20 Days on 7 Mile Ridge

[Tipi Walter]

I just got back from a January backpacking trip and here's a link to all the trip pics---

https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/Backp...en-Mile-Ridge/

WHAT IS 7 MILE RIDGE?
It's a ridge on the TN/NC border which is also shared with the BMT and runs from Beech Gap at 4,600 feet 7 miles to Hangover Mt at 5,000 feet. In between there is Bob Bald at 5,300 feet and Naked Ground Gap, Haoe Peak and Hangover Mt. I wanted winter weather and I could've titled this report 20 Day Quest for Cold Weather---cuz I got it.

There are many trails leaving this ridge including the South Fork Citico, Trail 149 and Brush Mt, Nutbuster trail Upper Slickrock, Fodderstack Ridge #95, Stratton Ridge trail, North Fork Citico, Naked Ground trail, Haoe Lead, South Lead, and Deep Creek. It's possible to use 7 Mile Ridge for a variety of long difficult loops into Citico wilderness and Slickrock/Kilmer wilderness, and the coldest most exposed weather you will find in the southern Cherokee and Nanatahala NFs is on 7 Mile Ridge.

So it's a great backpacking destination if you want to test your cold weather gear. Anyone who does any real backpacking in these areas will use part or all of 7 Mile Ridge. I only saw 3 backpackers on my trip and all 3 were BMT thruhikers who started at Springer Mt in Georgia and heading north. I didn't see a single person camping anywhere for 20 days! No hammocks, no tarps, no tents, nothing. It was a true solo trip.

20 DAYS
ON
SEVEN MILE RIDGE
TRIP 188
January 11-30, 2018

HIGHLIGHTS
**20 DAY QUEST FOR COLD WEATHER
**BMT THRUHIKER CARIBOU ON DAY 1
**FIRST BLIZZARD IN COLD GAP DAY 2
**3 NIGHTS IN COLD SPRING GAP AT 10F
**APPLE PIE AND GREENLEAF BMT THRUHIKERS ON DAY 4
**DAY 7-8 COLDEST MORNINGS AT 0F ON LITTLE SANTEE CREEK
**2 STOLEN TRAILPOSTS ON JENKINS CONNECTOR TRAIL
**70MPH WINDSTORM WITH RAIN ON BOB BALD
**11 DAYS ON SEVEN MILE RIDGE
**NO BACKPACKERS SEEN 18 OF THE 20 DAYS

TRAILS
Entrance at Beech Gap
Fodderstack Ridge
**Cold Spring Gap (3 Nights)**
54A South
**Bob Bald Open Meadow**
7 Mile Ridge aka Four Mile Ridge
**Naked Ground Landon Camp**
Naked Ground Trail Down
**High Dog Camp (2)**
Naked Ground Trail Down
**Low Dog Camp**
Jenkins Meadow Connector
Jenkins Meadow Trail
**Kurt's Log Camp**
Jenkins Meadow Trail Up
**Jenks Dogleg Camp**
Jenkins Trail Up
Haoe Lead Trail Up
**Toad Camp**
Haoe Lead Up
7 Mile Ridge Going West
**South Col Camp Bob Bald**
54A North Down
Fodderstack Ridge
**Glenn Gap**
Fodderstack Ridge Backtrack South
54A North Up
Bob Bald
7 Mile Ridge
**Tipi Gap Camp**
7 Mile Ridge Going East
**Clearcut Camp Hangover Mt**
7 Mile Ridge Going West
**Naked Ground Main Camp**
7 Mile Ridge West
54A South Down
Cold Spring Gap
South Fork Citico Down
**Camp 28**
Jeffrey Hell Trail Up
**Frustration Camp**
Jeffrey Hell to Skyway
Skyway Roadwalk
Long Branch Trail Down
**Turkey Feather Camp**
Long Branch Trail Up
Skyway Roadwalk to Indian Boundary Turnoff and OUT




The first backpacker I see is Caribou who is thruhiking the BMT. He stops in Cold Spring Gap to say hello as I sit in my tent on my first day getting thru a cold rainstorm which turns into a 10F snowstorm.


