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  1. #21

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    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post
    couple of questions about sassafras creek trail----since you've been up there a few times lately..

    ---when i went up there about 6 years ago------shortly after the falls, there was some fresh ribbon flagging and someone
    had cut some of the brush making a trail....

    i crossed the creek and saw there was more ribbons but then turned around to camp where sassafras and burnt
    rock met up at..........

    did you see this by any chance?


    also----on the map-----at one point, sassafras creek trail kept following the trail up passed the campsite, (and i dont have map in front of me) and
    i believe it met up with 415.....

    have you ever checked this out?


    when i got done doing that sass>burnt>snowbird loop-----i wondered to myself, since the ribbons on sassafras and
    the ones down on snowbird where 415 cuts off----were the same, maybe they were trying to make that 415
    meet up and go down to sassafras creek...

    it was just a weird co-wink-a dink that the ribbons were the same and the cutting of brush was fresh in both places...


    and around that same time period i remember hearing from either you or will that the owners of the land up there didnt like hikers...

    just a thought of them maybe connecting those.....i dont know..
    To these points---
    Yes, I explored the abandoned Sassafras trail up beyond that primo CS and even camped on it higher up. It follows an obvious logging cut for several hundred feet and then just disappears---be either crossing the creek or turning into an impassable thicket. Winter would be the best time to follow the creek all the way up to 415.

    And yes, that weird cleared Sassy trail above Sassy Falls always gets my curiosity up so on this trip I dumped my pack and followed it over the crossing and the trail starts to peter out but it veers left over a ridge and I think it was an attempt by someone to avoid the nasty Sassafras Creek crossing way below where it crosses Snowbird Creek trail and in high water that crossing ain't easy. Hurricane Laura just ate it's footbridge, btw.

    Everybody thinks this above-falls trail climbs to Bee Gap and 415 but as far as I can tell it skirts around a ridge way left of Bee Gap and comes out somewhere on Bird trail below the Sassy crossing.

  2. #22

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    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post
    i saw that cable when i stayed back there as well...

    didnt realize there was part of a foot bridge there as well as you indicate....

    i thought the cable was from logging and didnt realize it was part of the bridge....

    would also love to know what went on after crossing the creek....
    Will Skelton thinks there used to be an old trail up Sycamore Creek to merge with the Snowbird trail near Hogjaw Gap and down to Mitchell Lick---a way to connect the high reaches of Sycamore Creek to Snowbird Creek without having to climb all the way to Whiggs Meadow and over Haw Knob to Big Junction etc;.

    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post
    isn't that whigg ridge trail?

    i did that as a loop----sycamore up to whiggs meadow, back track down that road a bit and found the trail
    head going off to the left......

    and then down to the hatchery.....
    Yes, I was wondering what the name of Trail 86 is. I have never backpacked it---ever---simply because it goes nowhere except to a road. But then after careful study of the map I realized 85 climbs to a logging cut called Big Cove Branch road #2417 which if you follow it west it jcts North River road so you could use 86 and Big Cove to connect to North River road and go up McNabb Creek trail to Grassy Gap in Citico.

  3. #23

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    Brilliant, Tipi. Thanks for telling us about the trip.
    Teej

    "[ATers] represent three percent of our use and about twenty percent of our effort," retired Baxter Park Director Jensen Bissell.

  4. #24
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    Curious. How much food did you start with for this long with no resupply (not counting the chips)?

  5. #25

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    Quote Originally Posted by Odd Man Out View Post
    Curious. How much food did you start with for this long with no resupply (not counting the chips)?
    Total weight for food and white gas stove fuel was around 65 lbs---and then throw in 7 book rolls---
    TRIP 151 008-XL.jpg
    Here's are a couple of typical book rolls---70 pages each printed on both sides---of interesting subjects gotten off the Internet. 7 book rolls equals a ream of paper and comes to 5 lbs. All these are burned in the first 10 days of a trip.

