A New Year comes and I was fortunate to be able to go out in January for a trip into the NC and TN mountains. I also got to meet up with my Alabama backpacking buddy Hoppin John with his new Dan McHale pack---on Days 1 and 2. Other than John I didn't see another backpacker during the 21 day trip.

Too see all pics of this trip go here---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backp...for-Camp-Hope/

21 DAY QUEST
FOR
CAMP HOPE
TRIP 202
January 17-February 6, 2020

HIGHLIGHTS
** I MEET HOPPIN JOHN WITH HIS NEW MCHALE BACKPACK ON BOB BALD
** HOPPIN JOHN'S HILLEBERG TENT COLLAPSES IN A BOB BALD WINDSTORM AND BENDS A POLE SO HE LEAVES ONE DAY EARLY
** 27 COLD CREEK CROSSINGS
** 35TH ANNIVERSARY OF ARCTIC OUTBREAK 1985
** SNOWFALL AT 12F IN NAKED GROUND GAP DAY 4
** 5F ON HANGOVER MT
** 4 MILES IN KAHTOOLA MICROSPIKES
** 12F ON THE WINDY GAP TRAIL
** TRAILWORKED NICHOLS COVE TRAIL DOWN TO SLICKROCK CREEK
** 4 DAYS ON SLICKROCK CREEK
** 8 MILE DAY TO FARR GAP AND DOUBLECAMP CREEK
** SOUTH FORK'S DEATH ROCK PARTIALLY FIXED
** 2 COLD NIGHTS ON NORTH FORK CREEK
** 54 HOUR RAIN AND WINDSTORM ON FLATS MT TO END THE TRIP

TRAILS
Entrance at Beech Gap on TN/NC State Line
Seven Mile Ridge Trail Heading South
54A South to Bob Bald
**South Col Camp(2)**
Seven Mile Ridge Heading East
**Naked Ground Gap**
Seven Mile Ridge to Hangover Mt
**Clearcut Camp**
Hangover Lead South Trail Down to Big Fat Gap
Windy Gap Trail
**Windy Gap Spring Camp**
Windy Gap Trail Down
Nichols Cove Trail Down
**Dog Hat Camp by Nichols Creek**
Nichols Cove Trail Down
Slickrock Creek Trail Upstream
**Buffalo Rock (2)**
Slickrock Creek Trail Downstream
Nichols Cove Trail Backtrack All the Way to Slickrock Creek
**Slicnic Camps on Slickrock Creek**
Slickrock Creek Crossing 12 and Downstream
Big Stack Trail Up
**Grassy Crowder Camp (2)**
Fodderstack Trail Heading North to Farr Gap
Doublecamp Roadwalk Down
Mill Branch Trail Up 100 Yards
**Low Mill Camp**
Doublecamp Roadwalk
Rocky Flats Trail Up
**Chimney Camp**
Rocky Flats to Warden's Field
Citico Creek Roadwalk
South Fork Trail Up
**Donner Camps**
South Fork/North Fork Trails Up
**North Fork Crossing 1 Camp (2)**
North Fork/South Fork Trails Down
Citico Creek Roadwalk up to Beehouse Gap
Flats Mt Trail Up
**Flathead Cove Camp**
Flats Mt Trail Up
**Camp Hope (3)**
Flats Mt Trail Out to Skyway Roadwalk to Lakeview Overlook and OUT.


This cold and wet 21 day backpacking trip starts at the NC/TN state line in Beech Gap and enters Citico Creek wilderness on the Benton MacKaye trail aka Fodderstack trail #95. I'm all geared up for a long winter trip with a McHale pack containing about 95+ lbs of food and tent and down bag and down pants and parka and 5 books and microspikes and 44ozs of white gas and even a snow shovel---what I call my Accoutrements of Idiocy.

It's alot of weight but I only have to go 3.5 miles with a gain of a thousand feet of elevation, i.e. it kicks my BUTT. The big red blob on the right is just my down garments only---down vest, down parka and down pants.


My backpacking buddy Hoppin John from Alabama messaged me here on WB and wanted to show me his new McHale pack so we arranged to meet up in Cold Spring Gap which is 2 miles in from Beech Gap. He spends the night in the gap and the next day waits for my arrival---so we backpack together up the nut climb to Bob Bald at 5,300 feet.


Hoppin John with his new McHale pack---made almost exclusively of spectra fabric. It weighs about 50 lbs on this trip.


We get to the Bob and Hoppin John sets up his Hilleberg Kaitum tent in an exposed and open spot I call Raven Camp---while I set up a hundred feet away in the protection of some trees. A big rainstorm with tremendous winds hits on Day 2 so we pull a zero day and Hoppin John's tent gets walloped.


The calm before the storm as John airs out his old Marmot down bag and bolts down his tent for the wind.



My tent is set up a hundred feet away so I get lunch and go visit John's big Kaitum and check out his gear. My tent is also a Hilleberg and it's a Keron 3 tunnel and similar to Hoppin John's tent. I set up in a place I call South Col Camp as it's a little more protected from the hell winds which can attack Raven Camp---I know because I spent many a night in Raven Camp in terrible windstorms---and one time a storm bent one of my tent poles.


Smartphone fun before the big storm.