Participants: Sherri Watson, Chris Hugo, Bill and Tina Dunaway, Houston and Gretchen Winbigler, Marc Cunningham, Kevin Burkeen, Greg Bainer, Igor Veksler, and Paul and Teresa Beebe.  And I must include the two pooches, Scout and Paisley, who graced us with their presence.

Sherri Watson, Chris Hugo, and Teresa and Paul Beebe arrived at the Thompson Creek Trailhead mid-afternoon on Friday, March 13.  They headed down the trail in search of a campsite large enough for 12.  They found an excellent campsite with plenty of level tent sites and a good water source about a mile down the trail. Everyone else, with the exception of one errant hiker, arrived at the campsite well before dark.  The errant hiker spent the night alone in the wilderness.  Due to his excellent tracking skills, he found the group the next morning.

From the errant hiker:

I arrived at the trail head around 6:30 PM.  Teresa sent the campsite coordinates from her Garmin GPS to my Garmin GPS.  I was confident I could cover a mile and a half before dark.  The issue was when the trail split right before the creek crossing, I stayed on the wrong trail instead of crossing the creek to stay on the right trail.  I was heading in a general direction except probably half a mile apart. It started to get dark, and trail condition became more and more treacherous to follow, and I decided to spend the night. After finding a good level spot next to the creek, I set up my camp and crashed for the night. The next morning, I received another message with instructions that the right trail was on the other side of the creek.  After eating my breakfast and having a tastiest cup of coffee anyone could wish for, I hiked back to the creek-crossing spot, picked up the trail and headed toward my group. About 30 minutes into the hike, I met Chris and Paul who hiked toward me to ensure I did not wonder off again. I was very thankful we stayed connected in this remote area.

Continue with the report:

With the group all together, we headed down the trail to a formation called Eye of the Needle.  The “eye” is a slot near the top of a ridgeline.  You can climb up to it from either side of the ridge.  It is pretty cool.  There is also a really nice campsite here, which is where we camped for the night. Teresa found an excellent water source for fresh clean water. 

After setting up tents and eating lunch, some of the group hiked on down the trail.  The trail follows Thompson creek to where it flows into the Sipsey River.  The trail then turns left following the Sipsey River and goes around the end of the ridge line.  You can easily climb up to the Eye of the Needle from this side of the ridge, which we all did.  We hiked a little further to a good set of rapids on the Sipsey River.  Being kayakers, we discussed the best line to take through the rapids.  For some, myself included, the best line was “don’t do it!”

We then headed back to camp and had a very pleasant afternoon and evening sitting around a nice campfire telling all kinds of stories.

Sunday morning we had an uneventful hike out to the trailhead.  Many of us ate lunch at the Baja Grill in Haleyville, AL.  It was very, very good.

In summary, it was an excellent backpacking trip.  The weather was perfect.  The wildflowers were gorgeous.  The scenery was just so awesome.  The Sipsey Wilderness, which is in Bankhead National Forest south of Russellville, AL, is so awesome.  It has high bluffs with lots of waterfalls, beautiful creeks, and wildflowers everywhere.  I highly recommend it as a place to hike.  It is a backpacker’s delight.