Brierfield New Year's Campout

Click here to see a slideshow of all of the pictures.

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.

King's Chair Hike

We went hiking and what did we see?

Well Frank from another den invited our den to go on a hike with them out at Oak Mountain State Park (OMSP). So on the Saturday morning of June the 14, the day of the hike, all of the so called Boy Scouts start calling in saying they can't make it. Now just because it is raining buckets of water outside doesn't seem like a valid reason to cancel a Boy Scout hike so Mr T and I head on out to the North Trailhead like real Boy Scouts.

I arrive a few minutes after 8 and Mr T and the Karate Kid are waiting on us. Since it is still raining, we jump in the SUV with them to talk about things. In a few minutes a bicycle and a motor cycle with flashing lights comes flying by. We realize we are about to get to watch the cycle part of the Buster Britton Triathlon. Rain hasn't deterred them. So we watch them come by one way and then a little later come back by the other way. Now we have bikes going both ways. In a short while the rain stops and we are the only Boy Scouts there.

So we climbed out of the SUV and get our hiking stuff together. Now the hard part is getting across the road with all the bikes coming both ways. You can see in the first two pictures it was pretty busy. We scooted across though and only had one lady yell at us. Hmmm.

We start up the trail and run into a couple of guys who had been out hiking in the rain. They said it was pretty cool and they did alright. It was kind of humid but we started out straight up the mountain side on the Blue Trail. I quickly realized just how out of shape I was and that I needed to be doing more hiking. We made it to a side trail that I had loaded in my GPS from some Geocaching friends. They had discovered a trail off the left of the Blue Trail that went up on the ridge and provided some excellent views. So we took off up the side of the hill.

The USS PHAH cache was just off to the left of this side trail. So we eased over along the edge of the ridge to the USS. NovaEagle and KarateKid climbed up on the USS and KarateKid found the cache. You will notice in the pictures that they are sitting in the midst of a lot of poison ivy. NovaEagle apparently isn't allergic and escaped any ill side effects. KarateKid wasn't so lucky. He was later known as itchy drawers for a couple of days.

So we signed the cache log and headed on up the mountain to the ridge top. We followed the ridge to the end where we were awarded an excellent view of the Blue Trail and another cache. KarateKid got it for us and we let him sign it as we had already found it. We also found a box turtle and let him go on his way. We then dropped off that ridge onto the next ridge and the next cache. This was supposed to be a multi-cache but the log was in the first spot so I signed it and we moved on.

As we were headed down this ridge to the Blue Trail we saw a trail that led off the side. We followed it to a very large rock formation. We climbed up on top and were awarded another excellent view of OMSP. You can see us on the rock in the pictures above. We then dropped on down the ridge to the Blue Trail in the valley. We followed it up the mountain to the top of the ridge on the backside of OMSP. Instead of following the Blue Trail to the right we hung a left along an unnamed trail and wound up overlooking Hwy 11.

We eased left along this ridge to King's Chair cache. We could see the Wilsonville power plant from here. We could also see Belcher Lake. The boys liked that one. We stopped for a while and snacked so we would have the energy to head on back to the vehicles. So after a bit we made it back to the Blue Trail and instead of going back down the side of the mountain we followed the Blue Trail along the back ridge. We made it to the second Blue to Red Trail connector and quickly dropped down to the Red Trail.

It was a nice leisurely hike down the Red Trail back to the vehicles at the North Trailhead. At one point we heard a lot of buzzing and looked up into a large tree. It was all budded out and the Honey bees were sucking all the nectar out of the buds. It was pretty wild. We also came across two trees that had been blown over by the wind.

We made it back to the vehicles and agreed that it had been a great hike. The temperature was cooler than normal and the humidity wasn't bad at all. Most of the time we had a small breeze keeping us cool and we usually were in the shade of the trees along the trails. Too bad the rest of the boys wimped out on us.

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.

Eagle Creek Backpack

Well NovaEagle and I finally made it to the Sipsey Wilderness Area. We got on a discussion forum (www.alatrails.com) where some guys were going to see some falls and we decided to tag along. We invited Headed_My_Way and his son to camp out with us. We all met up at the parking spot and headed off down to the creek where the falls were located. At first it was just normal woods but then as we dropped off down in the creek it got really cool looking. There were some hemlocks that really made it look prehistoric. Then we came to the first falls. WOW! That was pretty neat. We looked for the Geocache located there but couldn't find it.

