Brierfield New Year's Campout

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The wife and kids took off to see her mom and their Mama Ree while I had to work. I had New Year's Day off as a holiday though so I decided to go on a camp-out by myself. I had always gone with the family or my son through the Scouts or as a family and this would be my first time out alone. It was definitely different.

It was quiet and peaceful. I did what I wanted to when I wanted to. There wasn't anyone else to think about, care for or be mindful of what they wanted. However there also wasn't anyone there to help me out should I have needed help. That will make you be a lot more careful and aware of what you are doing.

I parked at the gate to the Boy Scout camping area sometime around 8pm that night and backpacked up to the camping area. It is only about a quarter mile but it was nice to try out my backpack again. I found a nice rock to serve as a table and a close flat spot for my tent. There weren't any rocks around but there was some cut firewood so I used that to build a fire ring after clearing off the leaves. I soon had a fire going and it felt good as it was supposed to get below freezing that night.

I set up the tent and was soon fixing dinner. It was a dehydrated meal of my wife's that I had dehydrated back home. It was just like home cooking once it was re-hydrated. After cleaning up dinner I was ready to hit the hay and call it a night. However the cows in the nearby pasture felt like they needed to carry on a conversation for a few more hours.

Sometime around 4am I woke up cold. A flashlight revealed that the condensation inside the tent had turned to ice. That's when I knew it was cold. I had put on my thick layer of underwear thinking that would be enough. I had another thinner layer that I could put under that. However I was at the point in my awareness that I couldn't wake up enough to pull off the thick layer, put on the thin layer and then put the thick layer back on. So I just lay there and was cold until the sun and the crows finally roused me outta bed.

So I learned to always start with the thin layer first and then it is easy to just add the thick layer later in the night should it get colder. I also learned that I should double check and make sure I have hot hands in my backpack and not assume that they were left there from the last backpacking trip. I later remembered the last backpacking trip was in the summer and I had taken them out for weight savings. This was definitely a good test of what would work and what would not work and what I could do better next time.

After I got up and got a fire going I was hungry. After a nice bowl of oatmeal, some coffee and a few pictures of the camp site I was feeling human again. Time to pack up, clean up and follow Leave No Trace (LNT) principles. As you can see from the pictures there was no sign that I had been there once I was through. I have used that picture to show my Boy Scouts how it should be done.

After hiking back to my Jeep I went across the park and hiked the local trail on the other side. I also checked on the Pack 220 Geocache that we had left there back in October. It was still in good condition. I moseyed on back to my Jeep later for a quick lunch and then drove over to the camp site at the end of the park to check on a cache I had left there earlier in the year. I added some SWAG to it and then decided to hide a cache to commemorate the camp out.

I just happened to have one in the Jeep that I had picked up earlier in the week because a subdivision was about to be built over it. I changed the name on it and went deep into the end of the park and hid it. It was very nice and peaceful back there. I found me a nice rock to have a quiet time on. A gray squirrel came scampering right on past me as he searched for his late lunch. It was definitely nice and relaxing.

Afterwards I hiked back to the Jeep and headed on out. It was time to get back to the daily grind of the real world. However I was now in a better mood to handle it and looking forward to the next time I could take a backpacking trip on my own.

Brierfield Family Campout

After it was all said and done, MamaCacher said this was the best camp out she has been on yet. I think it was because we had the campground to ourselves and we weren't set to a time schedule. We got up when we wanted to, ate when we wanted to and did whatever when we wanted to. It was a very nice change.

It all started when I wanted to go canoeing on the Cahaba River down below Brierfield sometime Saturday since the water was up. At first we were going to watch the new Narnia movie Friday night and then go down on Saturday. Well MamaCacher decided she would rather go camping. By the time I got home and got all the camping stuff packed last minute we were running out of time to load the canoe and kayak. Plus I had gotten some word from some fellow canoers that the water was still going to be pretty high and dangerous. So we decided to leave the canoe and kayak behind and planned on a recon mission on the Cahaba and the Little Cahaba to find the best places to put-in and take-out a water floating vessel.

So we loaded up and made it to Brierfield in plenty of time before daylight went away. We had time to set everything up and have MamaCacher start cooking while we finished with the tent and accessories. Then we started getting wood for the fire. That was the hard part since everything was wet. However being the Cub Scout leader that I am, I was able to start a fire and have a good one going for roasting marshmallows. Later the kids played in the tent really well, much better than they play together at home. Hmmm. The wife and I stayed up and enjoyed the fire and the moon.

