Dicks Creek to Rainbow Springs Campgroun d

“Who wants or needs to get away for this one in march? Prowler, MDSHiker ?, Sherpa?, JOSH? ant one else?

Where "rad" he might want to hit this one.”

“where is the hike located?”

“GA, NC”

“wow to far for me.”

“you doing the same original week?.. second week in march?.. what's the total mileage?”

“and where will u be on saturday/sunday.. if i wanted to come down and spend two days with ya?”

“Prowler and I have been e-mailing back and forth trying to figure out the route. We agreed that we would do 30-37 miles somewhere between Hogpen Gap and Rainbow Springs Campgound. Not sure yet where we'll start.

Where youse guys wanna start???
What day, Thu., Fri., ???”

“TD I originally took off for March 13-17 to hike with you, so If possible I would like to try to keep it around that time frame.

MDS, Wens or TH would be a good start. 30-37 is good to me!”

“i'll be in key west, that week!

too bad for me, huh? LOL!”

“dam rad, bought time for a post from you. you;ve been abducted by alians??”

“The reason I cancelled my hike was a conflict on the 15th. Christen has been invited to be Vanderbilt dedication of the new law building and reception, and Deb and I can go also. So that is why I went ahead and cancelled the North Georgia trip, cos the 15th would be right in the MIDDLE of it.

But I can still come down and hang out with your guys SAT/SUN as long as I know your itinerary. Shoot, I could be the beer mule. :)”

“that would be great if you could come up! we'll let you know!”

“I'm in if it's a 3 dayer. If you go 4, maybe I could hook up Friday at the nearest road crossing and bum a ride back on Sun?”

“Here's the mileage ...

Dicks Creek Gap (US76) to Deep Gap (USFS Rd 71) is 15.6m . USFS Rd 71 MAY not be open this time of year depending on snow/ice.

Deep Gap to Wallace Gap (Old US64) is 21.3m .

That's 36.9m - not counting the walk to Rainbow Springs Campground which is one mile. I only mentioned RSC because it's a good place to park. We could walk an additional 2 miles to Winding Stair Gap, but it's not a great place to leave a car for 3 days.
(So I'm told.)

Total mileage is 37.9m .

In fair weather I'm usually good for 10-15 miles per day depending upon the terrain. If we have snow/ice then we could be out there another day - just depends.

How about it Prowler/dayhiker - want to hike this in 3 days?
Fri, Sat, Sun ?”

“Let's see, assuming we started at about 10 on Friday (after dropping off shuttles) and did 2 mph + 2 hrs of breaks per day and factor in sunrise and sunset are both at about 6:45 ....
Friday mileage: hike 10 am til about 5:30 = 7.5-2 hrs rest = 5.5*2 = 11 miles
Saturday: hike from 8 am til 5:30 = 9.5-2 = 7.5 * 2 = 15 miles(ouch)
Sunday = 39 miles - 15 - 11 = 13 miles = 6.5 hrs + 2 hrs = 8.5 hrs. 8 am + 8.5 = 5:30pm. spend another hour on shuttles and we should be on our way home by 6:30. I would get home at about 10:30. That sounds doable, assuming the weather doesn't do us in.”

“PS. the new moon is on the 15th. Night hiking, if necessary, would be a little more difficult.”

“Hey Prowler, I currently have a trip planned in the Smokies that very weekend, but my friend is famous for cancelling at the last min. So if that trip falls thru, I might go with you guys.”

“Didn't give me much to go on tho.. if i wanted to find you guys.. no idea where your overnights will be yet?”

“MDS/Sherpa/Dayhiker You think MAYBEE meeting on Thursday night and hike Friday morning would be alittle better.?.

Im not to fond on darktime hiking!


Lions & Tigers!”

“don't forget the bears
towndog, it's a shame your'e not going. im gonna finish this time”

“TD im going to email everyone to get a good idea so Ill include or foward any info to ya.

i cant forget the dawg!”

“Prowler - dayhiker and I will be there very early on Friday morning. I'm spending Thursday night in the area so I'll be there as early as possible. We'll pick a time when we get closer to the trip. If you want to get together Thursday night then that's fine with me.

Towndawg, we haven't forgotten you. We're working on some plans and will let you know where we'll be Sat. and Sun.

I've been looking at the trail guides and it looks like most of Sunday will be downhill.
Yahoo!”

“Meeting on Thursday would be cool. Towndawg, if the road to Deep Gap is closed in NC, you might have a tough time meeting up with everybody. From Dick's Creek to Deep Gap, there are not many roads (I think some 4x4 tracks, but not much more). I'm going to talk to my friend this week and see if he really wants to go to the Smokies, if he doesn't, count me in.”

“ttt - to the top
Got to get it above Tarpie's handiwork”

“DCG to Muskrat Shelter 11.6m

MS to Carter Gap Shelter 12.5m

CGS to Wallace Gap 12.6m

How's this for Fri, Sat, Sun???
Mileage came from the Thru-Hiker Guide. We can camp anywhere we want, I just used the mileage from shelter to shelter to make things easier. Don't forget, Sun. will be mostly downhill.”

