New Year's in Sipsey

“Are you thinking of meeting us in the morning at Thompson or coming in later? Do you know how to get to camp?”

“He'll just drop from the air from one of those Black Helicopters. ;-)”

“OoooK...”

“SuperTroll - if you decide to get to their camp and don't know where they're camping just drop me a line. I can email you the directions. It's off trail but not hard to find.”

“I'm green........with envy!!!......

...y'all have fun!!!!!!!”

“I'm back all...will have pics posted soon. West Bee Falls is very cool.

dayhiker - we went up on the west side and back on the east as you suggested following right along the bluff line and I only saw one place where it might be possible to scramble up to the east ridge. It was so close to the East/West junction that it hardly seemed worthwhile...did I miss something?”

“Great time was had by all.Rain held off until around 7:30 Friday night then only a few showers.Lots of bushwhacking but well worth the effort.Karo said West Bee Branch reminder him of the Smokeys.Karo also had an experience which few if any TT's have ever had.Will allow him to give details.Great time Guys.Looking forward to the next hiKe.”

“...Well not really, but sometime on the night on Thursday night there was a loud crash.
BAM!!!!
It sounded like a treelimb crashing to the ground and immediately I felt something brush against my legs! I wasn't scared, just shocked by the loud noise and the sudden awakening. I reached for my headlamp and realized I wasn't hurt, but wondered what in the world had just happened. I fugured the limb had narrowly missed me, but I checked the area before Walkabout and I set up camp. We were just under some small conifers and the area had looked safe. I got out from under my sil-nylon tarp and looked around. Nobody else was hollering or screaming in pain so I guessed it must have only hit near me....
...But as I looked outside there was nothing there! Not even a leaf on my tarp! I went ahead and took a leak while I was up and looked again before shrugging it off and going back to bed. The next morning we found two tears in my tarp and a long muddy smear across my tarp. We all guessed that the treelimb that fell must have been nearby, but it sure startled that deer and then he (or she) came thru my tent. That was the closest I have been to a wild deer in quite a while and I hope for a long time coming. Trip report to follow.

BTW, I hope everyone gets home safely and all TT'ers have a Happy New Year!”

“I started a trip report and got cut off! I'll try again later.”

“Good times everyone...thanks for making the trip.

Toph's Trips”

“Big thanks to toph for setting this last minute trip up.
I had a great time!
Enjoyed seeing Karo and Walkabout again.

I'll try and get my pixs posted tomorrow.”

“Glad yall had fun. karo - glad she didn't land on your head.

Tophp - the place I went up was maybe 200 yards from the head of the canyon. I scaled up a boulder about 15' or so by using roots that went all the way to the base of the bluff.”

“The pictures looked good.

Where did yall camp? Looks like you didn't have any trouble finding wood.

karo- it was a little prettier than the last trip, eh?

How was caney creek? I got the Seigfried, "Alabama Canyons" book for Christmas and the caney pictures looked really nice.

Knowing all 4 of you, I'll bet yall had a blast. The campfire had to be great fun.”

“Thankd dh.

15 ft? Yikes...I'd be too afraid of getting hurt in the middle of nowhere to try something like that.

We camped at your off trail spot on the White Oak route. You probably didn't recognize it because there is now a HUGE tree lying across the fire ring area. It's still usable but it's like sitting around a fire and climbing a tree at the same time :)

Caney Creek was very cool, especially the Upper Falls. The Lower Falls took a little effort to get to and weren't as impressive but the creek itself is very scenic on the way down. As the book suggests, the Upper Falls is a very easy dayhike...less than a mile from the parking area.”

“I'm going to try Caney. I don't know when, but it's on the to-do list.

I thought it must be the campsite because of the overhead shots. That hill out of camp climbs quick. If you head upstream and then to the left you can tie into the Rapids real quick. One hill and holler to the south and you'll find a set of 3 20-30' falls.

When I got to the top of the climb at West Bee and saw my buddy climbing up I had one of those, "What the heck was I thinking" moments. Another West Bee trip had me bouldering up a huge boulder about 15' tall. I get to the very top and lose my footing. I slide down and the bottom 6' is vertical. It threw me off and I landed in a heap. When I stood up with a grin MDS and Arky were laughing their tails off.”

“Caney is more of a swing by and check it out on the way kinda thing. I believe it only took me about an hour and a half to see both falls.

I actually took those pics of camp from up in the tree :)

The first time we stayed at that camp, we crossed the creek and bushwhacked up to 205 and followed it to 206 and the rapids similar to what you mentioned. Makes a nice loop for the day by taking 209 back around to Bee Branch.”

“http://community.webshots.com/album/534516418bCnLsO

My few pixs are up, camera battery died or there would have been more.

Damn Webshots was being a pain again, too.”

“Good pics SS...”

“check out my Sipsey pics from January '05 to see the ice we were talking about.”