The Accidental Blizzard

[Tipi Walter]

Okay boys, I just got back from an April/May trip and yes saw ample snow on May 6-7 which makes this trip unique.

I spent most of my time pulling this 15 day trip in the Citico wilderness of Tennessee. To see all trip pics go here---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backp...ntal-Blizzard/

TRIP 182
April 24-May 8, 2017

HIGHLIGHTS
** 15 DAY QUEST FOR A SNOWSTORM
** TWO BACKPACKERS COMING UP THE SOUTH FORK TRAIL
** PULLING THE NORTH FORK/SOUTH FORK LOOP
** WITH PATMAN AND SUSAN ON THE NORTH FORK
** TRAILWORKED ROCKY FLATS
** TRAILWORKED CROWDER BRANCH
** THE THICKET BLOWDOWN HELLSLOG OF FODDERSTACK RIDGE
** EPIC 70MPH WINDSTORM ON BOB MOUNTAIN
** SLEETSTORM ON DAY 12
** BLIZZARD SNOWSTORM ON MAY 5-6
** FOUR NIGHTS ON BOB MOUNTAIN

TRAILS
Entrance in Beehouse Gap
Beehouse Roadwalk
South Fork
North Fork
**North Fork Camp 1**
North Fork
**Stump Camp**
North Fork
**Rock Ledge**
North Fork/Trail 149
**Cold Gap**
South Fork
**Mitten Camp**
South Fork
North Fork
**Hootyhoo Camp**
North Fork/South Fork
Warden Fields
Rocky Flats
**Abbey Creek Camp**
Rocky Flats
**Johnny's Spur**
Rocky Flats
Doublecamp Roadwalk
Crowder Branch
**Crowder Branch Horse Camp**
Fodderstack Ridge
54A North
**South Col Bob Mountain (4)**
54A South
Fodderstack Ridge to Beech Gap
Skyway Roadwalk
Jeffrey Hell Trail
**Frustration Camp**
Jeffrey Hell Trail
Skyway Roadwalk and OUT



My trip starts in Beehouse Gap near Flats Mt and after a 2 mile roadwalk I enter the Citico wilderness and get on the North Fork trail with its own nice footbridge.


North Fork Creek is in high water and so I hike up the trail and set up before the first of 26 crossings---7 being major.



Since I'm backpacking the North Fork in crocs and barefeet, I have to stow my boots under my pack's top lid.


Voila! Boots stowed so my hands are free.


After pulling the North Fork nut climb (it's steep), I swing around on Trail 149 for a loop and get to Cold Spring Gap and the high trailhead to the South Fork trail which I descend. It too is very steep.


As I descend the South Fork trail I run into the first backpackers I see as they struggle up the tough trail.


The South Trail is 9 miles long but it finally spurts me out near the mandatory crossing so I get ready for another croc ford.

[plexusbritt]

Love your posts! I don't comment a lot but, I really do enjoy reading these reports.

[Tipi Walter]

After I cross the South Fork I dump my pack and return for a pic showing the difficult crossing. The South Fork trail is visible behind me and shows where I came from. I had to cut a second hiking pole to help in the crossing.


As I finish up the South Fork trail I run in my backpacking buddy Patman and his wife Susan so we hike together up the North Fork a couple miles to camp.


As we hike up the North Fork we have to pull 6 crossings and here is number 1.


On Day 7 I swing thru Patman's camp and say goodbye as I plan more time in the Citico while he and his wife slowly pack up to leave.


I finish the North Fork trail and connect to the brushy poorly maintained Rocky Flats trail and go in several miles and stop for a break with my trail tools.


Before finishing Rocky Flats trail I stop at the old chimney homesite for the mandatory pic.


Rocky Flats trail connects me to Crowder Branch which is a real nutbuster trail and it puts me on 14 mile long Fodderstack Ridge trail which is in the worst condition of any Citico trail, as seen above. This is just one clump of dozens.

[Tipi Walter]

Fodderstack Ridge trail eventually puts me atop Bob Mt at 5,300 feet just in time for a 70mph windstorm so I set up in small trees with my 4 season Hilleberg tent and survive a tough night of "combat". After the terrible windstorm comes a 55+ hour rainstorm to sleetstorm to blizzard so I hunker in for 4 days on the mountain.


Behold a May 6th blizzard!! Am I lucky or what???? I really needed my bombproof tent on this trip, both for the wind and the snow.


The blizzard continues thru the night with temps around 25F---cold enough for May 6-7. I wonder how all the AT backpackers are doing?


By May 7 everything is over, the wind and the rain and the snow---and so it's time to pack up and leave the mountain.


I get off the mountain and start my journey out to my shuttle ride.


After a 4 mile roadwalk I stop at a pullover and wait for my evac ride home and this friendly guy serenades me with banjo music---a real trail angel. And so ends Trip 182.

[Lnj]

Awesome!!!!!

[Maineiac64]

Hope you brought a great book or 2, nice report, thanks.

[Dogwood]

U actually count the number of trips you take 182? how many miles roughly in those 182 trips? ? I know I know it is not about the miles. For reference though roughly how many miles or 100's of ft in those 182 trips? how many saplings cut? avocados eaten?






R these in chronological order as posted? How many days or hrs between the snow and grassy sunny pics?

[Tipi Walter]

U actually count the number of trips you take 182? how many miles roughly in those 182 trips? ? I know I know it is not about the miles. For reference though roughly how many miles or 100's of ft in those 182 trips? how many saplings cut? avocados eaten?



