Yesterday, I returned from a two day, one night hike on the Mountaintown Creek Trail in the Cohutta wilderness near Ellijay, Georgia. 
Dispensing with an exhausting description of the planning and prep and getting straight to the trip, it seems that the first day of a hike is always a buzzkill. So, it is unfortunate that this was only a two day trip, because the second day was quite enjoyable, and had I had more trail to start with and perhaps a friend to share it with, a third day would have probably been spectacular. I woke up on Tuesday with a headache and still had it when I hit the trail around 11:30. The trail is weird, kind of bad actually, and when the Internet says that mountain bikers love a trail, maybe that really means that hikers should stay off of it, but all the hiking descriptions made this trail sound good, so I did it.
Dispensing with an exhausting description of the planning and prep and getting straight to the trip, it seems that the first day of a hike is always a buzzkill. So, it is unfortunate that this was only a two day trip, because the second day was quite enjoyable, and had I had more trail to start with and perhaps a friend to share it with, a third day would have probably been spectacular. I woke up on Tuesday with a headache and still had it when I hit the trail around 11:30. The trail is weird, kind of bad actually, and when the Internet says that mountain bikers love a trail, maybe that really means that hikers should stay off of it, but all the hiking descriptions made this trail sound good, so I did it.The trail starts out with a steep descent, but it’s kind of like the descent-graph of the stock market; it goes down and then up just a little and then down a lot and up just a little, probably way fun on a bike, not so much on foot. It levels off after a bit and starts along a shelf of a gorge that you can look down in. 
Then is goes down real steep again. It’s basically a shelf on the side of this gorge and when you look across, about 50 yards, there’s a sheer rock face, and you can kind of make out a river down at the bottom. The whole time I’m walking down these hills, I’m mostly dreading having to walk back up them the next day, but honestly going uphill has always been easier than going down for me and this trip proved no different. I’m really glad my book of trails reminded me to take a walking stick though. It would have been rough without it.
At the bottom of the hill, the trail starts crossing various creeks. I don’t have a map, so I don’t know how many or what they’re called, but it’s several different ones that all seem to feed to somewhere. 
At the second crossing (of about 10 total) the sole came off my right boot, so I sat down in the trail, ate lunch, and started thinking about how to fix it. There was some glue in the repair kit for patching sleeping pads, but it seemed like the problem was that the rubber in between the sole and the upper was actually disintegrating, so glue wouldn’t have anything to hold on to, so I figured I should sew it. I tried wire at first but it just cut through the rubber and the sole came off again, so I found some thick thread and tried to figure out how to attach the sole straight to the upper. I eventually ended up with something like this, but this is like version three of the repair job. 
Version one was a half-assed version of this, but it had to do at this point because just as I tied the last knot around the eyelet, it started raining. I got my raincoat on and everything back in the pack, and stood there for a few minutes wondering whether to just head back to the car, but I decided to keep going. Walking in the rain is usually fine with me, and since I was wet anyway, I didn’t have to care about tip-toeing across the creeks to keep my feet dry. The rain lasted about two hours. The trail along the creek is mostly flat or slightly downhill, so I walked a pretty long way, maybe 3.5 miles, until the rain let up and I started looking for a campsite, which I didn’t find for another mile or so, at the end of the trail. Probably about 1.5 miles before I found a site, the sole on my other boot detached, but I just kept walking because boot repair in the rain didn’t seem pleasant.
At the second crossing (of about 10 total) the sole came off my right boot, so I sat down in the trail, ate lunch, and started thinking about how to fix it. There was some glue in the repair kit for patching sleeping pads, but it seemed like the problem was that the rubber in between the sole and the upper was actually disintegrating, so glue wouldn’t have anything to hold on to, so I figured I should sew it. I tried wire at first but it just cut through the rubber and the sole came off again, so I found some thick thread and tried to figure out how to attach the sole straight to the upper. I eventually ended up with something like this, but this is like version three of the repair job. Version one was a half-assed version of this, but it had to do at this point because just as I tied the last knot around the eyelet, it started raining. I got my raincoat on and everything back in the pack, and stood there for a few minutes wondering whether to just head back to the car, but I decided to keep going. Walking in the rain is usually fine with me, and since I was wet anyway, I didn’t have to care about tip-toeing across the creeks to keep my feet dry. The rain lasted about two hours. The trail along the creek is mostly flat or slightly downhill, so I walked a pretty long way, maybe 3.5 miles, until the rain let up and I started looking for a campsite, which I didn’t find for another mile or so, at the end of the trail. Probably about 1.5 miles before I found a site, the sole on my other boot detached, but I just kept walking because boot repair in the rain didn’t seem pleasant.
