High Point TH to Coleman Lake TH Trip Report—24-26 Oct 20

[Mountain Dog]

High Point TH to Coleman Lake TH Trip Report—24-26 Oct 20

Logistics First-It rained a lot before the hike so all reliable, seasonal, and occasional water sources were flowing really well.  A goodly portion of the trail was overgrown.  The worst areas were the hillside north of Terrapin Creek and the south side of Dugger Mountain.  The trail was literally covered with the tips of limbs that “girdle beetles” had cut.  I’m not sure if the name is correct but there is a little bug that cuts small limbs.  If you look at their cut, it looks like someone used a knife to cut around the twig and then the middle broke.  The trail was hard to find in a couple of areas on the south side of Dugger because of the limb tips covering the trail.  Also, it appeared someone used a drawing knife to remove some of the blazes.  There were at least a half dozen downed trees that were difficult to cross.  Most were really new falls.  The biggest and worst was at the extreme northern end of Chipmunk Canyon.  The trail at fs 540 needs more blazing.  There are numerous blue signs and arrows, none having to do with the Pinhoti.  There is one, almost like a surveyor’s mark, on the south side of the road indicating the Pinhoti.  The next Pinhoti blaze is about ½ mile further along.  A couple of extra blazes headed south would confirm to the hiker that they chose the correct route.

The Hike-
 Lyin Dog, Peanut Butter, Mountain House and I planned to meet and camp Thursday night and then hit the trail Friday morning.  Peanut Butter could not get away and meet us till about 9:00 pm so, instead of camping, we stayed at the Sleep In at I-20 exit 188.  A really good motel for a total of $73. That was a smart move because of all the rain and wind Thursday.
Our plan Friday was to leave a car at Coleman, use FS 500 to Rabbit Town Rd., take RT to Hwy 9 and then on to Piedmont and High Point TH.  Shortly after starting on fs 500 we saw a tree crossing the rd.  We were able to break a lot off the very end so that the F250 4x4 could get around, mostly around off the road.   OK, now we were cooking.  A quarter of a mile later we ran up against an even larger tree covering the road.  This one was too large to get around so back we went.  Not knowing the roads, we went back through Heflin to hwy 9 and eventually to Highpoint TH.  We were an hour behind but we only planned 10 miles so we were ok.

Friday was a wet nasty day.  But hey, if we wanted perfect weather we would have walked around the Mall.  We crossed several recently downed trees but otherwise uneventful.  We camped at Oakey Mtn. Shelter.  I love shelters when it is raining.  Being the most experienced, the rain was an irritant but nothing more.  My Son in Laws found out that a pack cover does not necessarily keep everything in the pack dry.  Almost everything was wet.  We squeezed out water and hung stuff up to dry- we were optimistic.  (10 Mile Day)

Saturday was a beautiful day.  Real hikers are tough so we put on wet cold clothes (saving the dry stuff for the projected very cold  Saturday night.)  We had a great time Saturday, even though most of the morning involved wading through foliage and getting wet.  We planed to camp at Jones Branch Road but altered our plans to reach Chocco----Shelter.  I’ve shared one shelter all the time I’ve hiked the Pinhoti, MoBill was there.  The Chocco--- Shelter was occupied by a man, his son, and his two grand sons.  They made room for us but we declined.  Nothing like four men trying to out snore each other to ruin another family’s outing.  We camped on the dam instead.  Yes, I knew before hand what camping in the open with high humidity would do to single wall tents, and it did.  We slept like exhausted hikers and were up to watch the sun rise on Sunday morning.  These are the views that draw us to the woods.  Beautiful.  The temperature reached around 36 degrees that night.  We had one 15 degree, two 20 degree, and one 32 degree bags.  No one got cold. (17 Mile day)

Sunday was absolutely beautiful.  The woods were dry, the sky was bright blue, and we only had 7 miles to hike before lunch.  We hit the trail around 8:30 Sunday and just enjoyed the trip.  We finished and ate some greasy hamburgers in Piedmont before heading up to Highpoint to retrieve one vehicle. 

We saw numerous deer and turkeys on this hike.  Pardon me if I do not tell you just where we saw them.  The hunting season is upon us and I’ll let the hunters hunt for good spots.

A great hike but I do not think I could have a bad one if I can share time with my son-in-laws and nephew.

