We recently headed north to one our favorite backpacking destinations, the Cohutta Wilderness in North Georgia. I went with my brother Brian and his sons Ben and Max. Our family friend Ryan and his son Josh were with us as well. We all did this trip back in 2019 and it was great to get this crew back together.
We left early on Friday morning. Everything was going great until Ryan ran over a cinder block that was in his lane at full speed. We were on I-75 on the back side of a hill, one of the worst places to get a flat tire. Ryan said that even after decades working in the Sheriff's Department, even in the SWAT Team, it was one of the most horrifying experiences of his life. His car went airborne. His new trail name is Evil Knievel. His back rim was damaged as well. He went to a tire shop to buy 2 new tires and rims but the employee informed him they only sell packages of four rims at a time.
Back on the road, with 4 new tires and some very stylish new black rims, we continued our journey. We arrived at Jack's river late in the afternoon. We hiked about a mile and set up camp. Ryan was a few hours behind us so he met us later in the evening. All of us have converted to hammock camping, They are so comfortable. I'll never go back to sleeping on the ground. We made a fire and prepared our dehydrated meals, told funny stories and passed our different knives around to carve on wood and sticks.
On Saturday, we packed up and headed up river to our next camp site about 5 miles away. There are numerous river crossings on this trail. The water is not very deep, never really above waist high, but there rocks are very slick. I was the first one to fall in the water on the first crossing, backpack and all. Thank goodness for dry bags. Everyone except for Ryan and Ben ended up falling by the end of the trip.
We made camp and swam in the river, laying on warm boulders in the patches of sunshine. This is what it's all about. So relaxing. It was our goal to get Josh to the big waterfall. On the last trip the water level was too high to get there. We loaded up small packs and went a few more miles to the destination. It was so beautiful, and you could feel the power of mother nature. The mist and the sounds were unforgettable.
The crew headed back to camp, made dinner and reminisced on past trips. Camp food tastes so good when you are out there. I think it is because of all the physical exertion. Everyone went to bed early, I always sleep better on the second night.
We woke up, packed up and made the long hike back to the truck. We found a turtle, and Brian was so excited he fell in the water. So funny. The river is very challenging, which makes it nice because you don't see too many people and there are always amazing campsites available. We made it back to the truck and back to Florida safely, no flat tires on the way home.