Wednesday, June 11, 2008

And a river runs through it

I guess I should write about my weekend/weekbegin. How about in haiku for a change?

Went to a wedding
Someone got married, again
Not enough tables
-
Steadied the ladder
While Chris repaired the porch roof
That guy has nice legs
-
Stayed with my parents
They ask questions; yes Mom, I
know what a ring is
-
Bugs, rain and lightning
Make sleeping a real challenge
So does Jake's snoring

I'm kidding- Jacob only snores a little, and not the painful kind. If it weren't for the bright-as-day strobe of the lightning, the head-rattling thunder and the spray of rain blowing under the edge of the tarp, I wouldn't have been awake to hear anything.

As I mentioned Saturday, Jacob and I went on an overnight trip down the length of the Conasauga River Trail. Other than the violent nighttime weather and Jacob forgetting to take his glasses off before diving into the river, it was an uneventful trip. Well shit, why don't I just show you some pictures?
A rookie backpacker heads downhill through a muggy North Georgia Monday. The Conasauga River Trail follows its namesake for about 13 or 14 miles through the Cohutta Wilderness, the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi.

A pair of Adidas submerged in the first of 38 river fords.

In Jacob's Land of Bliss and Blisters, everyone remembers to take off their glasses before diving in the water. In the closely-related Land of Absentmindedness, however, they do not. Lucky to have a fully-sighted person along with him, we quickly found the glasses, minus one lens, in four feet of water. Designed for invisibility, lenses tend to camouflage themselves extremely well, and, after about twenty minutes or so of standing in cold, chest-deep water staring at the same spot on the bottom of the river, I finally came up with that wily piece of glass. Would I call myself a hero? Yes. Yes I would.

Try as I might, I cannot get away from these obnoxious pieces of shit we call flowers, spoiling the views wherever I go. The offender on this trip was the Moutain Laurel, littering the landscape with its inconsiderate display.


Panther Creek Falls was a bitch of a side-trip, but well worth the steep, bouldery hike.

Camp sweet camp. The aforementioned storm made this already damp climate even damper and kept me up most of the night. Jacob seemed to sleep through much of it, but says otherwise. Maybe he was just pretending like I was.

A neglected sign is a good sign for a wilderness area.

I nearly fell on the wet rocks trying to get in position for this self-portrait. Vanity can be dangerous.

One of many small waterfalls and rapids that kept me entertained for two days. I find water running downhill to be incredibly fascinating.

Group photo at the end. All that was left was the 45-minute drive around to Jacob's car at the top end and finding our way back out of the mountains. Unfortunately, his Prius had a flat tire when we got there. The last I saw him, he was driving the opposite way on the forest service road, following his Garmin GPS for an alternate route out. I hope his spare tire held up and his blind faith in technology saw him to safety.

16 comments:

The Modern Gal said...

One time while at work
Colleagues and I wrote haikus
Nothing else got done

You should consider marketing those glass-finding skillz.

Anonymous said...

Given that Jacob hasn't posted anything new in a few days, is it time to start worrying?

Anonymous said...

fun times! jealous em!

shelleycoughlin said...

You are like a superhero. One that finds invisible things in running water! Cool.

Meaghan said...

Looks like you guys had a great time. I can only imagine the conversation. Did you converse in haikus the entire time?

And Chris DOES have nice legs...

Noelle said...

Loss of glasses is one of my primo fears.

I like the haiku.

ck said...

i too love water running downhill. most of the time i can't sit still for more than five minutes, but put me next to some large rapids and i will just STARE at them like an idiot. for hours. and the white noise... don't get me started about waterfall sound.

Unknown said...

I'm glad to notice that you can appreciate another man's legs.

Allie said...

Mickey, those are senryu poems, not haiku. Haiku poetry deals with nature in pure form. Senryu deals with the human experience. See, college is so worthwhile. :)

Great pictures! I'm sorry the piece of shit flowers ruined the view.

I have the same fascination with moving water.

Oh, and my husband just got a subscription to Skeptic.com. The first mag came. It's awesome. I think you'd love it.

Mickey said...

mg- That's not haiku, apparently, but thanks for trying. (See Allie's comment)

justins- Yeah, I was a little worried. All is well now, though.

em- Jealous of what- my collection of bug bites or time spent laying next to a big hairy dude?

npw- That's me!

meaghan- I knew you'd agree.

noelle- Thank you for your appreciation.

ck- Word.

sm- I know good legs when I see 'em.

allie- You too, Allie? Jacob already pointed this out a couple of months ago, but I expect it from him. Oh, well. Thanks for setting me straight.

Chris said...

Thanks Mickey, I try.

This trip looks like considerably more fun than our ladder-related adventures on Sunday -- which have yet to be fully concluded, I'm sorry to say.

Julie said...

Looks like you guys had fun. Woohoo, backpacking fun.

Anonymous said...

What a gorgeous hiking spot!

Jacob said...

Where's the ivory penis fungus? I didn't take that photo because I didn't want a camera full of the same photos as you and you promised that I'd get copies. How did that photo not make the blog?

Jacob said...

Oh, and that GPS got us back on the right rode after you took the Prius off-roading.

I still should have gone back the way we came. I think I spent an hour going no faster than 30 mph.

Jacob said...

Oh, and I still find it mildly humorous that you found it muggy and buggy and I found it refreshing in both its coolness and lack of bugs. Seriously, it closed in on 100 in much of North Georgia that first day and I'd be surprised if it broke 85 at any point during the hike.

And if I'm having to supplement my protein intake because accidental gnat intake isn't high enough and I'm not needing iron supplements to make up for blood loss due to giant freaking mosquitoes, I'm happy. I found the Cohutta Wilderness insanely pleasant compared to my normal residence.