Black Friday in the Sipsey

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally reserved for waking up a 5:00am and shopping all day.  Having no money, Jen and I decided not to participate.  Lindsey and Andrew had come over from Oxford, MS for Thanksgiving, so we decided to head out to the Bankhead National Forest and hit some of the Highlights.

Our first stop was Caney Creek Falls, off of County Rd. 2 , just a few minutes north of Double Springs.    It is a short and easy hike, that ends up with a stunning view of the pool beneath the falls.  I hadn't been there in a few years, but the pullout was easy enough to find.  Notably because of the stout little dog that hangs out there.  I have been here three times, and the dog is always standing in the parking area.

After that we headed to Kinlock Shelter.  We stopped in at the Rabbit Town trading post, which I had never seen open before.  Inside there were some older folks who really liked to talk.  They knew a ton about the Bankhead, and the history of Winston and Lawrence counties, but they talked so much that it was hard to make our escape.

Kinlock Shelter is also an easy hike, down a gated road, and off of a side trail, though it does have a steep descent.  Most people I have ever talked to know of it from word of mouth, which is a good thing, since it was already noticeably impacted since the last time I had been there.  The rock overhang leads back into a cave (though it is sandstone) creating an area that could shelter a descent amount of people.  It was traditionally used by the Yuchi and Cherokee people as a winter time shelter, and plays an important role in the winter solstice ritual.  More on Kinlock here. Petroglyphs can also be found etched into one of the large boulders.  The place is generally awesome.

Wild Turkey petroglyph , a prevalent food source for Native Americans

The trail to Kinlock crosses a section of Old Cheatham Road.  Originally established as wagon trail from Gum Pond (in the Bankhead) to Tuscaloosa,  I have been told it was eventually extended to create a route all the way to Nashville.  More history of the area can be found at the Rabbit Town Trading Post, and the Warrior Mountain Trading Post in Wren, AL.  I guess Google probably works as well.  More on Old Cheatham Road.

Old Cheatam Rd., just above Kinlock

Did I mention we had four dogs in tow.  Our two, plus Hammy and Sawyer, who came along with Lindsey and Andrew.

The final stop was the Borden Creek trailhead in the Sipsey Wilderness (trail 200).  The trail follows the creek and has an abundance of wild flowers in the spring.  Even in the winter I could recognize trilliums, toothwarts, and cranefly orchids.  There were also an abundance of pipssisewa, a powerful medicinal herb and wildflower.  The Sipsey contains an abundance of trilliums, many of which are imperiled species in other parts of North America.

The trail leads to an area called the fat man squeeze, which it turns out is registered as a cave with Alabama Cave Survey.  It's just tight enough to make you turn sideways and remove your back pack, and does take you through a brief portion of total darkness.  Trail 200 passes right through it.  I wanted to take a look at the rock wall on the other side, which about 70ft tall and has solid enough cracks and features that it could be climbed on trad gear.

Exit from the Fat Man Squeeze

The potential for First Ascents.

From here we went down to the creek to water the dogs, and mess around on some of the boulders.  A belted kingfisher shot down the river, right next to my shoulder.  We found a log jam, stuck just above the water, which was covered in mushrooms.  I had spotted them from a distance away and wanted to see if they were oysters.  They were, and we harvested quite a few to eat in an omelet the next morning.  I have found oyster mushrooms in abundance in that area, generally in fall to winter, growing on downed tulip poplars, usually in low lying areas and valleys.  If you have an eye for detail, they are easy to identify, with there being only one close look-a-like (non-poisonous, but unpalatable).

Darkness was approaching, and we had gone without lunch, bringing only granola bars and trail mix.  We headed back to the truck and made the 30 minute or so drive back to my house, where dinner was waiting in the crock pot.

P.S. Sipsey is Cherokee for Yellow Poplar.