My First Solo Backpacking Trip in 20 Years | Jacks River Falls

After nearly 20 years away from solo backpacking, I returned to North Georgia’s Cohutta Wilderness for an overnight hike along the Beech Bottoms Trail to Jacks River Falls. Part backpacking vlog, part homecoming, and part field journal, this trip follows the full experience; from hiking and creek crossings to camping beside the Jacks River (below the first creek crossing of course!), playing guitar by the water, photographing wildlife, and settling back into solo travel in the backcountry. Along the way, I identify plants, animals, rocks, and other natural features encountered on the trail, with quick and approachable facts about the ecology, geology, and flowing water that shape the Cohutta Wilderness. The trip included encounters with an American black bear and cubs, a timber rattlesnake, a North American river otter, an American toad, pollinating insects, native wildflowers, and the ancient phyllite bedrock surrounding Jacks River Falls. This is not a formal nature documentary or science lecture. It is an outdoor adventure with interesting discoveries along the way, a mix of backpacking, wildlife, photography, natural sound, original music, science, and personal reflection. This overnight trip is also the beginning of a larger progression toward longer solo backpacking and canoe expeditions, including a future journey through Minnesota’s Boundary Waters. Filmed in the Cohutta Wilderness near Jacks River Falls, Georgia. Subscribe to Hiram Audio Labs for Appalachian travel films, backpacking and canoe trips, field identification, wildlife, photography, outdoor science, natural sound, and original music. #CohuttaWilderness #SoloBackpacking #JacksRiverFalls