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.