My sister came in town for the Helena Buck Creek Festival so I took Uncle Doug and Lil'E, his son, out on Lil'E's first camping trip. Uncle Doug, NovaEagle, SugarPie and I setup camp while waiting on Lil'E to make it in from Atlanta with his mom. We cooked some hotdogs on the grill and chilled out around the camp fire. We had to scrounge for some wood but got enough to build a small fire. As Bear Grills says, a small fire is better than no fire as it provides comfort in the dark. So we were very comfortable.
After a bit we heard from Lil'E's mom and Uncle Doug and NovaEagle picked him up at the front gate. There were some frogs croaking across from the little slough that we were camped next to. SugarPie and I had gone and looked at them earlier and so now we took Lil'E and NovaEalge over there to see them. It was pretty cool because you could get close enough to see them on the trees croaking. The kids really enjoyed it. Of course that night, all that croaking kept Uncle Doug and I up all night.
We also eased out to the beach area and played in the sand in the dark. It allowed us to really see the stars and enjoy the night sky.
The next morning we got up early and had some sausage and eggs cooked by Uncle Doug. He is one cool Uncle. Thanks Uncle Doug. Afterwards he slipped across the slough and caught a really nice bass. The rest of us tried but to no avail. Uncle Doug did give us some really good tips though. Then we all saw about a 3 pound bass slinking in the shallow water. We watched him for several minutes and he never left the little spot he was hanging out in. We then headed out for the Helena Buck Creek Festival.
We made it back that evening and piled into the canoe and the kayak. We paddled all the way across the lake to the fishing shack. I got us some worms and we headed back out to a cove on the North side of the lake. Lil'E managed to snag a nice catfish and declared that he was through fishing for the day since he had caught on. Uncle Doug snagged a catfish and let SugarPie reel him in. I, as usual, caught some weeds and sticks.
We paddled back in and spent some time on the beach. I jumped in the freezing cold water with the kids while Uncle Doug made a quick trip back out in the canoe to try his hand at catching some bass. He wasn't so lucky in the evening as he had been in the morning. The kids had a blast jumping off my shoulder as I would throw them way up in the air before coming back to splash into the water.
MamaCacher and Lil'E's momma showed up with some grub from Backyard Burgers and we chowed down. Yeah, it was cheating and not the way that I would have done it but it was nice for everyone so I ate without any guilt. :-) We hung out for a bit and then MamaCacher and Lil'E's mom had to cut and run.
Some nearby camper kids came over and we told them about the frogs. Well they went and got lights and Daddy and we proceeded to take them on a frog tour. On the way over the bridge we saw a water moccasin in the water. That livened things up a little bit. We made it over though and got to see the frogs really croaking it up. Our kids really enjoyed showing the other kids where all the frogs were. They even caught a few and checked them out up close. After wards they let them all go.
We ate a few marshmallows over the fire after we scrounged for some more wood. I passed out the light sticks and we made our way into the sleeping bags. Around midnight I heard the thunder in the distance. SugarPie was having problems sleeping and asked me if that was lightening. Well it was some serious lightening and thunder. I finally woke up Uncle Doug. Yeah, he was sleeping through the frogs and the thunder. He immediately made the decision that we were out of there. We got the kids in the cars just as the big drops of rain hit.
We called the house to let them know we were headed that way and to have the beds ready. It was raining so hard I could hardly see the road. It quit about the state park gate and I wondered if we had jumped the gun. We made it home, got in the bed and I went to sleep until the next morning. Well, MamaCacher told me that about three more fronts came through during the night that I was oblivious to.
Later that morning Uncle Doug and I went to get the camping stuff from the camp site. The wind had blown under the tarp and the water had run under the tent and everything was soaking wet. There was water puddled in the tent. Uncle Doug made a most very good decision to cut and run when we did. By leaving when we did, we had a little excitement and still had a good nights rest and a good story to tell.
Papa Chuck planned and organized a float trip on the Suwannee river with his brother, Uncle Frank, and two friends, Dennis and Skip, who are brothers. Fortunately for NovaEagle and I, Papa Chuck also invited us. NovaEagle was planning to make the trip in his kayak and I wanted some help in the canoe. I couldn't find a friend who thought spending time with friends was more important than work so NovaEagle found a buddy whose mom understood that a trip like this was more important than two days of school and a ball game. Thank you TeaBird's mom.
