AL>Sipsey Wilderness Area>January 25-26 2014

**Gingersquatch** · 01-27-2014, 11:14

Departure: Oxford, MS 4:30 AM
Destination: Thompson TH, Sipsey Wilderness Area
Arrival: 7:15 AM
Party: Me (HottyToddyHanger/Ginger Squatch) & Ruger (friend I'm trying to convince to join HF)

We hit the 206 around 7:30 Saturday morning. It was chilly but didn't take long to warm up once we got moving with our overly full backpacks.

Cut Outs.jpg

After a couple short water breaks, we made it to Auburn Falls.

Auburn Fallls2.jpg

The 206 was pretty easy walking. I definitely enjoyed the downhill sections along the river.

Sipsey.jpg

We made it to 204A where we ran into a couple guys from Florence, AL. They were also headed to The Big Tree so we jumped in behind them and headed into Bee Branch. The trail has a good bit of over/unders that'll wear you down if you're shouldering a pretty heavy pack.

We got to The Big Tree around lunch, dropped our packs, and had a long break.

Casey @ BT.jpg Ruger @ BT.jpg Falls at BT.jpg

After watering up and hiking out of the canyon, we were pretty beat. We stopped at the first campsite we came to (mistake) and started setting up our hammocks around 3 pm.

An early supper led to us both being in our hammocks by 7 pm. It's the earliest we've ever turned in on the trail. Temps might've dipped into the mid 20s but it wasn't windy so we were good.

Sunday morning we hit the trail fairly early. Made it up to 224, connected to 208 and enjoyed the easy walk back to Thompson TH.

All together it was only about 12 miles but was plenty tough enough for us.

**FlySubCompact** · 01-27-2014, 14:33

The trail has a good bit of over/unders that'll wear you down if you're shouldering a pretty heavy pack.

We were there for the first time last weekend and you got that part right about Bee Branch with the over under. Wish we'd dumped packs much earlier than we did. You cross a downed tree with the name "Cookie" carved in it. That will be the boundary for my pack next yoyo trip up that canyon.

Nice pics and trip report. Glad you and your pard didn't freeze. Y'all had more icicles than we saw last week.

**halfastronomical** · 01-27-2014, 20:04

Nice report! I was in that same area on Sunday and took most of that same path. Those icicles were falling like mad! I never did see a read bearded sasquatch, though...

**squidbilly** · 02-01-2014, 23:34

Thanks for the trip report. Just curious: why was stopping at the first campsite you came to above the falls a mistake? After doing this loop, did you agree with the direction I sent you? Sorry Halfastronomical and I missed you Sunday: y'all were probably long gone when we got there. That white Tahoe at the trailhead with the Forever Wild plates was us.

**Gingersquatch** · 02-03-2014, 15:54

If we had walked another 60 yards, we would've found a much better spot with lots of firewood already gathered. Either way, we still enjoyed our trip. And yes, that route worked good for us. We needed the easy walk out Sunday morning after a long day of hiking Saturday.