5 Days With A Hammock Hang

June 14-18  2012

INTO THE CHEROKEE NATIONAL FOREST

22 MILES FROM HOME:  I leave home on another backpacking trip and reach my destination after 22 road miles which is a good number for those like me who dislike long driving just to go backpacking.

I parked at Farr Gap which is a good way to reach Slickrock Creek from the Citico side as 3 trails leave the Gap---the new Tallassee Mt/Milligan Creek trail, the Fodderstack trail to Beech Gap, and the Stiffknee trail down to Slickrock Creek.

My trip begins at Farr Gap in the Citico wilderness as I prepare to descend to Slickrock Creek on the Stiffknee trail.

Bears love to eat trail signs.  Thankfully I'm not packing wood ha ha ha.

Stiffknee Gap---the trail falls like a rock to this gap and then turns right and falls again to Little Slickrock Creek.

The bugs are bad so it's time to don the butt saving (face saving) headnet.  I'm somewhere on the Stiffknee trail as it drops a couple thousand feet to the creek.

Stiffknee crosses Little Slickrock 5 times and here's the 5th.

At the jct with Stiffknee trail and Slickrock Creek (Little Slickrock Creek is behind).

Crossing the not-so-mighty Slickrock Creek and nearing my day's camp.

The Hilleberg Keron on Slickrock Creek.

Strange hippie cairns on Slickrock Creek.

Balanced cairn.

Neato.

Okay, enough already.

A church group from Lenoir NC shows up and camps nearby at the Ike Branch jct.

Still life with pack and trailsign at the Ike Branch jct.

Tate McGee, leader of the church group.  We talked for hours about ASU and Boone NC since he lived there in the 1970's.

On Day 2 a light rain passes thru but morning brings an all day sun.

Sgt Rock arrives with his son Skeeter and set up their hammocks for the Slickrock Creek Hammock Hang.  Also pictured is Scooter Dogma and Choda.

Choda with his Light Heart Gear Duo tent, one of only three tents out of 21 hammocks.

The Light Heart Gear Duo tent, an A-frame config which seems to be roomy.

Up close tent label.

Here is Ragnall, Choda, Bearpaw, Acer, Sgt Rock and Scooter Dogma around the main firepit.

A Hang requires a picture of a Hammock.

Roche and Ragnall---very friendly folks.

Choda and Scooter Dogma packed and ready to leave on Day 3.

Black Wolf with his 5 lb kit.  He came in a couple days before on the North Fork Citico trail to Crowders and down Big Stack Gap to Wildcat Falls and the 7 crossings of Slickrock Creek to our camp.

Black Wolf's 5 lb kit.

Rafter C's Six Moon Designs tent, one of three tents.

Rafter C's tent.

MORE TO COME

Advantages of a hammock---creekside hanging.

Ewker, HamHocker and Medicine Man arrive!!

Medicine Man shows off his novel hammock design.  Acer, Yellow Jacket and Spam Burgler look on.

Poof's set up by the creek.

Bearpaw surveys Slickrock Creek and Medicine Man's hammock.  In the back is Neutron Jimmy and Sgt Rock.

Sgt Rock's son Skeeter explores the creek.

Several hammocks have banners.

Poof by her hammock on the creek.

Black Wolf trying out Sgt Rock's experimental yellow cuben sling.

Neutron Jimmy, Medicine Man, Gredemer and Yellow Jacket discuss hammocks.

Sgt Rock talks about his yellow hammock.

Colonel R's setup.

Colonel R is a very friendly guy.

Ewker and HamHocker's camp.

Acer drove all the way from Indiana for this hang.  He's a proud veteran of Vietnam and the USMC.

Wisenber breaks camp on Day 4.

HangNOut and Detail Man.

Skeeter's pack is ready to go.

Sgt Rock is packing up.

Everyone leaves and I pack the kit and move upstream to where Little Slickrock Creek jcts with Slickrock Creek, as above.

My last night is spent at Stiffknee Camp.

The hump from Slickrock Creek to Farr Gap is fun and steep in places but I make it to Farr Gap to end the trip.

The hammock crew were very polite and even with 24 people managed to keep camp quiet at night and were very respectful.  Reflects well on the group as a whole.

Tipi Looks like a blast.  I need to do one of those so I can check out some different Hammocks before I buy one.  

I got to get out more!

Wolf

Thanks for the trip report, Tipi.  Nicely done.

Nice trip report and pics Tipi. I was nice meeting you and a lot of the folks from HF's

Cool trip my Friend! Would have liked to have been there....

It was great meeting all the hammock folks like Detail Man and Ewker and Sgt Rock and Poof and Medicine Man and Wisenber and all the rest.  I wish Patman could've made it too.

This is really cool Tipi. I wasn't aware that hammock hikers/campers had get togethers. 

They all seem like a great bunch of folks...

I am debating on giving hammocks a whirl. Have been for some time. 

Detail Man & Ewker, welcome to Trailspace. 

Hammock Forums is their main website and it turns out some members like Medicine Man have done over 25 "hangs"---all the way from car camping hangs to winter hangs in Mt Rogers.  Plus, if you think hammock camping must be pretty simple, these guys will convince you otherwise ha ha ha.

Nice trip report Tipi. Looks like it was a bit cooler this time.

Still life with pack and trail sign at the Ike Branch jct.

I recognize the pack.   My wife has the same one.  Is it one of the hammock hangers?  I'm mildly surprised as it's not the lightest of packs.

Ocalacomputerguy---Naw, there were two main groups on my trip, the NC church group and the hammock hangers.  This pack belonged to the church group.

The hammockers tend to go UL as shown by Sgt Rocks Zpack in cuben fiber. 

Tipi Walter said:

Ocalacomputerguy---Naw, there were two main groups on my trip, the NC church group and the hammock hangers.  This pack belonged to the church group.

The hammockers tend to go UL as shown by Sgt Rocks Zpack in cuben fiber. 

Hamhocker and I are working on getting our pack weight down but I doubt I will ever get in Sgt Rocks range.

Ewker---or in Black Wolf's range.  But let's point this out---Black Wolf's gear worked for him down to 60F, and he mentioned getting chilled on a few nights.  And I'm uncertain on his food choices or amounts.

Tipi,

I don't think I saw his hammock setup at all. Where was he hanging at?  

With Hamhocker going with me I will carry more gear so she doesn't have to. We could cut back on some weight but as long as we both are comfortable I am ok with it.

Ewker said:

Tipi,

I don't think I saw his hammock setup at all. Where was he hanging at?  

With Hamhocker going with me I will carry more gear so she doesn't have to. We could cut back on some weight but as long as we both are comfortable I am ok with it.

 He was camped in the rhodo behind Sgt Rock near the bank of the creek.

Anybody unsure about buying a hammock, wally world now sells a heavy but cheap hammock. I was buying diapers and its right across from the camping section. I cant resist looking at all the ozark trail and coleman stuff. Anyway I bought one for 25 bucks, it is pretty heavy but comes with everything you need to hang it and give it a try. Its plenty big but did I mention its heavy. So now there is an option for the tent campers to try the wild side without spending much money. Oh yea its kinda heavy!

Please sign in to reply