. Unlike the AT, it is lightly used and still wild. Wildlife of all types is abundant. I don't recall having ever hiked in that area and not seeing a snake of some sort when they are out.

Yeah a Ranger said once...just because you didn't see any sankes doesn't mean they didn't see you. The areas that give me the most pause is when I break from the semi-darkness of the forest into an area of bright open sunlight. Those guys tend to like to lie around and soak up those rays.

[humunuku]

Six Days With The Snakes
June 1-2-3-4-5-6 2008

I found out recently the Tennessee River that runs thru Knoxville was an open sewer as late as the 1960s because the Knoxville city fathers saw fit to allow all human waste to flow freely into the once pristine water. No wonder the Cherokees fought long and hard to keep this land.

Actually the last combined sewer in Knoxville got stopped discharging to the TN river in the late 90's....pretty gross since people are in that water all the time....you don't even want to know the fecal counts of the small streams the empty to the river (they all are not recommended for human contact)

(I work in water quality)

[envirodiver]

Actually the last combined sewer in Knoxville got stopped discharging to the TN river in the late 90's....pretty gross since people are in that water all the time....you don't even want to know the fecal counts of the small streams the empty to the river (they all are not recommended for human contact)

(I work in water quality)

Nashville had a major CSO problem also. Spent many millions of dollars to correct it and prevent wet weather bypassing. I worked on the original study that Nashville performed to evaluate the problem and develop alternatives. Did some testing in the old brick lined Sewers. That construction was pretty amazing.

[Tipi Walter]

Walter, you're not carrying your puma in this heat or you?

Hey Robert. Anyone who has bought a WM bag will tell you how hard it is to leave it at home even in the late spring as I'm sure you know. Sure, my Puma is way too hot for June but I took it anyway although I could've taken my old Marmot down bag instead. It's just that the Puma is such a nice bag I couldn't leave it at home. One bag can work all four seasons but the Puma is too nice to sweat up in the summer and so I'll use the Marmot next time.

[J5man]

Tipi, sounds like a great and exciting trip as always. Loved the snake pics. I almost jumped on one myself last weekend. (not a rattler though). Hikerhead and I did a one night 10 mile loop at Mt. Rogers in the Grayson Highlands. Day one, I came across a stream to fill my water bottle. I was going to jump to a rock in the middle to get to some moving water. It was a ways out so I jumped and landed on the edge with my right foot and was going to step down with my left foot, and then.......s&*t!,:eek: I was going to step down on a coiled snake sunning on the rock! I immediately sprang back in one fluid motin back to the bank while yelling out some explicitives! (still don't know how I did it) Meanwhile, Hikerhead is witnessing all of this as he sees the snake uncoil and jump into the water. Needless to say, it provided him with much laughter for the rest of the day!

[Erin]

I am impressed with the snake sightings. I will admit it. Of all the hikes in the only hots I have ever seen, almost stepped on are at our local nature center or in someone's driveway at night, warming on the gravel. All copperheads and all very docile to my luck since I have stepped next to them and over them. Yo, E. you just stepped over a snake. Oh, cuss word, copperhead...again.
The only rattlesnakes I have ever seen in the wild were in Tennessee. At summer camp. Incredible.

[Tipi Walter]

Yeah a Ranger said once...just because you didn't see any sankes doesn't mean they didn't see you. The areas that give me the most pause is when I break from the semi-darkness of the forest into an area of bright open sunlight. Those guys tend to like to lie around and soak up those rays.

Yes, I believe even though I saw only two rattlesnakes, I probably walked by dozens off the trail, eyeballing me. Even a rattlesnake takes a few moments to coil and strike, and by that time I'm on down the trail. So, one could be sitting in the weeds right next to the trail but I will have passed it before striking. Stepping on one is a different story, hence the importance on focusing all attention on the trail and the feet. I'm waiting for a rattlesnake sitting on a high blowdown to tag me on the face as I walk by. Some of the trails I walk are near vertical and what's to say a big old fat rattler isn't perched about eye level on the trail ahead?

Sitting at a computer gets the mind to thinking, but when I'm out on the trail, rattlesnakes aren't a problem and I hardly ever give them much thought. They're not everywhere and they do buzz loudly as a warning. Better than the bushmaster, the cobra, or the black mamba.

[envirodiver]

Yes, I believe even though I saw only two rattlesnakes, I probably walked by dozens off the trail, eyeballing me. Even a rattlesnake takes a few moments to coil and strike, and by that time I'm on down the trail. So, one could be sitting in the weeds right next to the trail but I will have passed it before striking. Stepping on one is a different story, hence the importance on focusing all attention on the trail and the feet. I'm waiting for a rattlesnake sitting on a high blowdown to tag me on the face as I walk by. Some of the trails I walk are near vertical and what's to say a big old fat rattler isn't perched about eye level on the trail ahead?

Sitting at a computer gets the mind to thinking, but when I'm out on the trail, rattlesnakes aren't a problem and I hardly ever give them much thought. They're not everywhere and they do buzz loudly as a warning. Better than the bushmaster, the cobra, or the black mamba.

Yes no doubt better than those snakes you mention. At least I can outrun a copperhead or rattlesnake.