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Sun, Mar 20 2011 - Rich Mountain Widerness Area/Cartecay River (View Original Event Details)

Trip Leader(s): Scott Bennett, Grant Brown
Participants:Grant Brown, Steven K, Marty, Charles D, Dan A, Kristie, Jason Hicks, Chris R B, Andrea C, Michelle S.

Write Up:
A great trip doesn't always go as planned!  Ten hearty adventures hit the trail Sunday morning for the Cartecay River Tract of the Rich Mountain Wilderness area near East Ellijay.  The simplicity of this hike and it's multiple trails can be deceptive.  We struck out for the longer portion of the system.  As it turns out, there had been some recent bulldozing and new trail creation and marking.  When we came to a fork in the trail we headed off on the red and white blazed new area thinking we were heading to our destination at the river.  But, we later discovered it was a loop.  We decided as group to attempt some bushwhacking to get over to our spot on the river.  We went off trail for about 45 minutes and discovered we were further downstream than we originally thought.  So, we sat down in a sunny spot on the river bank and had lunch.  Jason spread his Hammock and we reviewed the map.  We could continue bushwhacking to a point on the map where we thought we would pick the trail back up, or we could turn back and take our earlier trail back to the car.  Well, we erred on the side of caution and returned to the car on time to meet our estimated trip duration. 
     Being off trail was hard work, but really nice too.  We saw lots of plants and terrain that we wouldn't otherwise have experienced.  The bushwhack was a good workout too and upon return, all felt like we'd accomplished something and had fun dong it!  Kudos to Marty Levine for bushwhacking the entire distance upstream to the spot we'd originally intended to visit.  Maybe we'll see that one next time : )  Good job to all who participated.