Sipsey Trip semi-review

“friday night the tv forecast called for highs of 45..lows of 42 on saturday with light off and on rain. Saturday morning at 5am accuweather was saying high of 44 lows of 32(with a feel of 28) and heavy rain. It was raining harder than a cow pissin on a flat rock outside too!. It's raining so hard i miss the main turn and end up 1hour late to the trailhead. We throw on our new Red Ledges and head off...the bushwack was easy until we got to the 100-150' Waterfall we had to find our way down from. Didn't follow dayhikers instructions and tried to follow the bluff face...after getting beat to hell wacking through blowdowns we went back and found HIS way down. We are still dry..and still warm...packs are soaked through though now. We hit the trail and hike around to where they are set up...2 tarps, 2 tents...i call out and get a groggy response from rabbittman..who is in his tent trying to dry out and warm up. He was hiking in the rain that caused us to miss the turn. He decides to hike out..and we set up in his place...one hour later..finding chelle synthetic bag wet(still real warm)..and my thermarest soaked(not good for my down bag)..and not having full cold weather clothing..we start to pack up. The rest mingle back into camp as we are packing up. Sandy(mikes) tent has an indoor pool, and wet down bag..he's been their since thursday....MDShiker(i think) looked the best shape with tons of coldweather stuff and a tight lil tarp....Dayhiker was in good shape too..but his tarp looked too cold for me!!!..Me and Chelle hit the horse trails for a speed night hike out to the car. We hit the Bunyan trail around 4:30 and were back at the trailhead around 6:45. During this time the temp dropped to 34..and we hiked out in a light snow. The rain total for the day was a little under 2 inches. We had lots of fun on the hike in and the hike out...and meeting the guys was kewl and lotsa laughs...but we weren't prepared to make it through night warmly. I'll have to get a good packcover, and i thought my thermarest cover was waterproof. And that warmer sleeping bag is MUCH in need. Had fun though....but watch out when Dayhiker plans another one!!!”

“Next time will be better-
Going next week-we were scheduled for this weekended too-had to switch.It came a flood here too.”

“I wold let you use my puncho and yall could sleep in our tent with me and my daddy to.

I hope yall dont get a sik code and get ded. Mebbe yall can go to my dokter and she can get yall some mennisin. She got good pills.”

“Sorry I missed this one! I don't know why, but the worst the weather is the better I like it. Looking forward to hearing from the others.”

“Opie,
When I got to Double Springs, I looked across the road and there was a laundra-mat so I went in and dried all my stuff and I was back on the trail by 7:30 p.m. I didn't hike back to East Bee Branch, I camped on Borden Creek trail and met up with the others this morning at the trail head where they were parked.”

“Hey did opie bring beer?

Sarabelle-
Have fun?Find any skeery bama wolf critters?”

“Well I made it back from the Sipsey River expedition. Beware any trip put together by Dayhiker. Unless, you are a sado-masochist, that gets off on that sort of ordeal. Seriously, I had a great time even with the rain, cold, and river crossing. It was great to meet the hardy souls that showed up. Perhaps next time, we can have a little sunshine. Man, the bed is gonna feel good tonight! Oh yeah, anybody want a piece of crap tent? It has an indoor pool.”

“I was wondering about you guys up there on Saturday. I had a trip planned that intailed using the 20/59 interstate and had to turn around and go home because of the rain. I must have seen 10 wrecks in about 20 miles before I decided it was too dangerous. You are brave souls to have been hiking and camping in that. I don't think I've ever seen so much rain in one day in Alabama.”

“What kind of tent were you using Sandy?

Sounds like yall had a pretty "sporting" trip. Wish I could have been there!”

“I had a great time on the hike. I was lucky because my gear stayed dry. The Sipsey Wilderness is a beautiful place to hike. Lots of waterfalls, creeks, bluffs, etc.
I was a little nervous about crossing the river in waist deep water but jumped right in after dayhiker. The weather didn't bother me much and I thought the trip was GREAT!! It was a pleasure to meet the TT'ers and I can't wait until the next hike.
I need to do a little more seam sealing on my tarp tent, but for the most part I was pleased with my lightweight setup.