On the night of Day 2 my rainstorm turns to snow and it gets cold and so the tent is locked in ice.


Day 3 is very cold at 10F so I sit put and pull a zero and wonder how I'm gonna take down a tent once saturated with rain water and now locked in ice.


On Day 4 it's about 8F where I'm camped and as I slowly pack up two more BMT thruhikers pass thru and they are Greenleaf and Apple Pie. Their only pads are the pictured Z-Rests. Ouch.



Since my 8 lb 10 oz tent is covered in a varnish of ice and encrusted, it takes me 30 minutes to roll up and I barely get the now 15 lb tent stuffed into its tent sack. Cursing followed. What's the definition of winter backpacking? Stuffing Large Items into Small Sacks.


I finally leave Cold Gap and gain a thousand feet to Bob Bald so I can let my icy tent "sublimate" and let my WM bag air out and reloft. Another cold night.


On Day 5 I leave the Bob on 7 Mile Ridge and stop on Bob's Wall at a favorite rock. On this trip I'm using a Dan McHale Demo pack which hauls my 95 lbs well, making such weight feel like 50 lbs. But the pack is alittle small so I have alot of crap strapped on the outside.

[Tipi Walter]

I reach the end of Bob's Wall and stop to get a pic of the McHale harness system to send to Dan in his pack-making process. It's still obviously cold as I'm wearing more than normal---including full leather zamberlan boots---required for cold winter backpacking. Right after this I slapped on my Kahtoola microspikes to drop 500 feet down the ridge trail to Naked Ground Gap. I'm also wearing my excellent Icebreaker zip neck tops, 260 wt under 320 wt.


There were a couple items which saved my butt on this trip and this is one of them---Microspikes.


Once I reach the gap in Naked Ground I drop hard on the NG trail which loses 3,000 feet in about 4 miles and along the way I take a break by pulling off the McHale back panel to use for a sit pad.


The Naked Ground trail parallels Little Santeetlah Creek and so I set up in my second blizzard and my coldest two mornings of the trip at 0F. First trip ever I brought Hot Hands warmers and they worked great.


The morning of Day 8 is my coldest at around -2F and I leave camp in my microspikes and they get me across and on top of some creek ice on the trail.


Once I lose some serious elevation I stop by Frog Rock but I'm too late!! It eats another hiker. It almost ate me.


I finish the Naked Ground trail and use the Jenkins Meadow connector trail to get me on the Jenkins trail proper and carry 2 full days worth of water for 2 dry camps on the Jenks trail. My first night on Jenks is here in a little ridge gap.

[Tipi Walter]

The Jenkins Meadow is a real nutbuster as it gains 3,000 feet in several miles and so I stop by a favorite tree on a ridge spine and take a break.



Jenkins pops me out on Haoe Ridge and there's still some snow around.


Jenkins connects to Haoe Lead and Haoe reclimbs up to 7 Mile Ridge and so I take a break on the ridge and stop by a favorite rock, sadly disfigured by idiots---


Welcome to North Carolina.


I return to Bob Bald and discover more human damage to a once beautiful mountaintop. You can thank the NC forest service for this mess.


On Day 13 I leave the Bob and head down Fodderstack Ridge trail to Glenn Gap for the night and on Day 14 I backtrack up to the Bob and stop at the Bob Tee where a couple trails intersect.


On Day 17 I leave 7 Mile Ridge and descend several thousand feet on the South Fork Citico trail and cross the SF here.

[Tipi Walter]

South Fork trail drops me way down in the its creek valley and I hump Jeffrey Hell trail out of the valley and end up at its trailhead by the Cherohala Screamway tourist road. I walk the road 8 miles to by Day 20 evac point and so ends the trip.

[Time Zone]

Nice colorful pictures! Your hands look almost fuschia pink in that Jenkins Meadow picture (captioned @ smugmug as "gearing up by the Kurt Peterson Tree"). Do you not wear gloves?