  6. #26
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    Will Skelton thinks there used to be an old trail up Sycamore Creek to merge with the Snowbird trail near Hogjaw Gap and down to Mitchell Lick---a way to connect the high reaches of Sycamore Creek to Snowbird Creek without having to climb all the way to Whiggs Meadow and over Haw Knob to Big Junction etc;.


    interesting.......

    and i dont have a map in front of me----but that would be quite a long trail to connect sycamore with snowbird, correct......

  7. #27

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    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post
    interesting.......

    and i dont have a map in front of me----but that would be quite a long trail to connect sycamore with snowbird, correct......
    It's not far in distance from Hobo Camp on Sycamore Creek to Laurel Top/Bird Trail 64---it's just STEEP AS HELL.
    Screenshot_2020-06-13 Sycamore Creek Topo Map in Monroe(1).png

  8. #28
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    whoa....

    i haven't look at a map in that area and was just going off what i recall in my head...

    that's way way way shorter than i thought.....

    in my mind, i was picturing the general area of bald river falls going over to snowbird and thinking that was a haul...

    but, looking at that map, looks to be only a couple of miles....

    yeah----i'd go with will's thought of an old trail being that way.....


    looks like there's a challenge for you and the Patman.....

  9. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post
    whoa....

    i haven't look at a map in that area and was just going off what i recall in my head...

    that's way way way shorter than i thought.....

    in my mind, i was picturing the general area of bald river falls going over to snowbird and thinking that was a haul...

    but, looking at that map, looks to be only a couple of miles....

    yeah----i'd go with will's thought of an old trail being that way.....


    looks like there's a challenge for you and the Patman.....
    As I age out of the backpacking life I'll need Patman to carry my food and fuel and to lead me on notorious bushwacks and even to change my diaper on occasion.

  10. #30

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    Given you're still willing to start out with >100lbs, I think you might be ok for a little longer.
    Sucks you caught that heavy rain midtrip, but at least it didn't last. I wasted an off night(tragic!) by skipping an overnighter, as we were forecast up to 9", but it hooked hard just to the south, and barely even rained here.

  11. #31
    Registered User cneill13's Avatar
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    I so look forward to your trip reports. And always, I cannot believe how heavy a pack you carry.

    I took few days off next week. I am going to try to hit some of the areas you visited.

    Thanks again.

  12. #32

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    Quote Originally Posted by OwenM View Post
    Given you're still willing to start out with >100lbs, I think you might be ok for a little longer.
    Sucks you caught that heavy rain midtrip, but at least it didn't last. I wasted an off night(tragic!) by skipping an overnighter, as we were forecast up to 9", but it hooked hard just to the south, and barely even rained here.
    On my Day 13 of the trip is when Hurricane Laura hit with her second of three Deluge Rain Cycles and by far the worst of the three. I estimated I got 10 inches in three hours---and was camping right on Snowbird Creek by Upper Falls and figured I'd end up being a story on Knoxville News---"Camper Gets Washed Away by Sudden Flood." Luckily my tent is a Hilleberg with an outstanding floor because it was sitting in a lake about 1-2 inches deep during the worst of it. No leaks of course.

    Quote Originally Posted by cneill13 View Post
    I so look forward to your trip reports. And always, I cannot believe how heavy a pack you carry.

    I took few days off next week. I am going to try to hit some of the areas you visited.

    Thanks again.
    Hope you post a complete report with pics of your adventure. I'm used to carrying a heavy pack---been doing it pretty much nonstop since June 1980. Of course generally my daily mileage with such weight is low---4-5 miles is a real workout. On this trip I had two 7 mile days and one 8 mile day.

    A butt heavy pack is weird---I can't actually lift a 100 lb pack as my upper body strength is near zero---although my core muscles are strong and so once the behemoth is on my back (putting it on using the Sit Down Method)---I have no problem with the weight. My butt and legs and hips and feet take over and I'm ready to start moving. The hardest part with such weight is taking it off and putting it on.

    Or doing this kind of madness---(blowdown on Slickrock Creek in 2017)---


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