We moved on down the creek and the way was kinda tough. I wasn't used to really steep mountain sides and having to cross a rushing creek every 50 feet. It had rained like crazy that morning on the drive up and the creeks and the falls were really flowing. We made it down past several small seasonal falls and then to a rather large side fall. We looked for the Geocache there and couldn't find it either. We were about to go on down the creek with the group when we saw a group of Geocachers coming back our way. We waited and they divulged where the cache was hidden. NovaEagle quickly got his hands on it. We also got a clue as to where the first cache was located and decided we would get it on the way out the next morning.

The next and final cache was on the mountain behind us so we bushwhacked through the mountain laurel (devil bush - as dubbed by Headed_My_Way) and made it to the top. This cache was easy to find and near a really good spot for a camp. So we unloaded our packs and set up camp, had some late lunch and decided to hike down the other side to fill up my hydration bladder. Well we were in for a surprise. Turns out that we stumbled up on Deer Skull falls and they were way cool. We came in from the top and found a way down the cliff. We crossed Ugly Injun and made our way around to the side falls. We played behind the top falls and then crossed the side creek and made our way down to the bottom. We stood below both falls and were in awe at the power and how deep we were in a canyon of rock walls.

We did a little exploring downstream and then headed back up stream to find a better way out. We found another falls that was just as pretty and took lots of pictures. I got some water with my filter below these falls. Headed_My_Way and his son were checking out how my filter made clean drinkable water out of the creek water. It was nice. We had camp in our GPSrs so we headed straight for it after we climbed up the side of the falls. We hung out and talked until dark and then hit the sack for the night.

A coyote woke me at daylight with his howls just across the creek. It was cool. We grabbed some quick breakfast, packed up and headed out across the ridge to get back to the drainage that would take us to our cars. It was much easier walking than in the canyon and by following a game trail down the side of the moutain we were able to by pass the devil bush and get to Eagle Creek falls relatively easily. We quickly found the cache and headed on up the drainage. That was the toughest part of the entire trip.

Every one had happy thoughts and sped up when the vehicles came into view. We all had a great time and are already planning our next trip. Thanks to the guys on alatrails for getting us out to the Sipsey Wilderness.

Below are pictures and short movies of our hike. At the end of the pictures is our trail captured by my GPSr. The right side of the figure 8 is our trip to camp and then to Deer Skull Falls. The left side of the figure 8 is our trip from the falls to camp and then out to the cars in the morning.

The boys playing behind a side falls into Eagle Creek.


The boys getting wet feet. Good thing camp was just a short distance away.


Above the main Deer Skulls Falls. We were able to cross the creek just above here and get around to the side Deer Skulls Falls.


I am standing in the middle of the two falls of Deer Skulls Falls on the side. There is a large opening behind the upper falls as you can see one of the boys come out from behind it.


This is the falls above Deer Skull Falls.

Caching With TeaBird

NovaEagle had a friend over to spend the night. He really likes the woods so I decided to get him out in OMSP and introduce him to caching. He had been in the park on his bike at the bike track and had done some fishing. He had never been to Peavine Falls or on the trails. What better way to introduce him than to take him caching around Peavine Falls. We didn't make it to Peavine Falls but we made it to the Green, Red, Orange and Yellow trails. We did a lot of bushwhacking.

He had a blast and found three caches on his own. NovaEagle and I found them first but we didn't let on. He had to find them on his own and he did a pretty good job of it. He had the GPS the whole time and did a good job of navigating. We hiked a little over 3 miles in about 2 hours. By the time we got back to the Jeep both boys were tired. They snacked all the way from the last cache which was 1.11 miles from the Jeep. That was a long trek.

Check the pictures out below and the two movies. Neither movie has sound as my cheap camera doesn't pick up sound. The first movie is of TeaBird and NovaEagle at the first cache. TeaBird is reading the Geocaching brochure in the cache to learn more about the game. NovaEagle is checking out all the stuff.

The second movie shows a beautiful hollow that we found bushwhacking from the first cache to the second. I way marked that spot so I can take the family back some time. At the end NovaEagle and TeaBird are throwing rocks at a blown over tree root pretending that they are defending their fortified position from attackers. Boys will be boys.

Another NovaEagle FTF

Hover your mouse over the picture to stop it and see the comment associated with it.

