Cohutta Trip

We're back home from our backpacking trip, but sadly we've been back home since yesterday (Saturday) evening. I'll go ahead and give a quick (or as quick as possible) debriefing of our trip full of mishaps. We took off from Atlanta around 10:30 a.m. on Friday and made our way to the Cohutta Wilderness after stopping off for a scrumptious lunch at Sonic in Chatsworth, Georgia. Our plan was to start off from the north side of the Hickory Creek Trail and make our way the five miles to Bray Field, where we would camp. Sadly, you have to ford two bodies of water by car before making it to the parking area at the head of the trail. After scoping out the first section of water, we decided we could do it, but the second section (pictured above... and, by the way, you can't appreciate how deep it really was) proved to be significantly deeper, and we weren't willing to risk flooding our Saturn and Focus, so we had to back track and head to the western trailhead, from which we would hike three miles in to Bray Field.

Thankfully we didn't have to ford any other bodies of water to make it to this point (more water was to come later) so we parked the cars, readied ourselves (and Merckx!) with our packs, and headed down the trail. Now some people claim to have eyes that are bigger than their stomachs... I think I have a mind that would like to do more than my poor body will allow. I set out on this backpacking trip thinking I was invincible. What? The nights are going to be in the 20s? Who cares? We'll be fine. Ha. Well, we were fine hiking in... we had good conversation, the dogs were having the time of their lives, running around and being crazy, and the weather seemed okay... but then it got dark. We managed to set up camp in Bray Field -- which is beautiful, by the way... right on the Conasauga River, spaced out campsites -- and cooked and ate dinner before firing up a campfire around dusk. Everything still seemed splendid, huddling around the campfire, shifting according to the wind-driven smoke; chatting it up with Jill, Seth, and Brent; swig, swig, pass; watching snowflakes fall down upon our heads -- but then it came time to retire to the tents. The night began with Merckx tied to a tree outside the tent and us in our bags inside (me in an extra sleeping bag liner, which we purchased specifically for this trip -- it was supposed to add 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit) and ended with us on our stomachs, our mummy bags cinched as tight as possible around us and over our heads, all our clothes on, and Merckx inside the tent with us. It was cold. The coldest weather Jarrett and I have ever experienced while camping. Anyway, the next morning most of our water was frozen, and I spent a lot of time (since I didn't sleep most of the night anyway) looking out our little tent window to see if any of the others were awake and moving. We finally all made our way out of the tents, struggled to make breakfast, and then decided to build a fire to warm our numb extremities. We were trying to decide whether to leave our belongings behind while we dayhiked or pack everything with us, and I threw out the idea that I was inclined to just head on home. I mean -- come on -- frozen drinking water? Granted, we were right on the river with water purifying pumps on hand, but still. And I love backpacking and being outdoors, but when I'm too cold, it just isn't so enjoyable. The general consensus was that, sure, we could survive another night, but we would never warm up and we were dealing with even a colder night ahead of us. So we decided to do a day hike and then head back out to the cars.

We planned to hike up to Panther Creek Falls, which all of us were really looking forward to but, unfortunately, about a third of the way into it, we found out that you have to ford the river, and there wasn't really a good place to cross via rock-hopping. Though we saw other crazy groups of hikers just jumping in and wading across, I wasn't willing to risk getting my clothes wet just to proceed to have to hike out in the cold temperatures -- besides the fact that Merckx is a strange dog who seems to have a fear of water and is very hard to coax across even the shallowest of crossings. So we didn't even make it to the Falls. We had to turn around, go back through camp to pick up the rest of our belongings, and head back out the three miles to the car.

Thankfully those three miles were uphill for the most part, so I actually felt like we got a good hike in -- otherwise I was feeling rather bad that we were having to cut the trip short. Yes, we were planning on spending Easter weekend out in the woods, and, yes, we were now going to get back in time to go to Easter service at church, but I went into this thinking, what better place is there to get closer to the Creator than the great outdoors? Everything ended up working out for the best, though, as we were able to get home by around 6:00 p.m., take a nice hot shower, grab a bite to eat out, watch the last episode of Lost and begin the British version of The Office, and then get into a warm bed and enjoy a good night of sleep.

Easter Sunday has proven to be good too. We went to the second service of church and then had a couple of friends over for lunch. Now we're on a drinking rampage, but whatever... :) This is what happens when you start drinking wine with lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

The backpacking trip was still fun, regardless of the mishaps -- it was great getting to know Seth, Jill, and Brent better, and it felt good just to get outside. We hope to do it again soon... when the weather is a bit warmer.