Everything was wet, so the first order of business was to get it drying out. Then I set up the tent, repaired my boot, got water, and ate dinner. This was all much harder than it sounds because I was really tired. I probably should have cut it a couple miles short, but it was raining and there really weren’t very many good campsites. I finished all that by about 6 PM, with maybe 3 hours of good daylight left. I tried to sleep but couldn’t so I read Jonathan Livingston Seagull, which turns out to be totally blah. Then I started hearing thunder, maybe 7:30ish, so I got everything in the tent and hung my bear bag up. When the first drops started falling, I realized that my oatmeal was not in a plastic bag, so I had to run out and take care of that and make it back. Then the rain really started, so I lay in the tent listening to it for a while wondering whether I would make it back out of the woods the next day and dozed off. When I opened my eyes again, it was really dark, and I got up to go to the bathroom. While I was gone, some grandaddy longlegs got in, and they kept crawling across my feet when I was trying to sleep, and I kept having to get up and try to get them out. Finally, I got some decent sleep and woke up a little late, 7 AM, feeling reasonably good. I ate breakfast and got water for the day and broke camp and headed out. 
Early on that day, I made the decision to eat a lot, so every time I saw something nice or crossed the creek, I ate two handfuls of trail-mix and drank some water. Once I had enough calories in me, I started feeling really good, and when I got to the ascent, I realized how much ground I had covered in very little time and decided chill out for the rest of the walk. I had a nice lunch by the creek and started climbing. The gorge was even nicer and even if the first ascent was steepest, it seemed much shorter than the final one. I kept up with my eating and took a couple rests and a swam by a little waterfall, and got back to my car about 1 PM soaked through with sweat, exhausted and feeling quite good. It seems to take a bit for my brain to switch gears, but I always return from the woods calm and relaxed. Maybe it’s the way they force you to focus on the moment, one step to the next, boot repair, rain, food, but for as many times as I’ve had minor disaster strike in the woods, I’ve come out glad to have gone and wanting to get back soon.
Early on that day, I made the decision to eat a lot, so every time I saw something nice or crossed the creek, I ate two handfuls of trail-mix and drank some water. Once I had enough calories in me, I started feeling really good, and when I got to the ascent, I realized how much ground I had covered in very little time and decided chill out for the rest of the walk. I had a nice lunch by the creek and started climbing. The gorge was even nicer and even if the first ascent was steepest, it seemed much shorter than the final one. I kept up with my eating and took a couple rests and a swam by a little waterfall, and got back to my car about 1 PM soaked through with sweat, exhausted and feeling quite good. It seems to take a bit for my brain to switch gears, but I always return from the woods calm and relaxed. Maybe it’s the way they force you to focus on the moment, one step to the next, boot repair, rain, food, but for as many times as I’ve had minor disaster strike in the woods, I’ve come out glad to have gone and wanting to get back soon.Stats -
Wildlife: 1 mammal noise, 2 turtles, 10 frogs, 20 snails, 100000 spiders
Trail: Kind of bad
Prettiness: Kind of great
Creek crossings: 8 to 10
Boots broken: ALL THE BOOTS
Recommend it - Probably not. There are better trails. I’ll let you know when I find them, and please pass along your favorites to me.
Take aways - It's hard to take some photos, especially in the woods, with auto focus. The first day of a trip is usually not so good. Never ever leave the repair kit, even if you think you pack is too heavy. Eat all the time. I'd rather hike with another person. Dry is a luxury.
Take aways - It's hard to take some photos, especially in the woods, with auto focus. The first day of a trip is usually not so good. Never ever leave the repair kit, even if you think you pack is too heavy. Eat all the time. I'd rather hike with another person. Dry is a luxury.
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