Geocaching on a cold and blustery Saturday

We wanted to start at the CCC road near Peavine Falls but the gate was locked on the main road at 6:15 this morning so we went on to the yellow-white connector. Nice hike up the mountain early in the morning. It was cold but the weatherman said it was going to warm up. Can I just go ahead and call him a liar now? Got to the top and bush whacked over to the sign. It had been warm on the way down but then once we got to the sign it was cold again. NovaEagle didn't have enough clothes so I gave him my windbreaker and dug out a poncho I had in my bag to break the wind. So now I am down to a t-shirt and a poncho and its not getting warmer. 2 MILES! so says NovaEagle. Yep says I and we head out.

Too cold on the Blue so we drop off the back side of the mountain to get out of the wind. See some pretty views, find some deer beds, and come across Oak Mountain South Rim Cache. NovaEagle found it while I was still trying to get the GoTo working on my GPSr. He signed the log and I signed the log and we enjoyed the rest and the reprieve from the wind. We stay on the backside and come across Got Noculars?

Our coords put us up by a small tree and without any hint we spent some time looking in vain. Finally I started easing down the hill and spotted the cache. I made my way to the cache and waited on NovaEagle to bring the goody bag and make his way down. We rummaged through the cache, signed the log and once again forgot to take a single picture. The sad part is that my camera was in one of my six-pocket pants pockets.

So we put the cache back and raced each other back up the mountain. I started out with a slip and NovaEagle took advantage of that fleeting head start and only gained distance as we went up the mountain. The boy is part billy goat. He liked the fact that he beat his ole man up the mountain also. We grabbed our stuff and headed on to the Apprentice.

Finally head back to the Blue and start hoofing it. Still not warm. We get across from the cache and hang right off the trail and bush whack to the site. I ask Stephen, reckon that is the cache and he pulls the ammo box out of a hat. Boy is he excited.

We rummage through it, sign our names, take a Captain Kidd DVD, leave a Captain Hook hook and absolutely forget to take the first picture until we were a good quarter of a mile away and headed back. Before that though we sit down for a snack of dehydrated pineapple and a good swig of water. My pack had caused my lower back to sweat and now my wet cotton t-shirt is causing me to freeze. Lying weather man. I gotta get me some better clothes.

We suited up and headed back out. NovaEagle was dragging further behind this time on the way out. Also it seemed to be colder on the way out than on the way in. It really got cold when I called MamaCacher and found out it was only 38 degrees. Lying weather man.

We bush whacked down from the Blue trail to the CCC road and quickly go through three caches that Gubbool had apparently archived in just the last week. I guess I am going to have to update my pocket query of the area. We make it to the Yellow-White connector and then on down the mountain to the Jeep. That dirty ole white Jeep never looked so sweet. We ran the heater on high the entire 30 minute drive to the house and I never got hot. Lying weather man.

King's Chair Hike

I took the evening off since the kids were off and decided to hike to the King's Chair Geocache in OMSP and find it since none of us had found it. On the way there we ran into Gubbool coming down the hill. Gubbool is the caching name of a local Geocacher and temporary resident of OMSP. He informed us that he had just hidden a cache and would gladly take us there to let SugarPie, my Geocaching daughter, get her first FTF(First To Find) on a Geocache. So he turned around and took us on up the mountain.

He was able to help SugarPie get her first FTF and she was very excited about that. The cache was at an amazing spot in OMSP and offered a great view of the valley between the two ranges. Now it was on to the King's Chair. It was good that Gubbool was with us because it became quickly obvious that the coordinates for King's Chair were not in my gps. Gubbool however led us straight to it and MamaCacher and SugarPie quickly found the cache. MamaCacher signed the log for all of us and Gubbool passed out Pop Tarts to the kids. They really like Gubbool now.
We spent some time taking pictures and admiring the scenery before heading back to the van. It was at this point we discovered that I had dropped my jacket somewhere in the woods on the way to the chair. It was getting dark and so Gubbool offered to let us hike back the way of the trail and he would go the route we took coming in to find my jacket. We made it back to the van before dark and about 10 minutes later we see a dark form coming down the mountain. It is Gubbool with my jacket.

Everything turned out good that evening, thanks to Gubbool, even though we tried to mess it up more than once. Below is a short video I took of the view. Don't bother with trying to figure out why your sound doesn't work because it doesn't have any sound.

South Cumberland State Park

Stephen and I hung out with my old college buddy, Philip Walker, and his son and some of their friends for a trip to South Cumberland State Park. It was fun except for the thunderstorm we camped out in.

Geocaching in Oak Mountain State Park

I have discovered geocaching and introduced my friend and his family to it. We went one evening to Oak Mountain State park and had a great time finding caches. The great thing about it is that my family would have never gone out there to hike. However they hiked all over the place looking for these caches. I love it. Click here to see the pictures.