Walls of Jericho

“We may have to do that then. My only concern is that we'll be away from camp almost all day Sat and want to keep most of our camp hidden. I wish I could recon this trip, but can't get away before then. We'll probably wind up with about 10-12 folks if I had to guess. I have a few local friends going too.”

“Divinity, The hike to the bottom is steep. I saw a group of of about 9 going in about 2:30 in the afternoon. They said they were going to the bottom and back. They didn't have over a liter of water between them. I told them it would be hard to get in and out before dark. They just kinda laughed it off. Its people like this that they have to go in and get. There is a road in the bottom that they can go in to pick up people. I can't wait to see Ya'lls photos. It looks like it will be a great hike.

BAMA”

“Dayhiker, I am still a maybe, although a strong maybe.

I have a feeling that it won't be nearly as crowded in Dec, so we wouldnt have to worry so much about leaving camp. I think the crowds will stay away from the cold. I could be wrong and the boyscouts will take over the area, though. :)”

“The North Alabama Council has their Winter Blast scheduled for Dec. 26-31 at Camp Comer, so my guess is that most troops will be waiting for that to go backpacking. Of course, a troop from another council could be there...”

“From dayhiking at Cheaha it always surprises me that the colder the weather, the more dayhikers I see.”

“Everybody thinks that the cold weather will keep everyone else away...”

““Who's In:
dayhiiker
bitpusher
DDX
embear
divinity
walkabout
stikmon

Who's a maybe:
HPM
SS
MDS
Ewker
jmitch”
dayhiker
10:03:12 AM
11/15/04

WTF? Am I intentionally excluded?”

“And who is this "dayhiiker" person?”

“chili - I thought you had the kids that weekend. Sorry about that.”

“You changed weekends and it worked to my favor.”

“Cool, I think we'll have a great trip. If the weather is like it has been the last 2 it'll be outstanding.”

“Im heading out thurs night...you want me to pick you up and go in my vehicle?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“You two have mail...”

“Something tells me the 3 of yall will be eating supper at Hooters in Huntsville Thur night.”

“lol...”

“It's looking like I need to clean up my backyard (Ocala NF trail maintenance) that weekend.”

“Awww, man. Gotta take care of home though. We'll catch you next time.”

“I've been invited to see "Miss Saigon" that weekend, by somebody much better looking than dayhiker. I'm out, again, fellas.”

“Yeah, and I don't put out either.”

“Where is Miss Saigon playing?”

“Okay, I might be in.”

“For WOJ or Miss Saigon?


lol, j/k, I'm being an ass this morning.

Hope to see you there, MM!
last edited: 11/16/04 9:28:48 AM”

“Cool.”

“Neither. I meant putting out.

But seriously, WOJ. Come on HPM. Drive to Augusta, I'll take it from there.

Where's Tilt?”

“Wow! I'm gonna meet a lot of TT'ers on this trip! Cool.”

“Tilt saw this on your AT thread. I think he's considering it.”

“BTW, I am trying to convince Yammy to come, but she doesnt care for the bushwacking thing. I'm not crazy about it either, but that area is so cool, I just wanna go back!

We'll see how my peer pressure skills are these days.”

“I am trying to get Father Goose interested too.”

“Meet so many people? So what's up with the trips page? Two definite and three maybe?

Question mark? Question mark? Question mark? Period.”

“There are about 10 miles of horse trails for those that don't want to bushwhack.

I wonder if this crowd is going to totally freak out my local friends? I actually have a client coming on this trip. He's met MM, Arky, and MDS on other trips though.”

“MUUUUUUUUWAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”

“MM - it's because I just now setup the trips page. I kept it off the trips page to keep it from getting Savage Gulfesque. The 3.5 mile, 1000' elev change hike in and bushwhacking should keep most of that in check.”

“Of course we are going to freak them out! That's what we are here for!”

“OTOH, the trip itself was fine at Savage so I probably don't have anything to worry about.”

“embear - Drag trekkngirl with you!
She's dropped off the face of the earth. ;-)”

“Trekkingirl doesnt have a computer anymore so us nashvillians dont hear from her either!

Dayhiker, the 3.5 mile elevation change isnt bad at all. The trails are really nice and wide - not very rocky - but maybe I'm just soooo buff that I didnt notice how hard it was! :)”

“I didn't think it looked bad on the map. I'm really looking forward to this trip. Unfortunately, the week before will be hell. I have to speak at an all day conference on the Thur before the trip. I'll wind up being busy as can be Mon-Wed in prep of being gone for 2 days.”

“What's the best route to the Walls coming from B'ham?”

“You can get off 59 at either Guntersville or Fort Payne. Travel planner says Guntersville is maybe 15-20 minutes faster. toph72 said he did both routes last weekend and felt like Fort Payne was faster. The problem with Guntersville is all the redlights coming through Boaz and Albertville. I'll probably try both for this trip. I'll likely go Fort Payne on the way up because of less traffic.”

“Dayhiker....are we bushwacking to our basecamp???????”

“I'm pretty sure the hike to the basecamp is on a trail, although for vertically challenged people it may seem like a bushwhack...”

“bit's correct. It's a trail on the way in.”

“This past Saturday from the field near the campsite was the best stargazing I've ever been able to do in the SE. Anybody wanna stay over Sunday night for the Geminids peak Monday morning? :)”

“Now that's an interesting idea. I'll bet Tilt jumps on that.

toph - where do you think the best place for us to camp will be? Keep in mind that folks will be probably coming in thru the day Friday and even Sat morning. Also, we'll be gone most of the day Sat so security is a consideration.”

“so it is the hike OUT that is bad??”

“I think an Augusta Contingent carpool is a wonderful idea.”

“It's 1000' gain over 3.5 miles. I'm used to 4000' gain over 4 miles in the Smokies. It's all relative. It's lots more climbing than, say Savage Gulf, for example. Yes, the gain is on the way out.”

“This will probably be the easiest part of the trip. The offtrail portions will likely be much more intense, if various offtrail Sipsey trips are any indication. West Bee Branch comes to mind. I've bushwhacked that canyon twice and was pretty tired afterwards. Braziel comes to mind too. What makes it tough is you're constantly going up and downslope to avoid brush and downed trees. You'll hit a snag and go up about 50' on a 30* slope and then back down. It's fun, seriously.”

“It's really not that bad. I made the stretch from the creek crossing (where the uphill starts) to the TH in a little over an hour and I would not even remotely consider myself in 'good shape'. Between the uphill and the muddy/slickery stretch between the camp and the Walls, I highly recommend bringing along trekking poles if you have 'em.”