Dan Roper
11-01-2016, 04:50
I did a 14-mile loop hike in the Cohutta Wilderness with a friend yesterday, October 31. The water situation was better than expected.
North Georgia is in extreme drought now with no relief in sight (as of yesterday, anyway). We expected to find water in the Conasauga River and perhaps the lower stretch of Panther Creek, with none elsewhere.
The Conasauga is low. We crossed twice (at Bray Fields and at Panther Creek) without getting our feet wet. We were surprised to find Panther Creek flowing - low, but adequate - up to the falls. And there is a decent flow and a nice pool right above the falls. Above that, in the flats, there didn't seem to be any water in the plentiful feeder streams. But as long as there's water at the top of the falls, camping is good.
A bigger surprise was that some of the small stream crossings on Hickory Creek Trail also had water - the numerous little branches of Thomas Creek and Hickory Creek had small flows and clean, cool pools of water.
My friend was in the Jacks River drainage two weeks back and said the situation there is much more dire. Beech Creek, Murray Creek and Rough Creek were not flowing (though each had stagnant pools here and there). The Jacks is flowing, of course, but it very low.
There is currently a lightning-ignited wildfire on Rough Ridge that has burned more than one-thousand acres. Rough Ridge Trail is closed, as is East Cowpen from Three Forks to Panther Creek Trail. No parking at Three Forks either. The US Forest Service is watching the fire and has established breaks around it, but otherwise is allowing it to burn since it is of natural origin and (I think) isn't burning too hotly or out of control, and thus is serving as a kind of controlled burn.
A final word about water: I think Panther Creek and probably the bigger forks of Thomas and Hickory creeks should have water until winter rains set in, assuming that isn't delayed by the drought. Here's hoping.
North Georgia is in extreme drought now with no relief in sight (as of yesterday, anyway). We expected to find water in the Conasauga River and perhaps the lower stretch of Panther Creek, with none elsewhere.
The Conasauga is low. We crossed twice (at Bray Fields and at Panther Creek) without getting our feet wet. We were surprised to find Panther Creek flowing - low, but adequate - up to the falls. And there is a decent flow and a nice pool right above the falls. Above that, in the flats, there didn't seem to be any water in the plentiful feeder streams. But as long as there's water at the top of the falls, camping is good.
A bigger surprise was that some of the small stream crossings on Hickory Creek Trail also had water - the numerous little branches of Thomas Creek and Hickory Creek had small flows and clean, cool pools of water.
My friend was in the Jacks River drainage two weeks back and said the situation there is much more dire. Beech Creek, Murray Creek and Rough Creek were not flowing (though each had stagnant pools here and there). The Jacks is flowing, of course, but it very low.
There is currently a lightning-ignited wildfire on Rough Ridge that has burned more than one-thousand acres. Rough Ridge Trail is closed, as is East Cowpen from Three Forks to Panther Creek Trail. No parking at Three Forks either. The US Forest Service is watching the fire and has established breaks around it, but otherwise is allowing it to burn since it is of natural origin and (I think) isn't burning too hotly or out of control, and thus is serving as a kind of controlled burn.
A final word about water: I think Panther Creek and probably the bigger forks of Thomas and Hickory creeks should have water until winter rains set in, assuming that isn't delayed by the drought. Here's hoping.