Sipsey 06 - Parker Canyon

“The tentative dates are 3/10-3/12. I'll have to verify and get back to everyone.

Tentative plan:

Meet Friday morning and basecamp on Quillen at the same spot we did in 04. The off trail route to camp will not be marked except at a creek crossing that allows you to miss a bad descent off a bluff. We'll setup camp and either goof off or bushwhack the same Quillen route as 04. Sat we'll bushwhack to Parker Canyon. This will be a long, tough day. Expect to get wet. Parker is described as the roughest and prettiest canyon in the forest. This route is not for the faint at heart. Sunday we'll hike out and head home.

Details and date confirmation to follow.”

“DH, I sent you a pic of Parker Falls. I'll try to make the trip. I may have to come in from the other end. But I'll try to meet up with Ya'll anyway.”

“Hi folks,

We've got similar trip planned for December: down Riddle Creek to Quillen, then around to the mouth of Parker. I'll check back and let you know what we find. Like you, I expect it to be rough but rewarding. We're also looking at a bushwack to the upper reaches of Hubbard. Sipsey weather is here!

sipsee
Huntsville, AL”

“Why isn't it on the Trip Page, sipsee?”

“Thanks, please do report back. Hubbard is the other thing we might wind up doing on the Friday of this trip. I haven't had a chance to sit down with the map in a while, but plan on doing that over Thanksgiving.

I'm probably going to take a short trip the weekend of 12/10 with my son. A few of you have met my friend Tom that comes on some of these trips. He's planning on the 12/10 one with his son and grandson. The date should be confirmed this week.”

“SS - toph was at the bottom of Quillen this past weekend and had some good pictures.”

“Here ya go SS (and others if interested):

Sipsey Pics
last edited: 11/14/05 4:22:58 PM”

““Why isn't it on the Trip Page, sipsee?”

Umm....Sorry, I'm new here, so I don't really know what the protocol is. I guess when we nail down a date, I can post it.

Dayhiker, I've had my eye on upper Hubbard for a while. Friends tell me it's rough going. There's a side creek that comes in from the west that you could access from the Kinlock road (Byler Road?). It looks interesting, and would dump you right into that remote part of upper Hubbard. We plan to dayhike it soon and see how it looks. Again, I'll report back.”

“Nice, toph!”

“Actually, some of you may have some intel on this side creek to Hubbard. The one I'm talking about is upstream from Parker, right where Hubbard makes a hard bend. The stream comes in from the NW, sort of parallel to Quillen. Anyone ever been down it?

Dayhiker, I don't mean to hog your thread. If I should be posting this somewhere else, let me know.”

“sipsee, this is TT.
Thread degeneration is normal here. ;-)”

“sipsee - go for it on the thread.

I see a couple of hard bends in Parker with no side creeks shown. I'll have to find my USGS Quad that shows more info.”

“I looked over my Quad, surprise, surprise that I keep multiple Sipsey maps at the office. Anyway, exploring Hubbard on Friday and Parker on Sat probably makes more sense. Sunset on 3/10 is 5:52 with twilight ending at 6:17. If we leave camp by 12, or 1 at the latest on Friday then we should be able to explore a great deal of Hubbard. Anyone have a preference? Since Quillen is a loop I guess we could have 2 groups with one doing each option.”

“Dayhiker,

Here is the side creek that I was thinking of: http://www.knology.net/~dabennett/sipsey.JPG.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has been down this creek, but I guess the best answer is to go see for myself 8-)”

“Ahh, I see the one. Remove the period from the end of your link so that the link will work.”

“Hey toph!
Long time no see.
Thanks for the picture link, but it doesn't work from work. I'll look at it at home.”

“Try again:

http://www.knology.net/~dabennett/sipsey.JPG”

“MY site gets filtered at your office but TT doesn't??? Somebody has their priorities screwed up ;)”

“True Dat!”

“sipsee, I have 2 different maps that show a waterfall at that location, but no notes about it. One map shows waterfall with a question mark which just means that company that produced the map thinks there is one based on topography but doesn't have any first hand info that there is one.”

“Ask Bama, he would know if there is a waterfall there.”

“Yea, but are we worthly enought to know? ;-)”

“SS - the next time Bama shows on a trip I vote you and I tie him up and do a Vulcan mind meld and then download all of his Sipsey info. Looking at the topo lines there is probably a decent falls there.”

“I'm with ya on that DH...”

“This site shows a waterfall there.

Looks like a straight shot in from FS 210, but since the recent hurricanes and ice storms, you never know. Four of us went to Buck Rough last year. Me and a friend walked in from Thompson Creek. The other two came in from the Borden Creek side. They spent all day crawling through deadfall with packs on. They were whimpering for their mamas when they finally got to camp 8-)”

“That's why basecamping works so great in Sipsey. Just hike with a daypack each day.”