I saw 2 Thermarest pads that soaked up water - I didn't know the dang things would do that!!”

“Yea..i'd like to do this trip again with you guys sometime a lil warmer..don't mind the rain..or cold..but not both!! I even bought the THERMAREST stuffsack that is supposed to protect it from puncture and water...that's a load of crap!..MDShiker..i was impressed with your tarp and dayhiker how did yours far?..could you lower it and expose less mesh for more warmth?? Did ya'll notice the snow around 6-7 pm that night?...Mike(aka sandy) hehe you hiked your tent out..that's pretty LNT of ya..i would have left it as a "shelter" for the horseriders...i'll have the pics sometime tonight and post them tommorrow night”

“I was thinking of y'all Saturday night. I watched it rain all day on Saturday, and was thinking I was glad I didn't go. Then Saturday evening I stepped out to go pick up some soda for dinner, and damn it was cold. Then I thought, I'd be wet and cold if'n I was there now. Sure feels good to be at home.

Sorry y'all got so wet. Maybe I can make the next one. If it's dry, that is.”

“OPIE, I thought I heard the snow/ice hitting my tarp but it didn't last long. At the time I was laying there drinking hot chocolate and eating chicken fried rice. I thought "crap, that's not ice is it???" Anyway, I stayed in my tent for 13.5 hrs Saturday night. I was glad when the other guys woke up so we could pack and leave!! AND then the river crossing, lets not bring that up again ... thanks "dayhiker". ;)”

“Wet and cold sucks, there's no doubt about it. And staying dry can be tough. You prolly did the right thing there, Mr.opie, knowing when to leave is a virtue, and it's much better than staying and being miserable.

Soaked Therma-Rest, eh? Last fall I considered trying to float on mine across Red Creek in Dolly Sods, just to get across the swollen river. I wonder if it'd've worked?”

“My tent was a cheapo Camptrails. You get what you pay for. I will be calling campmor to upgrade soon. I use a down bag also. Guess I'll order a synthetic while I'm at it.”

“Mike...keep the down...just get a waterproof stuff sack and a better tent. just my 2 cents on that situation..or even a waterproof/breathable bag cover. Mine would have been fine if it was rated lower and didn't have a wet therma..and buddur..you would have soaked up like a sponge and sank like a fat man in jello”

“I don't know who planned this trip either. Seriously, everything went pretty much as planned, except the weather. I knew we had a water crossing, but only 0.5 miles from the trailhead. I was surprised at how deep it became after the rain.