NovaEagle, TeaBird and I arrived at the Suwannee River State Park around 4:30 Thursday evening. We signed in and found our campsite. We then checked out the area and the put-in. We tried some fishing but hung up a lure so we put the kayak in to see if we could get it off what ever had it hung. This also allowed NovaEagle and TeaBird the opportunity to test out the kayak in the river and get used to the current. TeaBird had been in a kayak before but only in a lake. The current was something that surprised him at first. However with some coaching from the sidelines he quickly caught on how to maneuver in the current.
We headed back to the camp site and Papa Chuck and Uncle Frank were setting up camp. They had snuck in on us. TeaBird had never set up a tent before so I walked him and NovaEagle through setting up their tent. NovaEagle had helped set it up before but it had been long enough that he had forgotten how. After they had it setup we proceeded to cook some food for dinner. I tried to cook some Ramen noodles but the water kept boiling over and putting out my stove. I finally figured out how to keep the flame at a very low level by holding my mouth just right while adjusting the gas valve. The boys then had a good bowl of noodles. I just boiled some water and rehydrated a meal of MamaCacher's that I had dehydrated. It was very good in the camp site.
The boys retired to their tent and Uncle Frank and I were hanging out talking when I noticed that we were being invaded by blinking lights. The fire flies were coming up out of the ground by the thousands. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. I got the boys out of the tent and they were totally amazed. They began to try and catch a few. NovaEagle caught three and showed them to Uncle Frank and myself. He then proceeded to let them go back to their friends. The natural light show was probably the coolest event during the whole trip.
As everyone retired to their bags and pads, I ran off to the little boy's room. I then snuck out and found a cache in the dark near the river. I got to another cache but couldn't find it. I planned on getting the boys to help me find it in the morning but we slept in late and the canoe brothers showed up and it was time to hit the water. After I got to bed that night I did have a visitor that came right by my tent. When I turned on my flashlight he quickly scurried off into the night. I can only assume it was a possum or a coon. At 4 the next morning, according to Uncle Frank, a big hoot owl cut loose several times and woke us all up. Those things are worse than a rooster.
The next morning we got breakfast in a hurry and packed up for the trip. We got down to the water's edge and it seemed to take forever to get everything in the canoe. Being as this was the first time for me to camp in the canoe and also have two inexperienced 10 year-old boys with me, it was somewhat of a daunting task. However with a little help from the brothers four, we were soon in the water and headed on our water adventure as our overall adventure had already begun the evening before.
The water was dark and cool and as the sun began to come up we quickly learned to paddle next to the shore and stay in the shade. The boys of course were snacking and drinking as we went and occasionally needed to pull over to the shore for pit stops. Also NovaEagle and TeaBird were swapping out between the kayak and the front of the canoe. This also required pulling over. These activities proceeded to put us way behind the rest of the paddling crew. The guys pulled over eventually on a sand bar for a break and to let us catch up.
TeaBird jumped out and grabbed his fishing pole to start fishing. He had used mine that I brought the evening before but decided to leave it in the car and bring his for the water trip. Well it immediately became apparent that his reel was jammed and wasn't going to work. He then vowed to test his fishing gear before the next trip. Nothing like learning things the hard way to make them stick.
Stephen threw his lure in and got it wet a couple of times but couldn't get anything to bite. Then a snake showed up and swam along the river past us and past our canoes and into a tree top in the water. You can see the picture in the slide show of where he wound up. We drank some of our water and then headed back on down the river.
We paddled on until we got hungry and then we pulled over for a quick lunch. Everyone else pulled cold sandwiches out of their coolers. I however didn't have a cooler and had to rehydrate some food. That took longer than expected so I learned the hard way to have something quick to eat for lunch that didn't require the stove. NovaEagle found a rather large turtle shell while checking out the upper bank area.
