Joyce Kilmer- Slickrock – Citico Wilderness Naked Ground Big Fat Gap 12/29/13 Thru 12/31/13

I hiked the Joyce Kilmer-Slickrock and Citico Wilderness area back in December for the first time and really enjoyed my time spent there. We were actually in the Citico Wilderness area but generally when people refer to it they lump them all together. We didn’t have time to see the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest which was a little disappointing, but the general area is so awesome that I was able to easily get over the disappointment once I experience all there was to offer. Besides, not making it to the memorial forest will give me a good excuse to go there again.

Our fearless leader made this a base camp trip with our home base located at Big Fat Gap. We pitched our tents here and did a day hike up to Naked Ground, which happens to be one heck of a climb up and a good roundtrip hike in the winter time when it gets dark early.

By the time we arrived at the Big Fat Gap parking lot it was damp, gloomy and nearing dusk so the short 1.4 mile downhill hike to Big Fat Gap made it easy for us to get our camp set up and firewood collected before it got too dark. This was my first time to Big Fat Gap and I have to say that it was very cool. Now I’ve only been there once but I’d say you could fit 15+ one or two man tents in the immediate area of Big Fat Gap because they don’t call it that for nothing. It’s really a gorgeous site with a large fire pit in the center of the main area and plenty of flat area in the outskirts to expand a little. It’s nestled in the crook formed by Slickrock Creek and Big Fat Branch that flows down parallel to the Big Fat Gap trail. We spent that night relaxing by the fire and enjoying our giant creek side campground at Big Fat Gap because this is one comfortable place. This was one of my favorite tent sites because right behind my tent and down a twenty foot creek bank was Slickrock Creek itself. It gurgled all night and I slept great!

The next morning we left camp for our day-hike at around ten so we weren’t exactly pushing ourselves, lol. But we didn’t realize the distance of the day hike and the fact that we wouldn’t get back until around 9:30pm. If we had known that we would have left camp a little earlier because the trip down the Hangover Lead trail is a little hairy in the dark. It turned into an adventure getting up to Naked Ground and back to camp that night.

We took Slickrock Creek trail for most of the way and it starts out flat to slightly rolling as it follows Slickrock Creek. Once the trail turns away from the creek and heads uphill it switchbacks back and forth and it gets pretty challenging. There is a point about 3/4 of the way up the hill where the trail goes straight up and you have to scramble a bit. I don’t recall any water crossings that were of any concern on the way up to Naked Ground but we crossed quite a few creeks on the flat section. At one point the trail finally transitioned into a maze of Rhododendrons that weren’t so high and allowed us a view of the surroundings just above them. The views were like nothing I had seen before and it looked like we were quite literally in a sea of clouds. Unbelievable!

We finally arrived at Naked Ground and were rewarded with some awesome sights. The pictured don’t do it justice because it was almost like we were standing in a sea of clouds, so cool. The branches on all of the trees were encapsulated in cocoons of ice and some of the ice was feathered like nothing I’d seen before. It was incredible up top at Naked Ground, unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time to spend there because we had a long hike back to Big Fat Gap.

The trip back down was in the dark and was a little treacherous at times but thankfully some of us had our headlamps so it was an adventure without incident. Can’t wait to go back!

ASOLO FUGITIVE HIKING BOOTS

50 OUNCES

BACKPACK AND CONTENTS	WEIGHT OUNCES
BACKPACK
KELTY COYOTE 80 BACKPACK	85.00
TENT
MSR HUBBA 1 WITH FOOTPRINT & MUDMAT IN Outdoor Research 5L Lightweight Dry Sack (NOW MSR HUBBA NXT TENT W/FOOTPRINT)	66.00
SLEEPING BAGS
MOUNTAIN HARDWEAR SWITCH 20 (NO LONGER MADE) IN OUTDOOR RESEARCH 20L DRY SACK	66.00
COLUMBIA LINER BAG	10.20
SLEEPING PADS
BIG AGNES AIR CORE INSULATED SLEEPING PAD LONG WIDE	31.00
THERMAREST RIDGEREST SOLITE REGULAR CUT DOWN TO 20X60	12.00
TREKKING POLES
EASTON TREKKING POLES	20.00
TARP
GRABBER OUTDOORS SPACE BLANKET 5X7FT	12.80
FOOD
WINE IN OUTDOOR PRODUCTS 16OZ BOTTLE	22.00
FOOD IN OUTDOOR RESEARCH 5L LIGHTWEIGHT DRY SACK	53.00
BASICS
BODY GLIDE-BEN’S INSECT REPELLENT-SUNTAN LOTION IN HYPERLITE MOUNTAIN GEAR NANO CUBEN FIBER BAG	2.90
ROPE BAG	3.60
MINI COMPASS/TEMP GAUGE	0.70
ZPACKS CUBEN FIBER ZIP WALLET	2.00
SAWYER FILTER MINI(2OZ), ONE SQUEEZE BAG(1.5OZ), SCOOP CUP(2OZ) MESH BAG	5.50
SAFETY LANYARD WITH BEAR GRYLLS SCOUT KNIFE/WHISTLE/COAST G10 FLASHLIGHT	2.80
TOILETRY KIT – MEDICINE/TOOTHBRUSH/TOOTHPASTE/ETC IN OUTDOOR RESEARCH SMALL DRY DITTY SACK	10.40
FIRE KIT: DRYER LINT/LIGHTER/FIRE STARTER	2.80
POTTY KIT – COGHLAN’S BACKPACKERS TROWEL , TOILET PAPER, PURELL HAND CLEANER IN NYLON SACK	6.50
CLOTHING
SARANAC FLEECE GLOVES	3.00
WINTER CLOTHING BAG 2 NIGHT SLEEPING BAG: WOOL SOCKS/LIGHTWEIGHT THERMAL BOTTOMS/MIDWEIGHT THERMAL BOTTOMS IN LARGE OUTDOOR RESEARCH DRY DITTY SACK	20.00
RAVEN RAIN COAT	23.00
OUTDOOR RESEARCH ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOW GAITERS	4.80
NIKE RAIN PANTS	12.40
COOKING
MSR POCKET ROCKET STOVE/SNOW PEAK SOLO MINI COOKSET/GAS/VARGO TITANIUM FOLDING SPORK/MSR UNIVERSAL CANISTER STAND	20.00
GSI NESTING BOWL & MUG (I TOOK BOWL ONLY)	2.5
WATER BOTTLES – BLADDERS
CAMELBAK 3 LITER UNBOTTLE FULL	114.14
LIGHTING
PRINCETON TECH REMIX HEADLAMP ZIPLOC BAG	3.50
TOOLS
LEATHERMAN TOOL	5.30
ADVENTURE MEDICAL RESCUE MIRROR /SILVA POLARIS 177 COMPASS / ZPACKS CUBEN FIBER BAG	1.50
EXTRAS
SUNGLASSES	1.40
MP3 PLAYER; EARPHONES; BATTERY	5.30
TOTAL SUM OF OUNCES	641.94
TOTAL SUM OF POUNDS	40.12