Sipsey Wilderness - May 2009

The goal for the weekend was to hike the East Bee Branch trail up to Big Tree and the falls behind it. This time I did not have a goal of having an easy, relaxing weekend. I knew the weather wasn't going to be wonderful, and it wasn't -- but it could have been much worse. Hiking in the Sipsey Wilderness during the late spring/summer/early fall is always going to be less than wonderful weather-wise, will always be buggy, and will make one glad that we have at least two seasons in the Wilderness. However, let me hastily add: being in the woods is sometimes more of a challenge than at other times, but it is always better than being back in the office taking phone calls.

I left Columbus after work on Friday and headed to northwest Alabama into the Sipsey Wilderness. I can usually count on a two-hour trip unless the traffic between Columbus and Vernon is thick. I opted for Plan B ... the "rain expected plan." I was going to go to the Rippey trailhead (Plan A - FT201), which would save me about 20-30 minutes, but not knowing how high the Sipsey was, and knowing I'd have to cross it, I decided to go in north of the Sipsey in via the Thompson Creek Trail. (As it turned out, I could have easily waded the Sipsey at the FT209 ford.)
The disappointing part of my decision was that I wanted to camp someplace different and closer to the Bee Branch-Sipsey confluence, but opted for the bluff near Auburn Falls in order to avoid the rain when it came. (I have now named that place Tick Bluff for obvious reasons ... the tiny critter season is in full swing. I am a 100% DEET user, though, which keeps the ticks and chiggers to a minimum, but my wife believes that the DEET has--as advertised--effected my brain functions ... others will vouch that I've been this way since long before the DEET era.)
I checked into Tick Bluff before dark and enjoyed a nice supper of beef stroganoff. I got in a little meta-cognition exercise time, so it turned out to be a productive evening. Because of the heat, I opted for no fire -- which I rarely have during the summer months, even though I love the idea of sitting be a campfire at night.
Saturday morning I slept late and, after wonderful coffee and blueberry granola, headed south east by the river for a rendezvous with the Big Tree. My GPS said it was about three miles to the Bee Branch, and judging by the time I walked, that seems accurate. I passed five college-aged backpackers when I got down to 206 when they stopped to wade in the Sipsey ... or something (didn't want to stare, but they picked a less than desirable spot just to look at the water. Maybe they were filling water bottles or something ...) When I passed the riffles around the end of the Needles Eye rock there were four guys in two tents camped there; and, once again, one of the tent-masters had pitched his tent on sand with the footpring tarp hanging a foot outside of his tent fly ... doesn't make sense to me, but maybe he/they like to sleep in a wet tent floor, or maybe he has his floors all seam-sealed and tested for leaks. Somebody please explain that to me ... maybe he had the floor of his tent sprayed with that rubber coating they use in the bed of pickup trucks ... whatever ... and maybe they were experienced campers that know something about camping dry that I need to learn. Anyway, two of the guys were fishing while two prepared the fire for a late breakfast ... hope they brought something as a backup.
Nobody was camped at the cave bluff between the FT209 ford and Bee Branch, so somebody could make that a dry camp when the rains came. And maybe it wasn't raining yet, but I got just as wet, because, buddy, it was humid. I don't know all of the outdoor tricks to predicting weather, but that was a pretty good sign that either a big rain was coming, or had just passed. I had not believed it to be quite so humid when I started and had only a 20 oz water bottle. I should have had a big one.
When I got to the Bee Branch confluence into the Sipsey it was too high to jump, so I went 50 yards upstream to the tree crossing. In case you haven't been there, this is a tree that has been used to cross Bee Branch for a number of years. It is flat on top and easy to balance on, even for a sweat-soaked old codger in muddy boots.

The east Bee Branch trail is a mess! It is a total mess! The short trip up to Big Tree took much longer than is should have because of all of the downed trees across the trail. I met up with some guys who had day-hiked from the Thompson Creek TH up the White Oak Hollow trail and around to the Bee Branch Ridge Trail (I think that's FT204 or something). At least one of them was very familiar with the east Bee Branch Trail and said it was the worst he had seen it in years. One huge beech tree and all of it's limbs had fallen across the trail and I elected to go up and around the stump. That was more of a diversion that I had thought it was going to be, and it took me longer than I had though it was going to take. I decided to climb through the mess on the return trip to, at least, make the trip shorter.

Big Tree was still there ... and the two waterfalls were both flowing over the edge. The five guys had me take some pictures of them reaching around the tree; and I got them to take a picture of me standing in front of the thing. I ate some gorp and a powerbar and decided to head on back. At the big beech tree covering the trail I met the four campers from the riffles area asking me how to get around/over the mess on the trail. One of them had on sandals, so I gave them both options. Shortly after I saw them, I passed one of the five college-aged guys asking if he had missed Big Tree. I pointed the way and gave him a brief lesson on the trail mess he would soon encounter. He didn't seem as if it were a big deal, so I said good luck and headed back to the Sipsey.
I was dragging a little on the return trip. The humidity was getting worse and I was running low on water. There were several tents at the big campsite near Bee Branch. A couple or three guys with single person tents ... They had evidently hiked in that afternoon. When I passed the big campsite at end of the point near the confluence of the Parker and the Thompson, I counted nine or ten tents and a big tarp ... a pretty large group about to get very wet. The four guys near the riffles still had their footprint sticking out from under their fly, so they were about to get wet, too. Hope their seam-seals held.

Got back to Tick Bluff and drank 64 ounces of cool water ... didn't have more purified, so couldn't do more then ... was really dehydrated. Finished off a bag of hickory-flavored jerky ... um-m ... so good after a long hike. About 3:30 PM or so the storm moved in ... and it came with a furry. Not as much wind as I've seen before in the Sipsey, but enough to bring the rain down furiously. The rains continued diligently for about two hours. Of course, sitting under my dry bluff I couldn't help but think about the people in the ten tents. I've been there before (many years ago at camp) ... everyone sprinting for their tents when the rain begins, trying to find someone enjoyable to spend some quality time with -- or, if you're an introvert like me -- trying to make sure you get your tent zipped up before some yada-yada person gets in with you for hours. The rains came down and sounded soothing. I sat in my Trekker chair for some time until my head snapped back ... at that point I gave up and headed for my tent for a late afternoon power nap.

Supper that night was a Polynesian Chicken with Rice ... or maybe something else Asian ... don't really remember ... not wonderful, but satisfying. I was intending to build a little fire for the cooler evening, but with the very hard and long rains, a small drip appeared on the roof of the bluff and dripped right into my fire ring. Certainly a helpful thing if I were going to bed or leaving the campsite, but a little frustrating that my stack of wood would go unused. Actually, I had left that stack of wood when I camped in April, so I didn't really spend any time cutting and breaking for the fire. And, actually, the evening had not really turned off as cool as I had though it would when the hard rains were falling, so the fire was not terribly missed. It will be there when I camp there again ... or for the next camper who stays under Tick Bluff. (I received a small thank you note from the ticks who had made their nest in the cut wood stacked up by the fire ... and I returned the favor by taking a small tick home with me on the under part of my arm below my elbow. However, he died an inglorious death in the swirling waters).
I slept a little more soundly Saturday night after the long hike, but still work up around 6:00 AM Sunday morning ... too early for a camper who doesn't sleep late most Sunday mornings. After another granola and grits breakfast, I cleaned up most of my gear and began repacking my pack. I couldn't really tell whether or not it was sprinkling, but I knew I was going to get wet from the overhanding brush along the trail, so I put my pack-cover over my pack and hiked out in my rain jacket. The trip out is always slow -- sometimes I really hate to leave the beauty and solitude of the woods.