For Hardcore Only

[hollowdweller]

The Canyon Rim is pretty dry and you basically alternate between pushing thru the brush and spruce and scrambling over boulders.

It was HOT Friday so we decided to camp at the Tipi Trail campsite so we'd be fresh Sat for "The Mother of all Talus Slopes"

 

[rdgarbo]

Think positive. If the office worker with the spare tire can do it so can you

AMEN Brother!

 

[ratamahatta]

getting pumped and relaxing at the same time before the next leg!!!!!

I had to take that last shot!!!!!

 

[hollowdweller]

Here's our camp on Tipi that Rattamahatta posted the night pics of:

 

[rdgarbo]

Looks like a good time...beautiful place. We have The Cohutta Wilderness Area in North Georgia. It's remote and rugged with alot of bears.

 

[hollowdweller]

Bear The Dog once said that he stopped every so often and took off his shoes and let his feet dry out. We tried to heed his advice because there are miles where you never put your foot flat on the ground on these trails. You are always balancing from one rock to the next. A walking stick or set of hiking poles is indespensable.

 

[ratamahatta]

more views and more boulder fields!!!!!! WHOOHOOOO!!!!

this boulder field is 300 yards long..... and we had to cross through it!!!

the man gettin a great shot!!

the man striking a pose!!!!

 

[hollowdweller]

Next was the mother of all Talus Slopes.

Here's a pic of it from a few miles away after we had already finished it out

 

[ratamahatta]

their asleep in there somewhere!!!

our last camp site!!!!

I'd watch those three!!!! their a rowdy bunch!!!!

I think you can figure out what he's doing!!!!

 

[hollowdweller]

Ratt and Ms Hd picking their way down. You go across the first 2/3 of it and then the last third you go downhill diagonally.

Looking just to the right of the tall spruce in the middle, you can see them.

More later

 

[hung-solo]

cool stuff! i assume the boulder field was left behind during the last ice age?

 

[ratamahatta]

I can't say enough about how great the company was and it just added with the views as we turned every corner!!!!

 

[ratamahatta]

Making it the distance!!!!

it was great to see my car!!!

after each hike, the Mr. and Mrs. have a lunch that they do and they were kind enough to let me in on it!!!!

 

[hollowdweller]

Was starting to rain on us there.

 

[ratamahatta]

It was a great trip with great people, I learned a lot about what I needed and didn't need on a trip.....We used all of our bushcraft skills, navigation, fire starting, water collecting, found some tea berry's that were great..... It was a great 4 day adventure , that I'd like to do again!!!!

 

[hollowdweller]

Being unofficial trails the only clearing done is by hikers- which means you have to get down to go the distance like Rattamahatta here:

He makes it look EASY but it's harder to get down like that with a 30 or 40 lb pack than you think..

 

[Fiddleback]

Great thread HD. Fun to look at all this.

 

[hollowdweller]

Finishing out Canyon Rim we headed to the HUNTERS BLIND for lunch.

You come out of some spruce onto an open rocky plain

That's Mount Porte Crayon in the distance

Rattamahatta and I taking the opportunity to chill before the Microwave Tower Trail against the hunters blind

 

[hollowdweller]

Next is the Microwave Tower Trail. The two man made things in the area are the pipeline and the Microwave Tower.

But the trail that runs between Roaring Plains trail along a ridge and connects to the Microwave tower and then back to the pipeline we passed the day before is pure bushwhacking heaven.

It combines the boulders and trail ambiguity of the Canyon Rim Trail but amplifies them by making the boulders bigger and you actually have to climb over some, then it also adds a thick spruce stand that you weave in and out of between outcrops and the outcrops also have much more trees and brush on them making the markers tough to find. The trail is not long but it takes a few hours to do due to the difficulty and ambiguity of the marks. A lot of times you are looking for a cairn 75 yards away in a rock field or just following the trail by looking for where the branches are cut off the spruce stand.

Hmm.

The Cairn is in the center on the ridgeline between those 2 trees. How to get there?

 

[hollowdweller]

UP we go!

Another challenge is the trail goes into the woods and seemingly disappears until you realize you must climb up on the rock wall beside you, walk across the top of the rock and then climb off the other side into a narrow path cut thru the thick spruce.

But the payoff is some world class views.