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Jacks' River
Cohutta Wilderness Ga.
Ocoee Area
The one you should do an overnighter on.
Jack's River Falls photo by Scott Sanders
This picture doesn't do this cascade justice, its manky tall complex and
almost 60 feet
Pictures:
All pictures were provided
by Scott Sanders and can be purchased.
His email address is the following
scott at the britting group dot com
His web address is the following
http://www.groundedgraphics.com/hiking-trails/jacks-river.php
Special thanks for Scott providing
such great detailed pictures and documentation.
Gradient Min:60 fpm
Gradient Max: 300 fpm
Length: 20 plus miles (just depends if you want to do a hike for
the put-in or do a lot of shuttle driving) and I swear it seems longer
and might very well be.
Shuttle: 65+/- miles
Class IV.9
Paddlers Gage: None
Internet Gage: None but based off Holly Creek if Holly is running
so is Jack's
Put-in: Option # 1 (Your best bet)
65 miles of mostly paved roads.
Go to Page 14 of you Georgia Gazetteer
First leave the take-out, leaving Alacusy Valley Area , onto East Cowpen
Road, onto Hwy 411, then to Hwy 64 past the Ocoee, then right onto Hwy
68 , then to the Georgia line.
Then on page 14 of your Georgia Gazetteer off of Hwy 5 (from Copperhill
Hill heading towards Blue Ridge) look for Forest Service Road 64 (it
takes you to Tumbling Creek Road)
Past Forest Service Road 64, look for a road on your right ,this will
take you to Jones Mill/ Jones Cemetery Road to Jones Mill/Bethlehem
Church and to Jack's River, from here its a straight down walk/hike to
the ditch.
Bootleg camping can be had here.
Put-in: Option # 2 (Nightmare on Elm Street)
35 +miles of crappy roads.
This a nightmare due to trying to find Forest Service roads in the dark
that will be muddy.
Leave the take-out , take a right on West Cow Pen road, cross Mill
Creek, then it will turn into Forest Service Road 17 (Change your tire
due to all the gravel stuck in it) then climb drive up the backside of
Big Frog Mountain and it turns into Forest Service Road 68, at fork in
the road take a left , until you drive into another fork in the road ,
take a left onto Forest Service road 64, turn around yes turn around you
need Forest Service road 64 for a benchmark (to find ) then once turned
around , go back to where you came from and look for a road on your
right ,this will take you Jones Mill and to Jack's River, from here its
a straight down walk/hike to the creek.
Take Out:
Cross the Georgia line leaving Tennessee, on Hwy 411 you will enter the
community of Cisco (Btw Cisco Kid was a good friend of mine),( take left
onto East Cowpen Road) , on OldGa2 Rd. Continue on this road (pavement
ends about 1.8 miles) 10 miles to FS 62 on the right at Big Frog Loop
Road sign right .You will then see Jack's River.
Shuttle Note:
For you to paddle Jack's River in one day you must perform your shuttle
in the dark. We would plan ahead and perform our shuttle Friday night
and camp near the put-in a paddle the river early Saturday morning.
River Camping:
The immediate area around Jacks River Falls is closed. Other areas along
the Jacks River are still open to camping, but there are now
restrictions on the number of people allowed to camp per site, the
distance between campsites, and others.
Contact Information :Camping
ranger district
404-695-6736
River Description:
This run can be paddle in a day but don't kid yourself this one makes
for a long day, the shuttle is long, its a Western shuttle by anyone's
standards, over 65 + miles long , you try to drive around Big Frog
Mountain to get there. You either have to start at 4 am to get your
shuttle started or perform it the night before.
I've always though it would be a great run to pack a small stove, an
overnight bag and camp on the river to break it down. The run is not
epic, matter of fact just right for some camping gear in a big creekboat.
Not many Eastern runs are left to where you could do an overnighter.
If you want to do it in one day, you need to Blue Angel the run and stay
busy to get down the creek. For the most part the run starts off benign
then gradually it picks up speed. Once in the action its a lot of Class
III action. Once at Jack's Falls , its where it looks like the end of
the world. It has a definite horizon line. This one will go , and back
in the day we ran the drop on the river left side.
From here the the gradient loses its steam. But you still have a lot of
paddling to get to the take-out. Once done, you still have to get your
car. A shuttle bunny with map reading skills is a real plus for this
run. So is a GPS.
Note:
Also this isn't a "I forgot something run", or "I don't have a first aid
kit/breakdown paddle/ throw bag" run.
Its one of the most remote runs that you can still paddle in the east
and its what I think in my humble opinion makes the run a difficult run
although for the most part the run isn't a hairball run.
PS. If you where wondering who Jack was he was a local Cherokee for who
the creek is named for.
All photos by Scott Sanders
This atypical of the beginning
rapids....................
1/3 into the run the gradient picks
up.....................
And then it starts to get
busy...............................
Then the big boy Jack's River Falls
appears...................
As stated before this picture was taken from the trail
this is a 60ft cascade
Then a little ways after the falls it starts to calm
down
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