Joyce Kilmer–Slickrock Creek Wilderness - Slickrock Creek - August 7, 2004 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Joyce Kilmer–Slickrock Creek Wilderness - Slickrock Creek |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | North Carolina |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | August 7, 2004 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Fair |
| Trail Traffic: | Light |
| Trip Weather: | Sunny, Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy |
| Trip Winds: | Light |
| Trip Precipitation: | None |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 81-90, Low: 51-60 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | 8/07/04 (Saturday) – Waterdog came to the house this morning by 8am to make some final gear selections and load up his pack. We hit the road by 8:30am for the drive to the Robbinsville area to hike the Slickrock Creek Trail. The Ox, Red Eye and Jeff hiked in on Friday to do some trout fishing today, and Waterdog and I planned to meet them along Slickrock Creek by mid-afternoon. We made good time getting to the Big Fat Gap trailhead after a brief look at the Cheoah Dam (where a scene from the movie The Fugitive was filmed). It was very cool this morning with record lows overnight and September-like temperatures in Atlanta, but by the time we shouldered our backpacks at the trailhead it was into the 80’s and hot. Waterdog and I started the hike around 12:30pm with an easy decent for 1.5 miles on the Big Fat Trail to Slickrock Creek. At the trail junction, we walked downstream along the creek and the further we got from the Big Fat Trail, the more difficult Slickrock Creek was to follow. We made slow progress with numerous creek crossing and had some difficulty in finding the trail at times. My GPS was useless with the thick summer foliage and I never could lock on to the satellites to get a decent reading. We stopped briefly at Wildcat Falls (which helped us confirm our location) and enjoyed the view from a rock outcropping in the middle of the falls. By 3:30pm we were searching for The Ox’s campsite and expected to find him at any minute. I slipped in waist-high water during a ford of Slickrock Creek and drowned my walkie-talkie, so the radio was useless in tracking him down. By 4pm Waterdog and I had found The Ox’s camp. He, Red Eye, and Jeff were out trout fishing and Waterdog and I took a deserved rest and snack break and waited for them to return. They were still MIA an hour later, so Waterdog and I decided to hike downstream and see if they wanted to move camp. We found Red Eye first after about a twenty minute hike (where I thrashed up my arm during a creek crossing). The Ox and Jeff were close behind and after a brief discussion, we decided to stay put for the night in our current site (although there were some choice campsites further down Slickrock Creek). Jeff saw and nearly stepped on a rattlesnake earlier this afternoon as it caught some rays on a rock in the middle of the stream. Yellowjackets were also a problem this weekend, and both Waterdog and The Ox were stung while hiking the trail. Back at camp, Waterdog and I pitched our tents and cut up some firewood for the night. Everyone was back at the site within an hour and we cooked up some food and had some drinks until about midnight this evening. It was cool after dark with temperatures down to the low 50’s which is pretty uncommon for this time of year. 8/08/04 (Sunday) – Red Eye and Jeff had a long drive today and were ready to hit the trail by 10am this morning. I cooked up a nasty batch of burnt eggs and this delayed our departure a bit. Waterdog and I left about fifteen minutes behind the pack but quickly caught up with The Ox at the first creek crossing since he was having trouble with his back. We hiked with him the rest of the afternoon and had much more difficulty staying on the trail today. The fords were deeper and more frequent and the trail was more obscure. Rebel got sucked down a three foot waterfall when he lost his battle with the current on our third stream crossing. I dumped my pack and was ready to pull him out of the creek, but Rebel finally quit swimming against the current and swam to the bank. After a quick look at Lower Falls and a sunbathing blonde, we eventually made it to Calderwood Lake by 12:30pm this afternoon. It is only 1.6 miles to the Tapoco trailhead from here, but we lost the trail again and bushwhacked up a few fishing trails. Neither the map or GPS were much help in this area, but after a forty-five minute search we discovered that the Slickrock Creek Trail headed up the ridge. Red Eye and Jeff waited over an hour for us at the bridge, but we finally made it to the parking area by 2:30pm. After a shuttle ride back to Big Fat Gap in Red Eye’s Yukon, Waterdog and I headed into Robbinsville to hit the Wendy’s, talk with Red Eye and Jeff briefly, then hit the road for Atlanta. We rolled back into town around 6pm this evening. |
Trail Map For This Area
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