“t's why basecamping works so great in Sipsey. Just hike with a daypack each day

That's right: take the expresso machine and the La-Z-Boy to basecamp ;-)”

“2 years ago at Quillen we hiked in Dutch Ovens and beer.”

“How about the sound of wine bottles clinking together in your backpack?”

“I haven't done that

yet”

“5 liter box of wine works better anyways

I still wonder where all that beer went dayhiker”

“I still feel bad about that. Here I am in a Wilderness area and I left about 20 beers wash downstream. Some Scouts had a fun night downstream.”

“Well, you know what they say, DH: you don't own beer, you just borrow it for a short time.”

“Scene: Tranquil evening in the Sipsey Wilderness Area.

Players: Tired, thirsty hikers.

Hiker A: Man I could really use a beer right now.

Hiker B: Man, me too. Too bad C wouldn't let us bring any.

Hiker C: It's a dry county! I don't want to go to jail because of you drunks!

Hikers A and B: We know, we know...

Hiker C: Besides, who wants to experience the outdoors through a fog of alcohol! I'd rather have a clear mind so I can enjoy all the beauty of nature!

Hikers A and B: We know, we know...

Enter Forest Ranger...

Forest Ranger: Howdy, boys, you-all havin' a gooooood tahm out heyah in thuh Sipseh Wilduhness?

Hikers A, B, and C: Yes sir, we are. Thank you for asking.

Forest Ranger: Weyull, good, good...bah the way, whose beyah is that coolin' in the rivuh theyuh?

Hiker C: What beer, sir? We didn't pack any in...

Hikers A and B: No sir, it's a dry county, we wouldn't do that!

Forest Ranger: That beyah ovuh theyah, boys....

Forest Ranger points to the Sipsey River, where Dayhiker's beers have collected against a rock near the campsite.

Hikers A, B, and C: Honest, Ranger, that's not our beer!

Forest Ranger: Shoah, boys, shoah...You'ns need to be comin' along with me now, I gots to lock you'all up for havin' beyah in a drah county...

Hikers A and B: And we didn't even get to drink one of them...
last edited: 11/15/05 12:24:59 PM”

“That more of a south Alabama accent, but dang funny nontheless.”

“Sounds about right for North Bama to me. ;-)

I feel a Sipsey trip coming on. I may just take off a Friday, take a long weekend, just basecamp, and sit and relax.”

“SS - I'm probably going with Reece and others on 12/10, iffin you can wait that long.”

“We actually cancelled a trip for this weekend. It hadn't rained in quite a while, and nobody wanted to camp in the dust. Now.....”

“Last weekend was gorgeous sipsee, hopefully this weekend will be more of the same ;)”

“when do people have to start getting permits for camping in the Sipsey? Isn't that real soon now as in the beginning of hunting season?”

“Looks like this weekend, HOI.”

“I had just checked this out. Hunting in the Wildlife Management Area, of which the Sipsey Wilderness is considered a part, is:

11/25 and 11/26;
12/9 and 12/10;
12/26-1/01/06;
1/27 and 1/28/06.

Here's news to me: apparently, if you want to camp only on one of those dates, you're required to obtain a permit from the NFS office in Double Springs, and to carry that permit on your person. What a PITA. We had rescheduled our trip this weekend to 12/9-12/11. Coming from Huntsville, a detour to Double Springs adds an hour to the trip.”

“That requirement is a few years old. And I agree, it's a pain to have to drive all the way to Double Springs.”

“Ignorance can be bliss.”

“Duh........ I was just reminded that our group is scheduled for the first weekend in December, not the second, so hunting isn't an issue. We'll either do the Riddle/Parker thing, or maybe a Hubbard bushwack, or maybe a Caney bushwack.”

“I was thinking about checking out Caney this Sunday before heading home. Anybody have any experience in there?”

“Toph,

We've been to Caney twice. Look on the Bee Branch topo and find the junction of North and South Caney Creeks. Now, go upstream on North Caney to the first side creek, which comes in from the north. We came down that creek (which had a waterfall at the head of the canyon) and camped where it hits North Caney. Nice spot for a small group. Sandy beach. We dayhiked down North Caney, then a little way up South Caney, which was very nice.

Here's a map detail.”

“Toph,

Or, you can park near the head of South Caney and hike a logging road to the Upper Falls. I've never done it, but it's supposed to be easy and fast. The Upper Falls is prominently featured in Charles Seifried and Jim Felder's new book, "Alabama's Canyons."”

“Thank you for the info. I'm taking my dad out to Sipsey for his first overnighter this weekend and am looking for something relatively quick to do on Sunday morning before we part ways. Maybe Caney will fit the bill.

I actually bought that book a couple of weeks ago. Every Sipsey lover should have a copy. Very cool. I couldn't find a description of the cover pic but is that one of the Caney Falls on the cover?”

“is that one of the Caney Falls on the cover?

Yes, that's Upper Caney. The way the book makes it sound, it's a quickie coming in from the road.”