Slickrock Creek Ford Bypass 2014 BMT Guide

[rocketsocks]

Wow, two Motards.

[SGT Rock]

Thanks for putting this in the book! This was one of three very bad fords I encountered, and the only one where I had waited a few days for the water to go down before I started in.
Are you also adding in a way to bypass the fords on Forney creek? I think they go down much more quickly, but they're also, in the words of the park "dangerous".

Yes I am, but I assume you mean Noland Creek up to the Ridge. The BMT only crosses Forney once and that is on a very stout bridge. I'll post what I have written on that one too. I'm not going to make a map for that one as there isn't a lot of ways to vary that route unless you want a big walk around. For that one it is just a description of the route and a profile.

Oh okay, you're talking about 42A---the cancelled trail leaving the Nut and heading up to Cherry Log Gap. There's a hobo camp near the beginning of this trail which offers some decent camping. Otherwise it's a bushwack and not even designated a trail. I have two friends who bushwack the Citico/Slickrock whenever they can and here's what they looked like after taking 42A all the way up to Cherry Log Gap. They hammocked somewhere in the middle of the trail and strung their shelters over the upper reaches of the creek and then bushwacked up. They were wiped out.

BTW, this sign used to be posted on a tree at the split where the Nut goes left and up and 42A veers to the right. Some idiot ripped off this sign and it probably sits in his home somewhere.

I can imagine. At about 1/2 mile up I hit what I would consider pretty much a dead end. I'm sure if I wanted to invest the time I might be able to find a way past that point as there was the remains of a train track past it but totally covered in rhododendron. This is the first I've heard it went all the way to Cherry Log Gap, and if someone did that recently, WOW. I consider Slickrock Creek Trail one of the special trails in the South East, I only hope that SAW and other volunteers can keep it open. That section through the "war zone" of hemlocks is going to be a problem for decades.

[SGT Rock]

Noland Creek Bypass:

[Bati]

Noland Creek Bypass:

My mistake- I meant Noland and the bypass directions should work fine. Yes, it's a long and steep one, but those two crossing can get very bad. From what I gathered, Slickrock is better known as a problem because it doesn't go down as quickly.

Thanks again!

[RyanK817]

SGT Rock, do you have an estimated date for the 2014 guide to be available?

[SGT Rock]

Early February.