Cohutta Wilderness

[jojo0425]

I'm going on the Jacks River Trail (not the A.T., but close) week after next. There are 42 fords and I can't decide what shoes to bring.
I have a pair of New Balance trail shoes, hiking boots and Teva like shoes. I want to bring the New Balance and water sandals but am not sure if the terrain will require the boots or not.
I run, and want to do some trail running while I'm up there. If the terrain isn't too steep I'll leave the boots home.
Any suggestions?
Thanks :D

[MOWGLI]

The New Balance shoes should be fine. If you want to bring the Tevas, they would be fine too. Boots would be my last option for fording a stream that often.

[gravityman]

I've been there! It's pretty, real pretty. If you are camping near the falls, expect a lot of people on the weekend! Loud people, with complete car camping equipment. Not sure how close the road is there as we backpacked from an entirely different trailhead, but people manage to carry all kinds of stuff. The sites are pretty trashed as well.

Having said that, it was some of the best waterfall swimming that I have EVER DONE! You can jump off some really tall rocks into the waterfall pool. Amazing!

The water crossing are a pain! There is really, truely that many, and all are annoying. I had boots, my girlfriend at the time had sneakers. She was a lot happier. It was too tedious to remove the shoes all that time. We just tropped through. There are some REALLY steep trails though. I forget the name of the one we took out, but it was crazy steep.

That trip had special meaning to me, as it was my first backpacking trip with my then new girlfriend. Now she is my wife... ahhhh...

Anyway, I would wear the sneakers, let them get wet, and just dry them on your feet.

Gravity Man

[jojo0425]

Thanks for the advice Gravityman and Mow. I guess I was concerned that trail shoes wouldn't give me enough support. I haven't mastered light weight hiking yet.

The Jacks is the first leg of our trip, next leg we start at Three Forks and follow the A.T., Benton MacKaye and Duncan Ridge Trails. I'll have my boots for this section.

Happy Hiking all :D

[MOWGLI]

JoJo, I walked the BMT in April end to end. I have a journal at trailjournals.com under the name Jeffrey Hunter. Maybe you'll find it helpful.

[Youngblood]

Originally posted by jojo0425
Thanks for the advice Gravityman and Mow. I guess I was concerned that trail shoes wouldn't give me enough support. I haven't mastered light weight hiking yet.

The Jacks is the first leg of our trip, next leg we start at Three Forks and follow the A.T., Benton MacKaye and Duncan Ridge Trails. I'll have my boots for this section.

Happy Hiking all :D

Sounds like you are going to hike the Georgia Loop Trail (AT from Three Forks to Slaughter Gap and Duncan Ridge Trail from Slaughter Gap back to Three Forks). The Duncan Ridge Trail is one tough hike, they don't use the RIDGE word for nothing. I'm interested in how you will feel about light weight hiking when you finish, lots of people are actually converted while going up a long, hard climb. ;) Are you doing it as a series of dayhikes, or are you hiking it over one backpacking trip? If you are backpacking it, don't miss the little store 0.3 east on the GA60 road crossing, they have ice cream, microwave cheeseburgers and such.

Best of luck and have a great hike.

Oh yeah, running shoes are the way to go on hikes were you have a lot of wet crossings. Some of us even use them pretty much all the time.

Youngblood

[jojo0425]

Youngblood,

The second part of our hike begins at Three Forks. Camping at Long Creek Falls and following the Benton McKaye and Duncan Ridge Trails to Bryson Gap. We are backpacking.

I've been at Long Creek Falls before, but am clueless on this route. Don't worry, going with 4 other people, one of which planned this hike and is a very experienced backpacker.

Last summer I hiked from Springer to Neels Gap...carring 42 lbs. Not bad for a 120 lb woman. Yes I would love to go lighter. But until I can buy a lighter gear, I'll have to carry my 40 lbs. Actually, think I got my pack down to 30-35 lbs...it doesn't feel as heavy as it did last summer. I learned not to carry so much food and extra tools that aren't really needed.

Oh well, good thing I've got muscles. :D

Thanks for the tips.

[Youngblood]

Originally posted by jojo0425
Youngblood,

The second part of our hike begins at Three Forks. Camping at Long Creek Falls and following the Benton McKaye and Duncan Ridge Trails to Bryson Gap. We are backpacking.



I remember Bryson Gap, it has a signpost and a spring just off the east side. It is just a few miles south of the suspension bridge over the Toccoa River, which is one sweet camping spot-- especially during the week when you might have it to yourself.

40 pounds sounds like a lot. I'm a pretty big guy and I usually carry around 20 lbs in the summer, but last week I took a girlfriend backpacking and carried a 40 lb pack. It was a SHOCK after carrying about half that for the last couple of years. When I did my AT thru-hike I carried around a 40 lb pack and didn't remember it being that hard... I figure either I'm getting old & soft or smarter.:-?

Have a great trip.

Youngblood

[jojo0425]

Thanks for all of your responses. The trip was great, the water was cold and the river was running high and fast.
I wore sandles with liner socks and it worked out okay. Next time I would go for a better pair of sandles as those river rocks are slippery.
By the way, I saw a bear, WOW! It was walking towards a campsite (hmmm) as I was coming around a bend...we both saw eachother at the same time, it bolted and I calmly turned around and walked back to my group. Shucks! didn't have the camera ready.

:D