We hooked up about 8 at the trailhead and set out on Friday morning. The 2.5 mile hike along Borden creek was very pretty. At about the 2 mile mark my map is labeled tunnel. We found a few very narrow cracks in the boulders and figured that was the "tunnel". We immediatly scrambled over the boulders to go around. No way down. I ditched the pack and scrambed down to investigate the "tunnel". Well, I'm 5'-10 and 180# and my stomach and back scraped the sides of the rocks. Went up the back side and sandy handled my pack to me. He and MDSHiker decided to use the tunnel with packs and came out a little muddy, but none the worse for wear. After another half mile we get to the trailhead that rabbitman used to hike in. We head off on another trail and come to an unlikely looking trail crossing. The trail petered out on our side. We cross and continue up an old, overgrown logging road. We dedide that this can't be it. I drop pack and scout ahead. The trail we're attempting to take is labeled wilderness path instead of trail, so we decide it's not in use anymore. We decide to head back and use rabbitman's route. On the way we found the trail we should have been on, but decided on the new route. This put us at camp about 1:30. We set up camp, and explored around a little. Had a good BS session around the campfire Friday night and then got ready for the monsoon. It rained from 2:30 am until rabbitman showed up around 8. I thought this was a good omen. We hiked out and attempted to bushwhack up another fork of the creek we were on. When I planned this part I wasn't thinking about flood conditions. After about 3/4 mile we decided that we'd had enough. Hiked down to the river and over the the ship rock area. It continued to rain off and on. We get to ship rock and back and hit camp around 3 where we find OPIE playing "Dueling Banjos". Sandy and MDS tell him how cold it was last night and that he "sure did have a purty mouth". Just kidding. OPIE and michelle hop out of the tent and we chat for a little bit before they head out. The 3 of us quickly eat and hit our tents. It was COLD by Alabama standards. We're all up Sun at around 6:15, break camp, and get the heck out of Dodge. About a mile from the trailhead we come to the best waterfall of the weekend. It was roaring. It would've been a great place for a picnic or break, but we were ready to get out and knew the creek crossing lay ahead. The creek was swollen to 2 or 3 times its size on Friday. We could take a 5 mile round trip route to a bridge, strip and cross, or cross it clothed. I decide I'm crossing fully clothed. We only had another 1/2 mile. About this time a father and 2 boys hike up intending to cross. They see the creek and decide against it. The father was nice enough to help pull our numb bodies out of the water. It wound up being waist deep and maybe 20 yards across(I'm not good at estimating distances). It was not quite as bad as any of us expected. All of us had a change of clothes in our vehicles so we had dry trips home. All in all I had a good time. I think all 3 of us probably wanted to bail, but were too stubborn. At work we say "If you're gonna be stupid, you'd better be tough". I guess we were both. Hope to hike with everyone again. Maybe there will be less rain next time.

My sil tarp worked well. It's a Henry Shire's tarp tent that my mother-in-law made for me. It worked well. I need to add a little extra seam sealer here and there. Poles, tent, and stakes weigh 25 oz. It has mesh sides and can be used during bug season. The mesh did fine. Sat. was very windy, but very little came in on me.”

“Is this the place AND the waterfall where someone's (?Mr.Dayhiker's?) dog fell to it's death a few months ago?”

“Same place, different waterfall. I was scouting out a campsite for this trip when my dog died. There are many, many waterfalls in the Sipsey Wilderness.”

“www.photos.yahoo.com/opie1979
The folder is the Sipsey pics. Only the first 4 are renamed and enlarged...i'll enlarge the others later...also a few others still have to be uploaded”

“leave off the www and just use http://”

“Great photos guys. I have hiked and camped in the Sipsey many times. It's my favorite place to hike in Alabama. Did you go to the big tree? Once when I was up there I found an old abandoned moonshiners still in a cave. It was still intact. Really cool. Let me know next time you go. I would love to tag along if you will have me.”

“We basecamped above the falls at the big tree. We'll let you know for next time.”

“YOu think the "still" is still there??...I feel another trip coming on REAAAAAAAL soon.

I wanna find this larger cave with a rock wall built around the front of it again..it's somewhere east of the bee branch..and north of the Sipsey..and west of bunyan hill i think..i'll look tonight on my map”

“yeah...the still should be still there. Let me know when you want to go and we'll go see it. Have you been to Kinlock rock shelter? It's outstanding. Lots of petroglyphs.”

“No...but i was goofing off around the EYE...following the bluff face north..and came up on a few glyphs up there..real hard to see..but definatly saw stick figures of a red color. I'm tired of the Thompson Creek area, and sipsey river trail..i wanna start bushwacking and exploring the other areas of this great WA”

“I would love to see the petroglyphs. I'm with you, OPIE, on the trails. I would love to bushwhack the Clifty Creek, West Bee Branch, and Quinlan creek areas. There is so much more to see off trail in the Sipsey.”

