Jacks River

Hike Name: Jacks River Location: northeast GA Length: 15 Submitted by: Ken Wargo Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more Georgia trail reviews Georgia national parks Georgia state parks
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Description
We started our loop hike at Dally Gap and hiked down the Jacks River trail and turned right onto the Benton McKaye trail. Benton McKaye runs into the Hemp Top Trail. The Benton McKaye route adds about one mile to the entire trip, but it is a trail less traveled. An alternate path would have been to hike the Hemp Top trail which also begins at the Dally Gap parking lot.
We spent the first night on the Hemp Top Trail ridge above the Penitentiary Branch Trail. We did not locate any water at this campsite. We found a small stream on the way up and filled our water bottles prior to reaching this campsite. The second day, we hiked down the Penitentiary Branch Trail. This trail is all downhill until it intersects with the Jacks River Trail. I agree with Ken DeCourcy's review in that you do not want to hike up Penitentiary Branch Trail. There is a very nice campsite next to a beautiful stream if you decided to bypass the campsite on the Hemp Top Trail. This campsite was not marked on our map.
Jacks River was interesting due to all of the recent rain in the North Georgia Mountains. The water was typically mid-thigh high or higher and moving rapidly. The rocks were slippery and we lost a Nalgene bottle, camera, and sandal during our trek. There were quite a few downed trees along the trail. You will cross the river about 20 times, so plan on getting wet. Our group had a mix of sandals and sneakers for the river crossings. Depending upon when the next crossing occured, we would either stay in our sandals/sneakers or change back into our hiking boots. Hiking in Teva sandals isn't easy with a backpack, so I would recommend sneakers or water shoes.
The next to last river crossing looked like a tree bomb had been dropped. Trees were down on both sides of the river and had created a beaver-like dam with all of the debris. The water was moving too rapidly to attempt a river crossing and the other side of the trail was obscured by the very large trees that had fallen. It took us an hour to decide that we could shimmy across one of the large trees and actually step on the debris in the water. We sent one 'volunteer' across without his pack and when he returned successfully, we decided to attempt the crossing. It took about 30 minutes to actually cross over. We informed the proper authorities about this particular spot (If you proceeded straight down to Jacks River from Dally Gap, it would be the second river crossing).
There are plenty of campsites along Jacks River.
Have some dry clothes and shoes waiting for you at the end of this trail.
Special thanks to Chief for scoping out the water crossing. Honorable mention goes to Water Dog (how many times can you fall in the water) and Slappy (I love you son). Can't wait for our next adventure.

Directions to Hike
From Atlanta, take I-75 North to I-575 North. I-575 will turn into US 76. At the US 75/GA 5 intersection north of Blue Ridge, travel north on GA 5 toward McCaysville for about 3.8 miles. Turn left onto Old GA 2. Stay on Old GA 2 for about 10.5 miles. Old GA 2 is paved for the first nine miles or so. Take a hard right onto FS 22 and drive about 3.7 miles to the trail head at Dally Gap. We were able to clear this last 3.7 miles in a Honda Accord with some scrapes on the gravel road. There are some steep dropoffs and no guardrails.

Contact Information
1-706-695-6737

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