Walking the Sipsey

To celebrate the completion of the awful, no good, horrible week, I decided to go hiking on Saturday. The weather was great (a touch of chill in the air) and I had no pressing duties, so I got up and headed off to the Sipsey Wilderness Area. [Warning: the preceding link is the best I've found for the Sipsey, but please note that it is out of date. Hence, one should not rely on it for accurate info regarding trail status and such. More on that later.] I've heard great things about Sipsey, but the one time I really tried to explore it, well there was a deer hunt that same weekend and I thought it best for me NOT to traipse around the woods while men with guns were attempting to harvest venison (or kill Bambi if you prefer). Still, Saturday seemed the perfect opportunity.

I got to the Sipsey within 45 minutes, but it took another 45 or so to get to the remote corner that I wanted. Finally, though, I arrived. I checked my stock of necessary gear:

• GPS receiver -- check.
• Food and water -- check.
• Topo map and compass -- check.
• First aid supplies -- check.
• Fire starting materials -- check.
• Warm clothing and spare socks -- check.

Though you may find this hard to believe, I never was a Boy Scout (I blame my big bro for that, though in retrospect it probably was for the best). Still, I believe in being prepared. Given my preparation, I felt well equipped for a 3-4 hour hike around the woods and it all started innocently enough.

Since I'd never explored the Sipsey before, I figured I'd start with the Thompson Creek trail -- one of the most popular, according to my sources. I finally got there and hit the woods around 10:00. For the first hour or two things were fine. I saw lots of rocks, water, trees, etc. What I enjoyed most was the peace and quiet after my hectic week. Basically I was just mellowing out, communing with nature.

So I roamed around the woods for a couple of hours and I must say it was a beautiful way to spend a Saturday morning. The weather was crisp, the waterfalls were beautiful, I even saw a couple of deer. Eventually I made it down to the Eye of the Needle rock formation and even it was impressive. All-in-all it was a great morning. I can only imagine how spectacular it'll be in a few weeks once the leaves really start to change. People go to the Smoky Mtns. for this kind of stuff and it's available less than an hour from Decatur. Go figure. I was feeling so full of spunk, I even took off my boots and socks and waded across a river (well, really more of a creek, but it's called the Sipsey River). I didn't have to do it that way (see earlier note about spare socks), but it just seemed like the proper thing to do while wandering around Sipsey. Seriously, this place will get in your head and convince you that you are Davy Crockett.

It's hard to tell with nothing for perspective, but that is one HUGE rock.

So after I cross the river and eat my lunch, I figure it's time to head back. It's been such a great day, though, I don't want to just reverse the trail I took in. NO, I say, I'll just go "cross country" and make my own way to another part of the Sipsey that I wanted to visit. I realized there was no official trail from A to B, but I had some info from other sources that suggested there were unofficial footpaths that would take me where I wanted to go. Plus, I had put a waypoint in my GPS for the parking area I eventually wanted to come out at, so what could go wrong?

I'll tell you what could go wrong -- everything! There were footpaths, for a while. Suddenly the footpaths disappeared and Hubbard Creek seemed to be flowing in about 8 different directions all at once. Even though I knew I needed to head northwest, I almost convinced myself to turn around and go in the complete opposite direction. Eventually, though, I convinced myself that if I did keep heading northwest, sooner or later I'd get to the confluence of Hubbard and Quillan creeks. You know what, I did. Problem was, once I got there, the promised trail/path did not materialize.

So now I found myself about 2 miles (according to my GPS receiver) from the parking area I wanted to be at. 2 miles isn't so bad except that I was in the middle of a big old forest with lots of downed trees from years of storms and just general old age. Why was that important? Well, I was in a holler and I wanted to follow the creek back to civilization. With all the downed trees, though, I rarely got to go more than 50-100 feet without detouring to get around/over/through some rather large obstacle. At first that wasn't a problem, but after a half mile or so I was exhausted -- and I still had 1.5 miles to go. Oh, did I mention that I had about 300 feet of elevation to gain as well? Yep, I felt like the stupid idiot character they always had in the PLEASE DON'T BE THIS STUPID OR YOU'LL DIE videos we used to watch in Hunter Safety class!

After a while I almost began to despair. Though I had prepared for the possibility, I wasn't looking forward to the prospect of spending the night in the woods (that bit of chill in the air might have changed to COLD by morning), nor did I want to try to fight through all the deadfalls and such after dark. On the bright side, I did get to see some wonderful waterfalls that I would not have seen by sticking to the trails. [Of course when my co-workers asked what sort of things I got to see on this route, I told them, "Several closeups of the ground as I repeatedly tripped over snags." Sue almost spit food.]

Sorry it's kind of fuzzy, that was due to some settings I had to change on the camera and the lack of a tripod. It could be artistically fuzzy, no?

So after pulling my butt up one hill and down another for what seemed like forever, I made it to the parking area. Of course I still had 0.8 miles to go to get to my original parking area, but that was on a road -- it makes a big difference. Finally I got back to my car, a mere 7 hours after starting. Now I understand why the theme song felt the need to stress that the S.S. Minnow's cruise was supposed to last only three hours!

Regardless, I made it back safe and sound and really pleased with my trek. Yes, I was weary and I doubted my sanity a few times during the afternoon, but all-in-all it was worth it. Next time, though, I think I might stick to the trails. Nah, probably not. Why carry all my emergency preparedness stuff if I never get to use it?

In the end, I did learn two things -- creeks are ALWAYS deeper than they appear (not the one I waded across on purpose) and don't mess with a woman on a horse -- but those are stories for another day.