One would think one weekend backpacking is enough but since I still had Lori's backpack borrowed we figured what the heck and set out the next weekend for section 3 of the Chattooga. We have car camped this area before a few times and knew from hiking that there were some spots about 1.5 miles up the trail on the river. This is half the hike from last weekend which was nice since we only had one night this time. We got up Saturday morning and headed to Clayton. We got to Earl's Ford Rd. around Noon and started our hike. Out the gate we came across a 3' black snake on the trail! Ugh I am so not a fan of snakes. We moved on pass it and kept our eyes peeled from then on out. Within an hour we found a nice spot on the river and setup camp.
I had JoJo with me and we were trying to get through the brush to see if we could get on the rocks when I came across snake number 2 rolled up nicely on a small rock. We retreated back to the open camp site and did not get into any more areas that could have snakes. I am not sure I have ever seen a snake on a camping trip and we have already seen 2. Maybe it has been all the rain we have had in GA?
Anyways, we setup our chairs and begin watching the river and chilling out. At this point we have been trying to sell our house for 4 months and were pretty stressed out about it so the woods kept us from thinking about it to much and why we went two weekends in row. Drew packed in some cold beer for this trip. It was awesome to have such cold drinks on the river!
I decide we need to try to float in the river and blow up one of the tubes. I get out there with a rope tied to it and am doing fine until JoJo decides to join me. He comes barreling through the small brush on the bank (where we have been sitting) and a snake comes flying off the bank and into the river. Needless to say I yell bloody hell and Drew starts to pull me towards the bank. The snake was so scared of JoJo it at headed straight down stream away from me. Regardless I was done with that adventure :).
We decide to just simply hang out, start a fire and enjoy the campsite. It was a very relaxing and fun day for us all. Here are a few shots of that hanging out.
With all the rain we have gotten this spring the river is high and so we had lots of kayakers to watch float by us. The next morning we got up ate some breakfast and then packed up. We decided to head towards the Earl's Ford Rd. beach area where you take out for section 2 and put in for section 3 boating trips. This ended up being a good idea because it was much hotter this day and therefore the hiking trail was hotter. Good to get it over with during the cooler morning for sure. We get back to the car to have a lady that was staying in her van with a male friend come chat us up about the "rednecks" she was worried about last night. She was "hooting and hollering" to keep them away from our cars so they did not mess with them...boy the stuff we missed if we would have car camped that night! She was nice though and telling us all about the banjo player from Deliverance working at the local walmart stocking shelves. "You should go get his autograph". When we finally break away we head out to the beach at the other end (SC) side of Earl's Ford Rd. About a 20 minute ride. We get there to find the beach is hardly left! The water is really up and everyone, even the other boaters, can't believe how high the water is and the beach is gone. We decide to hang out anyways and grab the tubes for a bit of playing in the river.
The horses showed up with some folks and they tried to cross the river but the water was simply to high and the horses did not like it at all. Oh let me not forget to tell the last snake encounter. 4th and last one thankfully for the weekend! Right before Drew got on his tube I look up and see something floating in the river. Long and black and say "I don't think that is a stick, is that a snake?". Oh yeah it just went right by us all and then a few yards down went to the shore and crawled up onto it. We didn't let it ruin our fun, this was a wide open section of the river so we played around in the water anyways. You could see anything floating in it a mile away. We did keep the eyes peeled though;)
All in all a wonderful one night get away to get our minds off this house. Serenity now! However I am done with camping in GA with all these snakes we saw. I am guessing with the water and heat we are having its just prime time for them to be out. Next up camping adventures PA style.
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