R these in chronological order as posted? How many days or hrs between the snow and grassy sunny pics?

These trips only started getting numbered in 2001 when I moved from Boone NC to Tennessee. Before that there were countless trips all over NC and Virginia etc. Especially in Pisgah NF in the Grandfather ranger district, my old stomping grounds in the 1980s and '90s (Harper/North Harper Creek, Lost Cove Creek, Gragg Prong, Raider Camp, Upper Creek, Steels Creek etc).

The snow pics happened between May 5-6 and by May 7 I left the high ground with most of the snow gone, as in the grassy Beech Gap pic on May 7 (Of course Beech Gap is a thousand feet lower than Bob Bald).

I haven't counted up my "lifetime miles" as it would be impossible. I do remember several 18 mile days though in the last several years. I do count how many times I pull tough nut trails with a full pack, example:
** Up the Nutbuster trail 42 times (Upper Slickrock Creek trail #42---the so-called "hardest trail in the Southeast").
** Pulled Brush Mt trail in Citico 19.5 times (some half trips up and down).
** I need to count up all my North Fork humps---has to be at least 80.

[Hosh]

I was hoping for some more close ups of your pack.

[Tipi Walter]

I was hoping for some more close ups of your pack.

Can't get much more close-up than these---

tRIP 182 (66)-XL.jpg

tRIP 182 (208)-XL.jpg

[PatmanTN]

Great report Tipi,

Here a couple nice photos from our camera that I thought you might enjoy:



Susan crossing the full Citico (bad call on my part-whoops -lucky we didn't lose it)

[Tipi Walter]

Patman---Great pics, especially the first one of Susan pulling a crossing. That's pretty deep water for the Citico! I'll have to add it to my collection of keyworded "Creek Crossing" pics. It looks like it's a first day pic of you guys pulling the Citico Creek crossing out of Warden Fields?? And not the North Fork?

Btw, how did Susan do on the hike out on Sunday? It's a tough hike getting from Stump Camp back out to Warden Fields---many crossings, a couple detours etc.

The second crossing pic is at the second NF crossing.

My next June swaray looks to be Pine Ridge up to Crowders and down Big Stack to spend several weeks in and around Slickrock Creek---from Wildcat Falls down to the Lake and back up Ike to loop on Yellowhammer and Nichols Cove.

[PatmanTN]

yes that was the "alternate 105" crossing behind Warden field (and we should not have done it) I've never seen it so high either and since you know the spot, you know that in that picture she wasn't even to the deep part yet!

She did fine and felt much better after a couple hours. Thanks for asking and she said to tell you she enjoyed the company on the trip.

Hey sounds good on the Slickrock plans/ I'm sure one or both of us will be out that way. Our plan is to do one couples backpack trip every month now that she has some free weekends with her new job. We are trying to decide on a destination for Memorial Day weekend.

[Tipi Walter]

yes that was the "alternate 105" crossing behind Warden field (and we should not have done it) I've never seen it so high either and since you know the spot, you know that in that picture she wasn't even to the deep part yet!

She did fine and felt much better after a couple hours. Thanks for asking and she said to tell you she enjoyed the company on the trip.

Hey sounds good on the Slickrock plans/ I'm sure one or both of us will be out that way. Our plan is to do one couples backpack trip every month now that she has some free weekends with her new job. We are trying to decide on a destination for Memorial Day weekend.

As you know Memorial Day in the outdoors can be a heartbreaker with crowds and especially crowds on the roads and at the trailheads. I was out a couple years ago during and after Memorial Day and came down the South Fork trail right after that weekend and found a trashed out campsite by the mandatory creek crossing whereby some idiots stayed in White Rock Camp and left all of their holiday weekend turds next to the creek and right on top of the ground.

I had to take a pic of the idiocy---


You probably know all the great spots to go where you won't see a soul. I'd consider Brush Mt for some real solitude.

[Gonecampn]

Looks like an awesome trip! We traveled to Gatlinburg for the weekend just so we could do a day hike to Mt. LeConte on Saturday. All of the trail heads were closed due to downed trees from the storm on Thursday night. We could see all of that snow up there on the mountains!

[Tipi Walter]

Looks like an awesome trip! We traveled to Gatlinburg for the weekend just so we could do a day hike to Mt. LeConte on Saturday. All of the trail heads were closed due to downed trees from the storm on Thursday night. We could see all of that snow up there on the mountains!

Thank God but in this area they don't close any trails after windstorms (or rainstorms) as hikers around here are self-sufficient enough to know when to go ahead or when to turn around without having the nanny state tell us what to do. After the big windstorm many area trails got obliterated so what did I do? Duh, I walked around the stuff, weaved over it, scooted under it etc. There's always a way.

[Gonecampn]

If we could have just gotten to one of the trailheads we would have went on regardless, we were prepared, but the roads to access the trails were closed. After walking the strip and watching to much TV. I started googling for off-the-beaten-path places to visit. We ended up exploring Elkmont. That was cool but not Mt. LeConte cool.

[Tipi Walter]

If we could have just gotten to one of the trailheads we would have went on regardless, we were prepared, but the roads to access the trails were closed. After walking the strip and watching to much TV. I started googling for off-the-beaten-path places to visit. We ended up exploring Elkmont. That was cool but not Mt. LeConte cool.

Yes, you're right, sometimes they do close the roads and road access---and then it becomes a roadwalk to the trailhead.

[martinb]

"I wonder how all the AT backpackers are doing?"

They went to town, of course.