Wonder how Caribou fared. He looked like he was packing pretty light. Can't see any of his backpack from the front, not even over his shoulder.
Your #32 picture at smugmug (Kilmer valley) was great! It just looks frozen and I imagine it was rather quiet.

[BIG TIGER]

Awesome trip as usual. I have had a McHale pack for a long time. Only use it on trips now to carry a lot of gear. Dan makes great packs but they are$$$$$. Ron

[Tipi Walter]

Nice colorful pictures! Your hands look almost fuschia pink in that Jenkins Meadow picture (captioned @ smugmug as "gearing up by the Kurt Peterson Tree"). Do you not wear gloves?

Wonder how Caribou fared. He looked like he was packing pretty light. Can't see any of his backpack from the front, not even over his shoulder.
Your #32 picture at smugmug (Kilmer valley) was great! It just looks frozen and I imagine it was rather quiet.

So many points. The red hands in the Kurt tree pic was due to altering the picture's color with some in-camera edits.

When I saw Caribou he already pulled a 17 mile day and was beginning his tough climb up to Bob Mt and the Hangover.

Quiet? Well, if you don't mind constant overhead jet traffic from 6 major airports yeah it's pretty quiet. Earplugs really help.

Awesome trip as usual. I have had a McHale pack for a long time. Only use it on trips now to carry a lot of gear. Dan makes great packs but they are$$$$$. Ron

I'm trying to get the Demo dialed in for fit as I had some unsolved problems with shoulder pain and ache. Getting a normal fit with a McHale is a whole different process than with other expedition type packs.

[Dogwood]

Regarding your Bob Bald destruction and caption, isn't the NC Forestry Service part of/answerable to the US Forest Service with the clear mandate of "managing" the forest which does NOT always, and rarely does long term, equate with conservation?

[Dogwood]

You're slipping Tipi. A smaller volume McHale pack? You're becoming an ULer. I knew it would happen.

[Dogwood]

I suspected you were doing another trip, to where I was totally clueless. It was either that or you were dehydrating more awesome vegetarian food.

[Tipi Walter]

I am a full blown ULer . . . uh . . . UltraLoader.

[T.S.Kobzol]

95 lbs? Holy Moly Tipi


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[Leo L.]

Thanks for the great report, Walter!

[TX Aggie]

Wow, great trip report, Tipi! Pretty impressive just staying out that long in cold weather. You didn’t say anything about RE supply, so I’m assuming you had all of your food for the entire 20 day trip? That must have been one heck of a bear bag to hang.

Thanks for sharing.


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[JPritch]

Great report man! I gotta try out this winter backpacking, especially in snow. The scenery looks amazing covered in white!

[Tipi Walter]

Wow, great trip report, Tipi! Pretty impressive just staying out that long in cold weather. You didn’t say anything about RE supply, so I’m assuming you had all of your food for the entire 20 day trip? That must have been one heck of a bear bag to hang.

Thanks for sharing.



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Yes, 20 days of food and fuel came to around 50 lbs by itself---and I quit bear bagging years ago since there's no way I can lift such a load on a tree limb with a cord. Best I ever got was getting the food bags about 5 feet off the ground. So they stay with me in the tent vestibule.

[DrL]

Entertaining as always!

That rock fire was an interesting find. What exactly was the point of that?

[martinb]

I know that spot! Always wondered what it would look like covered in ice. I wonder no more.

[Tipi Walter]

Entertaining as always!

That rock fire was an interesting find. What exactly was the point of that?

Probably some unthinking guys needed to hunker in out of the wind and decided to build a fire to stay warm. In the process burnt up the rock.

I know that spot! Always wondered what it would look like covered in ice. I wonder no more.

Old Bob Mt regularly gets covered in snow but few people know because the surround valley is at around 700 feet while the Bob is at 5,300 feet. I've seen the Bob in better snow conditions---

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[martinb]

Love that last pic of the green Keron at that spot. One day I'm gonna get up there in the dead of winter.