at I didn't have far to go for my Friday night camping spot. I was aiming for a spot right next to White Oak Creek only 20 or so minutes from the Thompson Creek trailhead. When I arrived at the trailhead, there were only four vehicles, so I was pretty certain that those people would be over by Ship Rock or somewhere near the Sipsey ripples where the most popular campsites are.
However, as I approached the campsite on White Oak Creek, wouldn't you know that I spotted the campfire and a blue tent in that campsite. Consequently, I retraced my steps about 100 yds and went up in the woods to find a soft spot for my tent. One of the nice things about winter camping is that the woods are free of all of the undergrowth that discourages one from seeking a campsite in the middle of the woods. I found a soft spot in the leaves, pitched my tent, ate a sandwich that I had brought, brushed my teeth, and turned in for the night. It was only 10:30 or so, but I fell asleep almost immediately. Coming in, I had heard the coyotes howling over on the south side of the river, but by the time I got in my tent, I heard only a medium sized owl beginning to hunt for supper.
Saturday morning was crisp and clear ... a gorgeous Sipsey winter morning. When I got out of my tent, I chuckled to find that I had pitched my tent on a perfectly soft spot in the woods with two marshy areas on either side, right outside my vestibule. I didn't get out my Jetboil, deciding that when I found my weekend spot, I would heat water and have some coffee as a toast.
Since I was intending to stay three more nights, I was determined that there surely must be an overhanging bluff along White Oak Creek that would afford me shelter if the predicted rains arrived. I put water and snacks in my fanny pack and set out up the hollow to find the magic bluff. I had to circumvent the blue tent (still asleep?), so I went up the side of the bluff a little and found an old road that paralleled the creek. I always wonder when old roads were put down and what their purpose had been ...
About a mile up the hollow I found the perfect bluff. T
here was an old fire ring, but I didn't think the campsite had been used for years. I was perfect for staying dry while doing the campsite things, and with a little work, would even hold my tent from getting soaked in a storm. While I was looking around to see where to set up all my stove, etc., I saw a pile of porcine excrement, so I named the area "Pig S_ _ _ Bluff" ... and an editorial comment: sooner or later, the Forest Service is going to have to let hunters into the wilderness area to kill some of the feral pigs --
they are destroying many trails and spoiling some campsites. Last June I saw five piglets and a sow. If the sows are having two litters a year (minimum), then the pig population is increasing by leaps and bounds.
Anyway ... great place to set up my camp ... I quickly went back down the hollow to fetch my equipment and ferried it back to PS Bluff ... I was set for the weekend.
Since rain was predicted for Saturday night, I spend the better part of the afternoon gathering firewood (fairly dry) and pulling some logs under the bluff. I travel with a folding saw, so I would have an abundance of wood for the night's fire. There was a small stream about 30 meters from my campsite, so I began filling water bottles. While taking care of that, I made a pot of coffee and toasted my new living quarters.
Saturday night--or, rather, Sunday morning about 3:00 AM, it rained for a bit. I love to be in my tent sleeping when it rains ... something about the comfort of dry hearing the rain pelt down on the fly. As I said earlier, my tent was mostly under the bluff, so I only had rain on the outer edge of one of the vestibules, not on the tent itself ... but the sounds of rain falling in the woods is comforti
ng to me, also. By the time I got up Sunday morning the rain had stopped, but the sky was completely overcast ... still drizzling some, but not much. I was glad I had moved some firewood under the bluff.
About 9:00 AM I decided to go on a little walk. I had been up the unmapped White Oak Creek Hollow Trail going to Big Tree once, but was not sure which trail it connected with (in fact, my wife and I stumbled around in the woods on that ridge for an hour before getting my bearings and connecting with the shortcut to Big Tree. My plan this Sunday was to go up behind me and connect with FT208, follow it northeast until it connected with the mystery trail, connect with the top of the WOCH trail, and come back down to PS Bluff ... that was my plan ... uh, didn't quite work out like that ...
My problem was that I've been in the Sipsey Wilderness so many times that I get fooled into thinking that I know my way around like I know my neighborhood where I live. Well, my GPS told me that I was just south and east of FT208, so I headed up the bluff behind me ... and that was a correct estimation ... took me only a few minutes of bushwhacking to get to 208. I turned right and headed northeast on the trail to connect with the mystery trail that connected to the WOCH trail. I was strolling along 208 and saw a guy getting out of a 4- or 6-man car-camping tent--out in the middle of nowhere ... he surely was not by himself, but one never knows ... when I got to the intersection of FT208 and (maybe) FT223 (which goes north), I continued on 208, and shortly came to the intersection where FT224 goes to the right. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? I was wa-a-a-ay passed the intersection I was looking for ... way east of where that intersection might have been ... way passed any right-thinking person's plan to intersect with the mystery trail ... and to make matters even worse--without consulting my map, which I had in my fanny pack--I intersected with FT204 and turned on it ... Again: what was I thinking??? (or, maybe, more correctly, why wasn't I th
inking?) ... After a way down 204, I descended to a bluff where four guys were camping ... I asked the opening question, "Y'all get wet last night?" The pointed to several tarps and said that they had stayed reasonably dry. I said, "Where am I?" They pointed off the bluff at the tops of some trees and said, "There's Big Tree." And, sure enough, it was ...
Well, I had "overshot" my trail connections by about two hours and four miles ... okay, it was only noon, and if I went the long way, I could be back to my camp before dark ... I checked my GPS and saw that sunset that day was a 4:43 PM ... and remembered that, as I packed my fanny pack for the "short hike," I had packed rain gear, snacks, and water ... but no headlamp ... I mean, it was 9:00 AM when I packed ... okay, I was not in a panic because I knew that, ev
en if I had to sleep in the woods, I would survive ... uncomfortable for a few hours--but I would not die. And, so, with those realizations, I decided not to go back the long way, but to find the shortcut up West Bee Branch canyon and come out right beside the top to WOCH trail ... that is, IF I could find the West Bee Branch trail that I had come down one time about six months earlier ... "No sweat," he said ...
After bush-whacking for about two hours and trying to follow a fairly constant elevation, I saw a trail on my GPS ... and that trail led to the top of the WOCH trail (I had fortunately set a waypoint there on a previous trip). About 4:15, I finally arrived at the waypoint, but couldn't see the trail going down the hill ... kept looking ... kept think ... and finally saw a few footprints that could mean a trail ... after about 30 meters or so, I was sure I was on the trail ... meaning that I would not have to spend the night in the woods ...
I dragged into my campsite about 4:55 and my dogs were barking. My GPS said that I had hiked 13.1 miles ... and since much of that was bush-whacking, I knew they had reason to be tired. Another Sipsey adventure, and -- Hey! that's what gives us material for stories, doesn't it?
I went to bed early and got up Monday to another cloudy day ... it cleared up a little in the afternoon and I went up WOCH far enough to find a good summer campsite ... near a little waterfall ... marked it in my mind for warmer weather. Ate well and slept well Monday night and woke up to a clearer day to pack out ... I was sad to leave my little home at PS Bluff ... it had worked well, but would be there another thousand years. I figure I will be back before it goes away ... don't you think?
.jpg)