Easter Egg in Sipsey

This trip was one to remember, and definetly one I would do again. It started on a Friday, as I can remember, and when I left I knew where the "heart of the melon" was in Alabama. This place is remarkable and well worth the drive, even with Jeff who (supposedly) can not read a map while driving therefore appointed vehicle operator. Anyhow this trip started with a little hike into the woods and Jeff was defiinetly aware of the ticks in the "hood" since he has previous misgrievings with them (call Jeff for explanation). On a better note, we found the trailhead smoothly and drove right to the point we should start at. We saw that we were not the only ones skipping church for Easter, and one guy left his windows down??? Anyhow, we went to the well marked trail that followed one of the tributaries of the Sipsey River. Here's Jeff going across the Thompson Creek in one of many river crossing for the weekend.

I had just bought a pair of Keen's before the trip and they came in handy here. No bridges built in this area. From this point we hiked down the creek about 3 miles and boom! were in the middle of where it all began. The Thompson Creek and Hubbard Creek form the Sipsey. and we camped under Ship Rock. This rock split the two creeks and the Sipsey is navigatable by boat, however the other two creeks that form the Sipsey are not.

Here's a little view of the campsite from the top of one side of the rock. People will build campfires anywhere as evidenced by Jeff and I's desire to build a camp "upstairs" on top of the rock. Plenty of dead wood up here, just not down there were the people are.

Here's a shot of the Ship Rock from the bottom, and we explored this little land the next day, after getting introduced to the loudness of the night. These noises include Whip-o-Whills and frogs at night. Both get rivaled up after dark and make for good background noise.





As you can see from the pic to the right, there are plenty of places for the frogs to sit and churp along Thompson Creek. This creek and another one, Hubbard Creek, run together to form the mighty Sipsey, and this river can be a little short on the water in the summer.

Built a little fire with Jeff's master woodenmanship assistance that includes a total of five different types of wood to start a fire without fire starters. One day you will have to take his short course to get the complete feel of his enthusiasm for fires.





What do ya do without silverware? Eat with your favorite stick.


















So, then we climbed up the rock that was above our website and figured out that there is a way up pretty much every rock out there that did not include rock climbing. This one started by finding this crack above where Jeff is climbing up and then we snapped a few on top of the rock. There were campfires and plenty of wood up there and would be a cool place to camp if you where ultralight. Maybe could hide some shit in the woods and bring a goat with you to help with the luggage going up.

This one looks like a Katrina victim, and even up here you could still see the damage as vouched for by a couple of kayakers going down a portage filled Hubbard Creek, and below at the very bottom is a shot of what the waterfall looks like downstream. The kayakers started at the waterfall and had a tough four miles of portages from down trees.

Butterflys were prominet around the sand and we found some while hiking up the river and found some of the reasons the frogs are heard so loud around here (see tadpoles).

This place is a little piece of heaven, and about fours away from us but well worth the drive. We have already been back and played at this fall again and will be back again to see more of this little piece of earth.