“Take a good picture of PlumOrchard Shelter for me, will you?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Hey TD, I'll bring my good camera on this trip and get a pic of the shelter for ya.”

“Thanks.. I have never seen a three story shelter.”

“Deep Gap is supposed to be nice also.. but you won't see it. It is just south of where you are going in.”

“it sounds great but you shure you dont want to start on TH instead, I like getting back in town early on Sun. its a 8 hr. drive and thats tough after a long day.”

“I hear ya prowler, let me think about an alternative - we can get off the trail earlier on Sunday - there are several trailheads. OR, we can leave Thu afternoon.

I'm flexible - lets hear from everyone else.”

“At least I know what shelters you are in each night, so I can fire bomb ya.. :)

Or is that fart bomb?.. Snore alert?.. Things that go bump in the night?.. Mysterious noises? .. Lights in the distance?.. Purple myst rising above the horizon?..”

“I won't be able to start on Thursday. We could either come off the trail at Albert Mtn. for a total of about 30 miles or, get an early start on Friday and add about 1.5 miles to Friday and Saturday. That would make for a long Fri/Sat. and then have 9.6 miles on Sunday.”

“If you need to cut the hike shorter, you can take the Kimsey Creek Trail from Deep Gap into the Standing Indian campground, about 7 miles. It ends at the Backcountry Station, where there is parking.

Dicks Creek Gap to Deep Gap includes a steep climb from Bly Gap. Once past this point, it is a quick ridge walk to Muskrat Creek Shelter. From MCS it is a rocky hike down Yellow Mtn. to Deep Gap.
The Standing Indian Shelter is just a couple of miles form Deep Gap, though I would recommend that you go on to the summit for the terrific views.

I made it from Deep Gap Shelter (GA) to the summit of Standing Indian in a long day (about 17 miles)

Also, you can drop off the AT a few miles past Big Springs Shelter, near Albert Mtn., and take the Long Branch Trail down to the same Backcountry station.

A nice loop in this area is up Kimsey Creek Trail to Standing Indian summit(7 Mi), Standing Indian to Big Springs Shelter(13mi), and Big Springs back to the cars (6 miles, or so)....

ST”

“Thanks for the info. ST.

Prowler - you planning on getting to GA Thur. morning or afternoon?”

“hopen ill be there either W night or 1 pm TH! I have an extra day to get some good sleep.”

“I wish I could make this trip but 1 it's too far
2 I have already asked for lots of time off this year from work for backpacking.

Life sucks sometimes.....:(”

“Three story shelter?

Is it like the cardboard shelter?
member dat one TD? snicker.”

“If Prowler and MDSHiker want to hit the trail Thursday morning, maybe we could pick a route where yall would be close to a road Thur. night. I could park there Friday morning and then cont on with yall. On Sun. evening, just drop me off on the way back to the starting point for the extra vehicles. That way yall could get an extra day and I wouldn't be in the way.”

“i like dayhiker's idea. i can't be there til late thursday”

“Original plans! That I took off for.


W-SU 2/13-2/17 (Hogpen Gap - Dicks Creek Gap)

JOSH youplanned on W as well when plans were made previously.

But thats fine Ill hike on and meet up with you somehow or never!”

“The original plans was a two pronged W-Sun and Fri-Sun for folks who couldn't take that much time off. The Wed. group was going to be at a trailhead Thur. night for the second half to catch up.”

“i just can't take off for 5 days in a row anymore, being as i haven't worked in so long.”

“After talking things over with Prowler and dayhiker, and getting advice from a few other folks, we've settled on the following schedule. Anyone is welcome to come along - the trip is only 4 weeks away. The daily mileage is only an approximation and depends on how we all feel at the time. We don't have to stay at/near shelters, I just used them for mileage puposes.

March 14th - Thursday
(MDSHiker & Prowler to meet early, around 8/9am)
Unicoi Gap to Deep Gap Shelter
12.6m

March 15th - Friday
Deep Gap Shelter to Dicks Creek Gap
3.5m

(Pick up dayhiker and anyone else in the parking lot around 9am.)

Dicks Creek Gap to Muskrat Creek Shelter 11.6m

March 16th - Saturday
Muskrat Creek Shelter to Carter Gap Shelter 12.5m

March 17th - Sunday
Carter Gap Shelter to USFS 67 Backcountry Parking Lot at Standing Indian Campground 11.6m

OR

Exit at Albert Mountain USFS 67, only 6.2m

Ok, what did I leave out??”

“i'll probably park in the dicks creek lot and walk the 3.5 to the shelter and meet up on thurs night. i get off work at midnight on wednesday. driving straight down and getting out of the car and hiking right away doesn't sound too good. (6-8 hrs drive?)”

“Sounds good, I'll see yall then.”

“look OK to me MDS !!

Ill email you on where to meet on W/ or TH morning.”

“Hi all,

Just found this forum and would be interested in taking part in this hike. I have van that holds me and 5 others for shuttling afterwards.

I have hiked this section twice before and am interested in doing it again.

Thanks,

Papa John”

“Come on, the more the marrier. You have to bring pizza though. It's got to be Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa John's Perfect Pizza, Yeah!”