[Skippy]

MD, Glad you had a good time.I walked that same section just over a week ago. I noticed the limbs all over the trail and just figured it was squirrel's cutting them to make thier nest with.  I didn't know its some kind of bug.never heard of the Griddle bug. I got confused for a minute at FS 540 with the arrows.and I guess the Blue arrows must designate the horse trail that crosses at the same place as the blue blazes for the Pinhoti.It would be helpful to have a sign up pointing to the Pinhoti.
The section going North from Highpoint to the Davis Mtn shelter was kind of a let down.They have cut the timber on the land just before the shelter and its ugly. You do have a great view now from the shelter looking back to Piedmont,the sunset was great that night.
They have built a new shelter about a hours walk from the Cave Springs trailhead,one of the best I have ever seen.It has a covered poarch over the picnic table to keep you out of the weather. ATA has a concrete dedication marker at the shelter.    Great Job Guy's!!!

[Mountain Dog]

I'll have to look up the real name of the little bug.  I found out about it when I kept loosing limb tips off my Sycamore Tree.  There were so many on the trail in one place that I thought something like a bush hog than can do verticle cuts had been through.  When I got into areas where no bush hog could go I looked closer and saw the tell tell signs of the little buggers. 

I did not know they had logged south of the Davis Mtn. shelter.  I hiked the section north of there after it was logged and before the trail was reestablished, what a mess.  It took 4 of us to figure out how to cover the land and find the trail as it entered gthe woods again.

Is the trail well marked from HighPoint to Jackson Chappel Rd?  It was initially flagged after the logging but tape deterorates and comes loose.  I'm thinking about doing that and one other section soon.  Just need to know how much time to plan, seeking a trail takes longer than just hiking a trail.

[Skippy]

Once you leave the shelter the trail is hard to follow.in some places you do not even know you are on a trail and if it was not for the pink ribbon tied around the trees you could lose it very easily. It looks to me like it has been changed a little due to the timber cutting from the original trail. The trail is also hard to follow at the Salem Church Rd crossing because it has been cut as well for about 1/4 of a mile. it was flagged but difficult to follow in places.
 from the platform crossing to Jackson trailhead  the trail is well marked and worn.Once you reach the top of the mountain the walking is very rocky with quite a few blowdowns,and once you reach the state line the Georgia section is in very good shape.It took us about 9 hours to walk from Jackson Chapel to Davis Mountain with a 1 hour stop at the shelter trying to wait out the rain. We were a little slow due to the rocky portion being very slick.

[Mountain Dog]

Thanks Skippy,

One additional clarification regarding HighPoint to Ga.  Was there also logging between HighPoint and Davis Mtn Shelter?  I thought you said there was but then when telling me about how well the trail was marked I thought you limited the logging north of Davis mtn shelter

I posted elsewhere and got the following information about the twig girdler.    If we could just train the little buggers to work only on the new growth along a trail..
===============================================================================
Sounds like an insect called a twig girdler or twig pruner.

Small branches accumulating on the ground and the presence of clean-cut twigs, and in some cases dangling (flagged) branch tips within a tree, indicate the presence of beetle pests referred to as twig girdlers and twig pruners. Both of these long-horned beetle species (Cerambycidae) attack numerous types of shade, nut and fruit trees. Heavily damaged trees appear ragged and unattractive, and young trees can become deformed by repeated attacks.

Common hosts of the twig girdler include persimmon, pecan, elm, hickory, oak, honeylocust, hackberry, poplar, linden, redbud, basswood, dogwood and various fruit trees.

These insect lay there eggs in the bark of a twig and then cut the twig below the egg laying site. The twig falls to the ground where the insect will mature. The eggs hatch and the larvae feed in the twig until mature.

Adult female twig girdler chews a V-shaped groove from the outside inward, leaving a ragged center where the twig breaks and a smooth cut on the outside near the bark.

The twig pruner chew through the wood from the inside outward, leaving a smooth cut on the inside of the twig with ragged edges near the bark where the twig breaks.

It really does not mater which beetle it is since the controls are the same. During the fall or winter, gather fallen branches from the ground and prune suspected infested branches still in the tree and burn them. This will destroy the population and greatly reduce or eliminate any damage the next year. The tree is not really damaged by these insect unless the cutting is severe and over several years.


Here is a web link to more information on twig girdlers.
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/...iggirdler/twiggirdler.htm 

[Skippy]

The logging is confined to the Davis Mtn Shelter area and the Salem Church road crossing.Very interesting about the Twig Girdler. All of this time I thought it was Squirrels. Those critters chew off the limbs in my yard and the woods behind the house.Thanks for the link