How Many Fords Does It Take To Cross a River?

"Forty-twwooooo!"
says a booming omnipotent voice.*

No really, it does take 42 fords to cross a river, Jack's River that is.

Two weekends ago Angela, Kristi, Paul and I met up with Andy in Georgia's Cohutta Wilderness to backpack the entire 16+ miles of Jack's River Trail. For a newbie (this was my first backpacking trip) I don't think I did half bad, not to mention the fact that I LOVED IT!! It really felt like the someone hit the "pause" button on the outside world - it was just us and the river and the trail. Sitting at my desk come Monday I was so relaxed and calm it didn't even seem I was truely back at work till Wednesday.

We began our hike late Friday and set up camp as night fell and were greeted with a cool overcast forest morning on Saturday.

Our first ford of the day.

Andy chillin' on our first break.

Some of the flora along the trail.

We took another short break at Jack's River Falls with just enough time to cool off in the water and watch several folks jump off into the water before is started sprinkling.

The rain didn't last very long at all - just long enough to pull out our pack covers.

Paul fording with his trusty hiking stick that he found.

Kristi fording away.

From Jack's River Falls on - we didn't pass a single hiker. We made really good time and had found a great campsite early in the afternoon.



The site had a great view of the river and a little beach with rocks where we could perch to filter water.

It was wonderful laying there on the rocks, listening to the little rushes and gurgles of the Jack's.

The evening was spent relaxing and talking by the campfire. Sunday morning it was back to more fording...

Kristi, Paul and Angela in the midst of the last ford.

I kept a tally of our fords the entire way. There were 42 Jack's River fords, but we also crossed 2 more infeeders to the Jacks and then after the last ford, Andy, Angela and I found a waterhole to jump in and cool off before we hiked the last couple miles or so. Angela and I both decided we need to swim across to the other side - bringing the total up to 45.

Paul and I.


Angela.

Andy, Kristi in TN, Angela in TN and GA and Paul and I in GA in after our Jack's River trip. I for one had an absolute blast!!

*42 - the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything, that is according to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy anyway.

A Lot to Post

I've got quite a lot to catch up on right now. Been gone the past two weekend and it seems like there's no slowing down for the next couple... Some great photos and stories are waiting in the wings right now. Two weekends ago Paul and I went with 3 others (Kristi, Angela and Andy) on a weekend backpacking trip (my first) along the Jack's River Trail in GA. We did it end to end - fording the river 42 times in just under 17 miles. Man-o-man was it pretty! Andy's got some pics of our trip posted here. Angela got some photos too before her camera drowned. And then this past weekend 6 of us (Vic, Eric, Michelle, Nathan, Tommy and I) went to West Virginia to cave in Scott Hollow - a 20+ miler with some knock-out pretties! Nathan got some great photos. Nathan, Vic and I spent 15-1/2 hours in there - surpassing my longest in-cave time by an hour and half (Rumbling Falls at 14 hours). Phew was my butt dragging on the long way up - but it was SO worth it! I've got some short video clips to post along with some photos so stay tuned....

Ultra Light

Paul and I are beginning to entertain possible places to go on our backpacking honeymoon. I've been reading up on backpacking and gear of late. A friend passed me this great link for edible hiking/backpacking/camping gear. I'm beginning to wonder why Paul and I registered at REI when we could have gotten all out backpacking gear at Eastern Active Technologies. I would have gone for a blueberry SnackPack™ instead of an Osprey Aura 65, but now that I have one I guess I'll just happily use my non-edible pack.