The next morning, after a fire and a great breakfast by MamaCacher, she finally had to know what time it was. It was really nice just hanging and not having to worry about being somewhere at a certain time. Later we loaded up and headed out on recon missiong to find good places to put-in and take-out a canoe and a kayak.

I was disappointed to see that Bulldog Bend Canoe Park was no longer operated. There was a gate across the road and it was all grown up. So far I haven't been able to find anyone who knows anything about it. No wonder it is closed. We found a spot on the other side of the bridge, across from the park, to put in though.

We then made it to the Piper bridge and found the Geocache there. We saw a hovercraft on the river while standing on the Piper bridge. It pulled into the refuge canoe landing. It was way cool. I think I want one of them. He didn't have any problem navigating over the shoals on the really fast flowing river. Did I mention that it was way cool.

We drove down to the refuge road and there were cars parked all the way out to the highway and then along the highway. People were starting to walk out and my wife asked one dude what was up. He said they had just completed a couple of foot races. Still not sure what the boat was all about.

We saw on the refuge map that there was an interpretive trail back across the bridge. So we headed back there and once there decided to take the hike. It was a very nice hike. Once at the end we found a really cool water fall. It took some getting to but it was cool, like literally, and the wife and kids liked it. We checked out the Cahaba River and it was really flowing. It was a good thing we decided not to canoe today. It would have been kinda scary.

We headed back up the trail and stopped at the two scenic locations. They were very nice. I am sure you can see more during the fall when the leaves are off the trees. We could see the shoals though. The water was really flowing over the lilies.

We made it back to the trail head and headed back. We picked up the Geocache at the Piper mines sign. We had gone past it too fast on the way in but knew we were coming back. There were wild roses all over the place. It was really pretty.

We then headed down to the Hwy 26 take-out point to scope it out. Got there and saw that it was the Pratt's Ferry Preserve. I didn't know that was there. A family pulled in and asked us where the nearest canoe rental place was. They were from Selma and wanting to do some canoeing. Hmmm.

We checked out the take-out and realized it would be a haul from the take-out to the parking lot. I am thinking about volunteering to make a road down to the take-out. It wouldn't be that hard and would make that a really nice place to put-in or take-out a boat.

Afterwards we headed back to the campsite for some lunch. MamaCacher tried to take a nap in the tent but it just wasn't working for her. I was going to take the kids to the pool but decide to lay down for just a second. When I woke up everyone was gone. I walked up to the pool and MamaCacher said they had been there for about an hour and a half. Man did I zonk out. I felt better though.

The kids played some more and then we went back to the tent to make dinner and build a fire. We gathered a ton of firewood from limbs blown down and such in the woods near the tent. In the process we saw a grey fox trot across the trail out the end of the camp ground. He went into the woods into a sunny, clear spot and stopped and looked back at us. The kids got to see him and were really excited about it. It was way cool.

Soon we had a roaring fire and a nice dinner of Chinese chicken. The kids and the wife roasted some marshmallows and made Smores. They gave me one the best tasting Smores I think I have ever eaten. They are getting good at this.

Tonight there wasn't as much playing in the tent as we were all tired. I stayed up for a little bit packing what I could for leaving in the morning and watched the fire then put it out and hit the sack. Of course there was this Chuck-Will's-Widow making its call in the woods. It would fly off and make it far off and just about as I was about to fall asleep, it would fly back in close and make a loud call. Fly off, almost asleep, fly back, fly off, almost asleep, fly back, .... Long night.

The next morning I took a nice hot shower in the park bath house and finished packing up with help from momma and the kids. We loaded up in the car and it went click. AAAHHH!!!!!

We walked to the bath house for momma and the kids to get dressed for church while I went looking for the ranger. Found him at his camp site and talked to him about jumping me off. He said there must be a flux field down there at the campground or something because he was all the time having to jump people off.

It was neat though because he told me about a camping, canoe base camp spot just past the Bulldog Bend Canoe Park and was telling me about a remote campground that Brierfield has that I wasn't aware of. He was also telling me about some archeologists that came into the park and found the foundation of what they believe to be a slave house near the campground. It was all pretty cool and he was able to jump me off also. So I picked momma and the kids up at the bath house and we still made it to church on time. What a great campout.