We headed on down the river and Uncle Frank, the Golden Pathfinder, found us a really nice sand bank to spend the night on. The guys quickly threw up their camp site while I waited for the sun to drop below the trees so my tent wouldn't turn into a sauna. This was a neat little trick that I learned from reading Backpacker magazine. While we were waiting for the sun to drop, the boys played in the sand, then the water then the mud along the edge of the river. Needless to say, despite all my advice on how to remove the sand from their bodies, there was still a good bit of sand in their tent by bed time. Oh well, nothing like learning the hard way to make it stick.
The boys were pretty much able to put up their tent by themselves this time. I gave them some advice on how to keep all the accessories in one spot so they could find them in the morning while taking the tent down. I rehydrated some Mountain House food and both boys really liked it. In fact the two serving package wasn't enough for them after a day of paddling. A batch of one of MamaCacher'srehydrated meals and they were good to go.
I put some stink bait on a hook and sat on one of my removable canoe seats on the beach. It was very nice and relaxing. The boys sat beside me and pointed out the stars and such that they knew. Around 9 pm, after no bites from the fish but plenty from the mosquitoes, we headed off to bed. Not 10 minutes after we turned off the lights the local flock of hoot owls cut loose. In the darkness of the night I heard, "Daddy!" "Yes?" "What was that?" "Owls." "Oh." We were soon all asleep after that.
The next morning I got the boys up and we got a quick breakfast and broke camp in a hurry. The boys were starting to get the hang of it and know what to do without being told a jillion times. So we were down and packed before anyone else. We went ahead and headed on down the river since we were the slowest in the pack. This was probably the most relaxing and enjoyable part of the trip we had. We were just paddling at our own pace in the shade of the trees along the bank and not worried about catching up with anyone.
After a couple of hours on the water though the peace and tranquility were interrupted by the canoe brothers, Dennis and Skip, pulling a kamikaze run on the kamikaze kid (NovaEagle) in the kamikaze kayak. The kid was lost in his own little paddling world when the canoe slammed into the back of his kayak and the brothers yelled at the same time. I just hated I wasn't looking in that direction when it happened. They said he almost left the kayak. They thought they were going to have to hold him in.
It is at this point in the story that I will mention that NovaEagle was referred to as the kamikaze kid because that is what he had been doing to the canoe brothers and me all day yesterday. He would catch us talking or not paying attention and then ram us from behind or the side. I had a few opportunities to get him back but this was Dennis and Skip's first opportunity. They made it a most excellent one. This story was told more than once after the trip was over and I am sure will be told again and again. Revenge is sweet.
Soon after Uncle Frank and Papa Chuck caught up with us and spotted a bald eagle flying over the river. It was way cool to watch him catch the updrafts as he drifted higher and higher to spot a meal. NovaEagle was most definitely pumped to finally see his first eagle in the wild. That was his pinnacle moment of the trip.
We stopped later at a sand bar discovered by the canoe brothers and grabbed a quick snack. The boys devoured Papa Chuck's PB&J supplies and we had another snake come by our boats and hide in a tree top in the water.
On the river again, we paddled until we came to a state park landing. We docked and used the porta potties, loaded up our water bottles, grabbed some hot lunch and headed on down the river again. It was at this point that TeaBird and I got way behind. We finally made it up to NovaEagle and then no one else. An hour or so later when we saw them, they were pulled in at a landing. As we pulled in, we discovered the call had been made to end the trip there.
We had covered 29 miles in two days and still had another 18 to go the next day to make our planned destination. Everyone decided this was too far and too fast and since we were at a good take out spot, now was a good time to end it.
We had a great time and are now planning a canoe trip in Alabama on either the Sipsey river or the Cahaba river. This is definitely something that we want to do more than once. Thanks to Papa Chuck for pulling this together and thanks to Uncle Frank, Dennis and Skip for all the help and advice and encouragement to the boys. Also thanks to Skip for putting us up in his house that last night and letting us adults get a shower.
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.
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.
We wanted to go to King's Chair and see the snow across the valley. But first we stopped by and gave Gubbool some Girl Scout cookies. Standing at his tent, we realized how cold it was. So we decided instead to just hike to Maggie's Glen and try and see some snow. It melted fast but we got to see some. In the mean time it warmed up nicely and we had a very enjoyable hike. No one got tired and the scenery kept it from getting boring.
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.
