Coosa Backcountry Trail - January 2007

Our January campout was at the Coosa Backcountry Trail which starts in Vogel State Park, loops through the Blood Mountain Wilderness Area, up Coosa Bald, over Slaughter Mountain and back to Vogel Park. The trail is 12.5 long, approximately 2000 feet in elevation change, and rugged. In attendance was Peter McKenna, Brian Flamm, Jeremy Drennan, Sam Francis, David Forman, Brean Grassley, Sam Gantt, Jaime McKenzie, Brian Corbett, Mr. Farber, Mr. Fitzner, Mr. Gantt, Mr. McKenzie, Mr. Wright, and Mr. McKenna.

The troop left the church at 7:00 pm and headed to the mountains – about an hour and a half drive. We stopped for a quick break at McDonalds just before Delongah. After the break, we headed back out For Vogel and arrived around 9:30 pm. Paul Fitzner met us in the parking lot at the Ranger Station with all the registration and permits we needed for the campout.

Our permit required us to camp outside the Vogel boundary and, thus begin the first part of our outing, a night hike starting at 9:50 Friday night! It was cold, low twenties, but walking with full packs warmed us up fast. The night hike part of the trip lasted about and hour until we found a place to camp. We set up fast and went to bed.

Saturday morning was still cold and no one was out of bed before 7:30 am. Mr. Farber had breakfast Saturday morning for the adults – he did drop and break the egg bottle loosing about four of the 12 eggs. The scouts prepared breakfast by patrol, cleaned up, and got ready to go before the adults, as usual.

Saturday was our “big” day, about six miles, up hill all the way. This hike was one the toughest we have ever done. At the end of the day all of us were exhausted. The temperature, however, had moderated which made camp setup much easier. Some of the Scouts were too tired to cook dinner, and so fixed leftovers form lunch for their dinner. As usual, Mr. Wright had a splendid meal of hot pieta bread sandwiches, and hot chocolate.

After a good nights sleep, Sunday came on strong! When we finished eating breakfast and got packed, the rain started. Our five mile hike out was long and mostly down hill except for the one last giant hill at the beginning of the
morning. The down hill was steep and hard. The wind was blowing fast, and the temperature was in the high 30’s low 40’s. This was a hike only for the best – Troop 772!

About 11:30 am, we finally finished the hike. We accomplished a rugged trip, map reading training by Mr. Wright, and great expectations of a hot pizza lunch and a special ice cream desert treat from Mr. Wright in Blue Ridge Ga.

By Tuesday’s meeting we were all talking about the great time we had on our campout. It is still amazing how the “fun factor” increases after a few days back and a hot shower or two. As of now David, Sam, and Peter are putting together trip ideas for February. Can we even wait for the next campout?