Joyce Kilmer–Slickrock Creek Wilderness - Hangover - November 19, 2002 - Member Trip Report
| Hike Name: | Joyce Kilmer–Slickrock Creek Wilderness - Hangover |
|---|---|
| Country: | United States |
| State: | North Carolina |
| Trip Rating: |  |
| Trip Date: | November 19, 2002 |
| Duration: | 2 days |
| Trail Conditions: | Fair |
| Trail Traffic: | None |
| Trip Weather: | Sunny, Partly Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, Fog |
| Trip Winds: | Light |
| Trip Precipitation: | Rain |
| Trip Temperature: | High: 51-60, Low: 21-30 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Trip Report: | 11/19/02 (Tuesday): The Operator was over around 9am this morning for a mid-week trip to the Joyce Kilmer Slickrock Creek Wilderness. Loaded up the truck and hit the road with scattered showers pelting us occasionally on the way to Robbinsville. The Weather Channel predicted clearing skies in the afternoon, but they were slow to come today. Stopped in North Georgia at McDonalds for breakfast and barely made the cut-off in time to score some breakfast burritos. It took about four hours to reach the trailhead today, which was much easier to find since our trip last fall. We had the only vehicle in the parking area this afternoon, and started our hike up the Wolf Laurel Access Trail by 2pm. The hike to the Stratton Bald cut-off trail was more difficult than I remember which is odd because I carried eight pounds of water on the first trip. (I guess I am just out of shape.) At the Haoe Lead Trail, The Operator and I stopped for some photos since most of the area was blanketed in snow/sleet. The ridges to the west were covered all the way to Hangover, but the eastern slopes were bare. We stopped briefly at Naked Ground after a nice leisurely hike downhill to the camping area. The place was socked in with clouds and vacant but had a ton of firewood. We considered stopping here, but decided to push on to Hangover. The GPS came in handy in this area since there were a few intersecting trails and we weren’t sure which lead to Hangover. We passed a few campsites along the ridge, but settled with one that had an eastern exposure so we could check out the Lenoid meteor shower tonight. The estimate was for 3000 meteors per second during the Monday night peak. Since this is the best show in 30 years, and it was cloudy in Atlanta last night, we hoped to catch the tail end of the show this evening. The Operator collected some firewood and I went down the Deep Creek Trail for water. It was a long descent, and I think I’ll bring the water from Naked Ground next time. When I returned, the sun broke through the clouds just before sunset. We finished collecting and cutting some wood, then raced to Hangover to watch the sun drop behind Stratton Bald. We made it to the overlook with about five minutes to spare and snapped some pictures as the sun set in the west and the full moon rose in the east. It was pretty spectacular to see both at the same time, but the temps dropped quickly and we ended up heading back to the campsite after about twenty minutes. Cooked up dinner tonight after The Operator and I finally succeeded in getting the fire going. Most of the wood is still wet from the heavy rains we’ve had the last month, and it’s been a chore to get a fire started lately. We finally got a good blaze going, and with the twenty degree temperatures we had to huddle right up next to it for heat. Watched the sky some for meteors tonight, but the moon rose in the east and blocked out our view. We ended up crashing around 11am tonight. 11/20/02 (Wednesday): I got up at sunrise to use the bathroom and noticed Venus low in the morning sky. I decided to sack out for a few more hours until 9:30am, then cooked up some hot chocolate while we broke down camp. It was sunny this morning, and The Operator and I walked back out to Hangover to take some morning pictures of the clouds in the valley. We started hiking around 10am and made it to the truck within two hours. Yesterday, we didn’t see a sole but today we ran into four people in two separate groups. I was surprised to see them out here in the middle of the week. Drove to Robbinsville for lunch at Wendy’s, then made it back to Atlanta around 4:30pm in time for rush hour. We hit major rain on I-575 just north of Atlanta and it made for some slow going this evening. |
Trail Map For This Area
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