Video: Sipsey Solo April 2016

[sidneyhornblower]

Shaky camera work, shoddy special effects, sloppy editing, muffled sound, stale jokes and state-the-obvious commentary -- it's another sidneyhornblower hammock camping video, now live on YouTube. Click the link below. This video will change your life.*

https://youtu.be/McHV1wt2OPw



*Specifically, it will make you 31 minutes older than you were before you clicked the link.

[TrailSlug]

Excellent video and commentary. Thanks for doing this for those of us who can't make it out there just yet. One question. On day 2 I believe it was, you stated you were going down the west side of Borden creek. Trail 200 is on the east side. Is there also a trail on the west side? Also what map do you use for the Sipsey area? Thanks again for sharing.

[squidbilly]

Yes, there is also a trail on the west side. There are also lots of social trails in the SWA that aren't on the maps.

http://www.sipseywilderness.org/index.html Maps and trail descriptions

http://www.briartech.com/sipseyonepagea.pdf

[Slowbee56]

Thanks for sharing, I believe the hogs were test critters for the local Piggy Wiggly. (Bacon, yum, yum, yum)

[sidneyhornblower]

Is there also a trail on the west side? Also what map do you use for the Sipsey area? .

Thanks for watching. Squidbilly beat me to it. Yes, there is a fine trail on the west side. I saw exactly 3 people on it, all day hikers. The bulk of the traffic was on the other side.

The links squidbilly posted are excellent. I especially like the Sipsey one page map from which you can print sections.

When I arrived, the friend who dropped me off also gave me a large commercial map, essentially a topo map with a lot of other stuff added. I don't know where she bought it, but here's the publisher :

Carto-Craft Maps, Inc
738 Shades Mountain Plaza
Birmingham, AL 35226
205-822-2103

[sidneyhornblower]

Thanks for sharing, I believe the hogs were test critters for the local Piggy Wiggly. (Bacon, yum, yum, yum)

I just wish I could have gotten more or better video of them, especially the little ones. You can sort of barely see them running off at the end.

[G.G.]

Nice trip. Covered some good ground.
Glad the pack is working well for you.

[TrailSlug]

Thanks for the info (Thanks squidbilly too). I plotted the http://www.briartech.com/sipseyonepagea.pdf map at work on Thursday to approximately 3 ft X 4 ft and I'm going to try to make a booklet out of it. One thing I noticed about this map is the (ridge) trail that runs east along Bee Springs is labeled "No Named Trail" and the (valley) trail that goes to Bee Branch falls isn't labeled. Wonder who put this together so we could get updates done on this map? Thanks again for sharing this. Really enjoyed the video.

[squidbilly]

"No name trail" is actually the official trail #204. Funny how it's more accurately plotted on the Briartech map than on the SWHC map, but there it is.

The "valley trail" is 204A: an unofficial and unmaintained trail made by thousands of visitors just following the water up Bee Branch and East Bee to the Big Tree.

Also, read the trail descriptions on the SWHC site--lots of useful info there.

The Carto Craft map is available at Alabama Outdoors Stores. It's advertised as waterproof...not actually true. you can probably get it for less from Carto Craft or elsewhere.

[Jeff-in-AL]

That PDF is the map I use most for the Sipsey. I like being able to print out the chunk for that particular trip I need and throw it in a ziplock bag. There's also an app I use called Maplets. Its a little crude but it shows you where you are on downloaded maps and one of the map it offers for the Sipsey is that briartech version. The issue I ran into last weekend with that map, is that it doesn't accurately show where Bee Branch Trail begins. I'm not sure why Bee ridge isn't marked. Since it's a PDF it can be modified.