John Kerry ‘09
Aug 20th, 2008 by Admin 1
No, not the long-faced Senator you’re thinking of, and not for President, rather John Kerry the outdoorsman for Lake Conasauga camp host. Those of you who have been fortunate enough to camp at Lake Conasauga in the Cohutta Wilderness during the years he was there and who have had the disappointment of camping there recently know what I speak of. I’m sure the guy who’s there now is a nice enough guy, but the quality of the place is slipping.
First of all, the place is littered with garbage, not only empty worm containers and fishing lines and hooks along the shoreline, but the campsites too. Ours had lines and hooks all over the ground as well as eggshells from a food fight that had apparently taken place some time before we got there. We walked around and noticed that several sites were trashy, but one was especially bad, it looked like a bear had gotten a hold of a trash bag that no one bothered to clean up. That site was uninhabited all weekend so it’s not like there wasn’t time to take care of it.
In addition to the garbage, the noise was unbearable. The people two sites down from the host had several children who were yelling from about 5:30 a.m to nightfall while there were several radios and stereos blaring all over the place. Ahhh, nothing like booming bass to lull you to sleep! I can only assume nothing was said to anyone since the noise level never changed until Sunday afternoon when most people had gone.
I admit I enjoyed the years it was closed to fishing the most because it was much more peaceful due to the lighter crowds, but never have I been so let down by a trip up there.
Mr. Kerry was an awesome host who kept the place clean and safe. He would take a chainsaw down the trails after storms to make sure they were cleared for hiking and would warn campers when a severe storm was coming in. I know he had Cancer a few years ago and I hope he has not succumbed to it. John Kerry, if you’re out there and you’re reading this, please come back.
