Adventure Empires

This trip was the first for Kevin to the Sipsey Wilderness. It was my third trip to Sipsey, but the first trip which I planned out, initiated, and completed successfully. We set out at Randolph Trail Head around 6:40 PM for a short night hike to our first spot. We started out going north on Trail 201. It started out a small path but then led to a forest access road where you could go right on 202 or left and up 201. We had expected that we'd get tired and set-up camp sometime before reaching Trail 209 where we would then head east toward the "Big Tree". However, we also are more accustomed to hiking Cheaha with all it's elevation changes. We came up on Trail 209 much before expected. Kevin spotted a level spot to camp. As soon as we walked off the trail, there sat a fire ring. Perfect. We set-up for the night. Kevin made a small fire, but we didn't really keep it going long. I learned the hard way: when grabbing some cheese to go with your "All Amer

This was Austin's first backpacking adventure ever. We tagged along with Boy Scout Troop 74 for a quick overnight trip in the Sipsey Wilderness. We had a really good time! I didn't take very many pictures but nonetheless I will do my best to give a trip report. We arrived shortly after breakfast time at Borden Trailhead. We hiked trail 200 all the way down to the Sipsey Trailhead. On the way we stopped at some cool spots. Here's one of them: When we arrived at Sipsey Trailhead we took a short break and then headed back the way we came till we found a camping spot we liked. There we set up camp: I was in my Dream Dangerbird Hammock. That's my Warbonnet SuperFly Tarp half way up. I wasn't going to put it up at all, but around the time we were getting ready for bed the wind started blowing pretty hard so I figured I'd be better served if it was half way put up just in case the wind bothered me while I was sleeping (that way all I'd have to do would be

It seems like Kevin and I have never planned an adventure that went according to plan. This last trip most certainly did NOT go according to plan. lol. When we first started planning these backpacking trips - the weather would ALWAYS say it was going to rain, we would cancel the trip, and of course - it would end up being beautiful weather and we'd be wishing we hadn't canceled the trip. Therefore, we watch the forecasts with extreme prejudice - usually assuming something along the lines of "that's totally gonna go north and miss us." Except this time - the weatherman was right! It rained the WHOLE trip. Our plan was to do the Skyway / Chinabee Silent Trail / Pinhoti loop starting at Adams Gap and going clockwise, hitting the Skyway trail first. Last time I did this loop it was Winter 2013, 25 degrees outside, and we did it counter clockwise. We had a blast, but all the good scenery was first, and the Skyway trail - which can only be described as a multitude of