“Dayhiker..you know that huge waterfall you have to find a way down from...about 50 yards up is the most beautiful campsite i've ever seen...it was like a shaded glen with a shallow brook running beside it between two cliff walls...but no trail going to or from it....i may play in the white oak hollow and head up there to camp alone for 2 days...i mean GORGEOUS..you remember seeing it on your dayhike?”

“Now that you mention it, I think I do. As you approached the creek it was on your left just upstream from the falls. Is that the one? A small flat area next to the creek.”

“YUP..that's it...even had a clean firering....new pics to be posted in around 30 minutes...KEEP EYES OPEN”

“I've been to Sipsey once but the more I read about it on this thread, the more I wanna go back. Since this last trip was washed out maybe we can put together another before the mosquitos and fire ants start getting nasty again.”

“Opie's pics are great.”

“I probably won't be able to go, but definately go before the foliage comes back. I went last May and the trail is very overgrown. You can hardly see any of the bluffs. That's one of the things about Sipsey that is so special.”

“The Tunnel on the Borden Creek Trail, You can either go over or through. We went over it when we did that part before.”

“I'm thinking of heading back out there feb 23-24th.”

“Another thing to watch out for in the Sipsey during the spring and summer is ticks. I got ticks on me there during a dayhike, and on an overnighter there last May, I was constantly pulling little ones off of me.

Feb. 23-24 is right before my wife's birthday, but I might be able to swing it. If the weather looks good.”

“Sounds like a fun trip!

Would like to join you guys sometime, but its a little too far to drive.

Nice photos too!”

“Nice photos guys. Ya'll were playing in my neck of the woods. Sorry I missed it. I hike there quite often. Maybe next time I'll be able to join Ya'll. One other thing you need to look out for in sipsey are the snakes. I have saw some really big rattlers and copperheads there. Opie, you sound like a local. If you get a chance sometime cross over Thopmson creek at shiprock and you will find a bluff. There are 3 mortar rocks near a shelter there. There is also a marker tree above Fall creek falls that the United States Territory marked before Alabama became a state. Its kinda nice to find.

BAMA”

“Snakes...we're not skerred of no stinkin snakes...back home we play with lil baby 6 foot cottonmouths, and only start to get jumpy when we see diamondbacks that stretch over both lanes of the paved roads...Ticks and temps over 95..blah...now that's just plain skery!”

“sheesh, dayhiker, that sucks about your dawgie. :o(

nice pics, Opie. Sorry to hear about the indoor pool, Sandy! Yikes. I guess it would come in handy in Summer though...

btw, I just got a Sierra Designs Orion CST for $189 at Campmor. Great tent! Are you looking for a 1 or 2 man tent?”

“Just a one-man tent. Water-proofing is a must. Low weight would be cool too. At least I didn't have to hike down to the creek for water. All I had to do was siphon a little from the tent floor.”

“Sorry I missed this trip,Dayhiker and I had a short 20 mile trip here last summer 2 weeks before we went on the AT and Meet "Rad" and the others on top of Blood mtn.You guys have got to keep a close eye on Dayhiker....”

“Anyone else want to jump on the pile? Evidently, actually attending this trip is not required. Just joshing with ya' bama hiker.”

“Dayhiker..it's just so easy...you are after all an engineer...that went to bama..how much more ammo do we need?..next thing i'll find out is that you lived at paty hall”

“Lord no. I had better taste than paty. I spent some time around Parham...oh wait, that's a women's dorm. My major is actually rated higher at UA than Auburn. More AU grads wind up working for the government, while UA grads wind up in private practice. What does that tell you?”

“Let's not get started on the Bama jokes...”

“Texas Longhorn jokes are much more fun. Oh wait... you just moved to TX.”

“I'm a texas native if you cut away all the military brat in me...lol...i lived in paty 3 loooooong years..then got into rose. My freshie year i was assigned to Tut...my mom made me fix that error..”

“Dang, is this thread still going?

What the ??? I wanna hear some Bama jokes.

I'm hiking the AT through the Smokies (70m) around May or June - hollar if interested.”