J and I took the Gladiator to Lake Conasauga Campground last Friday night. We were planning to scout for dispersed campsites on the Georgia Traverse loop roads around the Cohutta Wilderness Area on Saturday and Sunday. The lake was beautiful, but we had a campsite not directly on it. The road in from the south was gravel and a little steeper than most roads but still drivable by most cars. Its a pleasant, leafy drive to the campground with an awesome southern overlook on the way. We had a nice afternoon and evening with a fire in our Solo Stove. There were signs warning of bear activity, but we didn't see any.
After breakfast, we explored the road heading west of the campground and found more paid overflow campsites as well as a field for dispersed free camping. The field had hay sized grass in the middle and campsites under the trees around the edges. This field could hold dozens of individual campers in a pinch.
We then headed back to the east on the same road that we came in on. We took Three Forks road or FS-64 and drove it northeast. I remember spotting 3 dispersed campsites along that road, and all of them had the 'no view' disease. One of them was at the top of a small peak with rock outcrops. This road was a pleasant drive on a gravel surface with few potholes or mud. The elevation in this area is near or above 3000 feet, so there were nice breezes all day and we drove with our air conditioner off and windows down. Temperatures in the low 70's sure beat the 100 degrees of the lowlands south of here. The cooler temperatures are reason enough to be here.
Three Forks road turns into Tumbling Creek road according to Trails Offroad. We began to run into more wind felled trees along this section. They had been cut by someone frugal with his effort, which is to say the gaps were barely large enough to drive through, and most of the trees and branches were still occuping parts of the roadside. Note to self, add chainsaw, gasoline, sharpener, and bar oil for this trip. We passed another paid FS campground that was relatively nice. As we headed farther north we saw only a couple more dispersed campsites. Some of the road undulations caused my front wheels to wobble strangely. After noticing the wobble again, I stopped to check my suspension. I was flabbergasted to see my passenger side trackbar bolt and nut was completly missing! After moments of horror, I remembered I had a spare bolt the right length and almost the right diameter. I didnt have a nut to fit. Through a lucky coincidence I did have some 2.1mm diameter kevlar string with a breaking strength of 550 pounds. I inserted the bolt into the hole, tied a slipknot into the kevlar line, and lassoed the threaded end of the bolt. I tied this to the clevis on the bumper just to act as a retainer. I didn't know if this would work, but I drove 15 miles into Copperhill, Tennessee, at 10-15 mph.
As I drove down the street towards the auto parts store, I saw a nicely built up Jeep Wrangler with no doors headed toward me slowly. The driver looked straight at me and put his hand out and low like motorcyclists do to say hello. Then I noticed something in his hand. I put my hand out and grabbed my prize, a gold glitter duck! I was shocked! I got ducked while driving! I want to thank this guy for making my week. How awesome was that? After a stop at an auto parts store, I replaced the bolt and nut and sealed the deal with threadlocker. The store closed just after I made the repair.
We decided to cut the trip short and camped at Morganton Point NF Campground for the night. We had a nice drive home in the heat on Sunday.
These photos are from Lake Conasauga Campground.
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