Sat, Jul 13 2019 - Cohutta Mountain Loop Hike (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Chuck R Participants: Chuck R, Bob J, RonnyJ (Call me Ron), Leigh B, Garrett A., Amy E, Debby, Mark P, Debbie G, Jim H

Write Up:
We had 10 tough hikers for this event . Weather was cooperating with cool winds out of the northwest and clear skies. We hit the trail after a good briefing.....Just a few steps into the trail, we met the gate keeper... YUP - a rattlesnake!! He ( or she) was on a shoulder high log extending only feet into the trail. I think after that we all knew what we were getting into. The trail gave us a ridge for several miles with again some north winds. Our stops were mainly refueling and getting tick counts. There were very few spots on the trail where we could get a brief break from the saw briars ( shoulder high ) with some blowdown. The trail showed lots of maintenance... freshly sawed logs and rain diversions. I guess the overall highlight was Jack's River. We had our lunch there also with a refreshing swim. Finishing up the hike on Rough Ridge, with a sharp ascend for most of the trail, we finally closed the Loop. I think for some of our hikers - the Rough Ridge trail will be in Trail chatter for a long time. But honestly you just had to be there to experience it! Our truck did experience some misfortune. We had a blowout just leaving the Trailhead and we had to change the tire replacing it with a doughnut tire. Our speed was reduced to a crawl with 10 miles of gravel road. I guess from now on when you are on a Wilderness road or FSR it's best to caravan out. It used to be in the old hand book. Overall everything went reasonably well.

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