Where can I do some primitive camping?

Head up to the AT! You won't find many people on it this time of the year. Give it a few months and that will change.

it will have to be cohutta wilderness, it's the biggest wilderness area in the southeast i think. some friends and i spent 4 days hiking and fishing the cohutta river a few years ago and only saw 1 person the whole time we were there and we covered more than a few miles, i would like to go back and do the same on the jacks river one day.

:righton: Cohutta wilderness is a very good place...I've see bears there every time I go..

You could try a WMA, it's still small game season, take a .22 kill your own bacon, and fry it up in a pan!

+1 for Cohutta Wilderness

if you want to hammock camp away from people, you are going to have to hike a few miles.

the AT is good this time of year, but the thru-hikers begin around March depending on the weather and then it gets a bit crowded until late fall/winter.

how far do you want to hike? I can probably recommend some good spots depending on what your looking for. if you do visit Cohutta and don't want to be around people, stay away from Jack's River Falls. it's great and worth seeing, but you will see lots of other people along the way.

no matter where you go in North GA, keep a clean camp and hang your food properly. our bears are wicked smart and will get your food if you aren't careful.

Cohutta Wilderness without a doubt, but for goodness sake get yourself a map and compass.

Years ago we went into Jacks River for a day trip to do a little fishing and when we got back to the car that evening there was a guy there who had been lost for 2 days. He was on the complete opposite side of the wilderness from where he thought he should be. He had apparently forgotten (or didn't understand) that the two main rivers there flow almost due north instead of flowing south as most rivers do.

He said he had $10 and would buy us gas to carry him back to his vehicle which was on top of Grassy Mountain where we were at the trail head for Rice Camp Creek trail, and if that wasn't sufficient if we would take him to an ATM he would give us everything in his bank account.

We bought him a cheeseburger, water, and took him to his truck.

He sent us Christmas cards for a couple of years after that.

Zookeeper and Fred are right; Cohutta is where I'd go. Plenty of maps available, creeks galore, trails and it's as secluded as it was when they filmed Deliverance up there.

We used to go to Jacks River in the summer when I was in high school and camp for the weekend, just half dozen or so guys with tents, sleeping bags and cans of food stuffed in backpacks. I always took my dad's .38 with me.

Although the inspiration for Dickey's novel was the construction of Carters Dam on the Coosawattee, most of the movie was filmed along the Chattooga River on the GA/SC border, not the Cohutta Wilderness.

Jacks and the Conasauga are two of my favorite wild trout streams in the south.

This will help . . . Hiking Trails of the Cohutta and Big Frog Wildernesses.

mb90535im said:

Although the inspiration for Dickey's novel was the construction of Carters Dam on the Coosawattee, most of the movie was filmed along the Chattooga River on the GA/SC border, not the Cohutta Wilderness.

Jacks and the Conasauga are two of my favorite wild trout streams in the south.

Click to expand...

Ah, that's right. That is a stunning area up there. It's been years since I've been.

mb90535im said:

Although the inspiration for Dickey's novel was the construction of Carters Dam on the Coosawattee, most of the movie was filmed along the Chattooga River on the GA/SC border, not the Cohutta Wilderness.

Jacks and the Conasauga are two of my favorite wild trout streams in the south.

Click to expand...

those trout are definitely not like those in the chattahoochee you can just slop up to, you have to get into ninja mode on the cohutta.

zookeper said:

it will have to be cohutta wilderness, it's the biggest wilderness area in the southeast i think. some friends and i spent 4 days hiking and fishing the cohutta river a few years ago and only saw 1 person the whole time we were there and we covered more than a few miles, i would like to go back and do the same on the jacks river one day.

Click to expand...

+1 to the Cohutta Wilderness. It has been many years since I have been there. My old college roommate and I used to frequent there often. I do not know if it is the official name or not, but we used to go to a place called Brayfield (sp?) and stay the night. We would get up the next morning and go another couple of hours "in" for another night.

Nice, will have to try cohutta.

Thanks for all the great info...now I am itching to go :righton:

The Benton MacKaye Trail (http://www.bmta.org) runs through the Cuhutta and Big Frog and has way less traffic than the AT (the first few miles are the same).

My favorite thing about the Cohutta Wilderness Area is Jack's River. The water is so clear you can see the fish several feet deep. The falls are cool although that area is overused. One thing you should be aware of is the density of bears. Hang your food and you'll be fine.


Oh and if the map shows the trail you're walking crossing the river 40+ times, then that's Jack's River Trail. :wink:

i bought this book several years ago when i lived in Helen Ga, it has a wealth of information and some great trails in it. my copy has paid for itself 10x over

http://www.amazon.com/Hiking-Trails-Nor ... 1561451274

+1
i bought that book over a decade ago and it guided me to many great hikes. my favorite georgia short trail is panther creek, just right for a family hike to the falls lunch and back in a day, 7 miles total.