It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd share my most recent trip to the Cohuttas.
[Picture slideshow at the bottom]
We left cars at the Jacks and Conasauga River Trailheads, and hiked the Conasauga up to Hickory Creek until it met Rice Camp, which we followed to the Jacks River Trail. Nice 22 miles or so, we took it at a slow pace, leaving plenty of time to hunt for crawdads, swim in the pools, explore around the rivers, lounge in the sun, and just soak in the beautiful scenery. There were 4 in our group, everyone in hammocks. (2 HHs, My WBBB, and an Eno).
We saw a big black bear scamper across the road just by the Conasauga trailhead, but didn't see any more for the rest of the trip. About a 1/4 of a mile in, I stopped just a few strides shy of stepping on a massive cane-break rattler sunning in the middle of the trail, it wasn't till we encouraged him off the trail (gently, with a trekking pole), that he even started to make some noise. Plenty of deer, grouse, and a copperhead rounded out the rest of our wildlife sightings. I saw the copperhead while I was swimming in a pool after lunch on the second day when he slid out of the water onto a rock next to me to catch some sun. He was just a small fellow, no more than 3 feet, and didn't pay me much attention.
We didn't see a soul on the trail until the second day, when a group on horseback passed by on Hickory Creek (Tennessee Walkers and the most beautiful black mule I have ever seen, sadly no pics), and then didn't see anyone again until we passed some day hikers heading to the falls along the Jacks.
We finished up a day earlier than we had planned, so we headed to the "Gateway to the Cohuttas" (a gas station in Cisco, Ga) and picked up a 30-Pack of Bud Heavy's to celebrate the fourth. We spent that night hanging at an amazing overlook south of the Conasauga trailhead torward Cohutta Lake.
We set up from my buddy's jeep roll bars to trees by the overlook, and had a spectacular view of fireworks miles and miles away.
Anyhow, I've rambled long enough. Here's the Pics! I recommend viewing on YouTube so you can fullscreen + 1080p to do the pics some justice.
p.s. dry jambalaya mix from the kroger organic section + wild caught crawfish = the best backpacking meal I've ever had!
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