Sipsey in April

**Spickus** · 03-11-2019, 08:44

My birthday is in April and I'd like to plan a trip to the Sipsey Wilderness. I've never been and while doing research on AllTrails I see many comments about the trails being poorly maintained "In all honesty 204 has basically ceased to exist south of the sidetrail to East Bees Branch falls. It definitely requires bush whacking and alot of compass work." . I don't want to bushwack and my compass work leaves a bit to be desired. I had wanted to do the loop but am open to suggestions. Ideally I'd like to do a 2 night trip as I'm driving from Gulf Shores. What trail would you suggest?

**TrailSlug** · 03-11-2019, 09:45

The trial being described is hardly used as the unofficial trail 204A is used because it goes to the Big Tree and the falls. Which loop are you considering?

**sidneyhornblower** · 03-11-2019, 10:26

Originally Posted by Spickus

...April and I'd like to plan a trip to the Sipsey Wilderness...am open to suggestions. Ideally I'd like to do a 2 night trip as I'm driving from Gulf Shores. What trail would you suggest?

Other Sipsey vets with more knowledge will probably add something else, but let me offer some suggestions and resources. The main three trailheads I'd take, in order of preference, would be Borden Creek, Sipsey River, and Thompson. There's more parking space, I believe, at the Sipsey River Trailhead, but it's also the only one with a fee. I find Borden and the Sipsey River trailheads easier to get to, but I've only been to Thompson once.

If you're staying two nights, you can take in quite a bit. Going in at Borden, you can cross the bridge, and take 224 over to 204 and go down 204 to see the Big Tree and the falls there, then continue down to 209. Take 209 back towards the Borden trailhead, which is a nice walk along some nice scenery, including Fall Creek Falls.

Depending on how much walking you want to do, instead of looping back towards Borden, you can instead head the other way on 209 over to 206, which is more pretty in my opinion. That takes you towards Thompson trailhead. You can loop back using 208 to 224 and then 224 back to Borden. You can take 208 all the way over to 210 or 207 near Gum Pond trailhead and loop back to Borden that way, or make a loop using 223 and 210.

The most scenic parts of the trail system, to me, are 209, closely followed by 206. 224 is a pretty walk in the woods, and helps you get to a lot of other spots but is itself not that special. 210 is quite nice, but I've only been on it once and found it difficult to follow in places, depending on the season. 204 has some pretty spots as does 208. I'd disagree that 204 requires a lot of compass work. I think Trailslug is spot on and the writer you're quoting was probably on the unofficial 204A, which isn't maintained and often has blowdowns blocking parts of it.

I'll toss in a few links, first to a two night loop we did in December 2016. The link includes a GPS track and some pictures: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trail...ipsey-15961959

And this second link, which is to my YoutTube Sipsey playlist, three videos from February and April of 2016 and December of 2017. Maybe some of those will give you some ideas.
If I can find it, I'll also send you a map via PM since I can't figure out how to attach it to this post.

**Spickus** · 03-11-2019, 10:42

Originally Posted by TrailSlug

The trial being described is hardly used as the unofficial trail 204A is used because it goes to the Big Tree and the falls. Which loop are you considering?

I was considering the Sipsey Loop Trail. I only chose it because it was loop and I could make make a slow 2 days of it.

**TrailSlug** · 03-11-2019, 10:56

Originally Posted by Spickus

I was considering the Sipsey Loop Trail. I only chose it because it was loop and I could make make a slow 2 days of it.

I just did this loop last year as an over niter and it's a very good loop. The trail label on your screen shot as North West Wild Horse Wagon Trail (trail 208) is ok but not much to see but it's a wide open road trail that is easy to hike. The same goes for 224. The beauty of the Sipsey starts on the trail 204A which is the one I've highlighted here. You can camp at the top of the falls before decending down to the big tree. You definitely want to take this trail as it has one of the premier features of the Sipsey -the Big Tree. The only issue is the down trees on 204A but it's not bad unless you are trying to hike a lot of miles. Day two camping recommendation would be around the Eye of the Needle which would leave only a couple of miles back to the vehicle.

sipsey.jpg

**Spickus** · 03-11-2019, 11:07

Originally Posted by TrailSlug

I just did this loop last year as an over niter and it's a very good loop. The trail label on your screen shot as North West Wild Horse Wagon Trail (trail 208) is ok but not much to see but it's a wide open road trail that is easy to hike. The same goes for 224. The beauty of the Sipsey starts on the trail 204A which is the one I've highlighted here. You can camp at the top of the falls before decending down to the big tree. You definitely want to take this trail as it has one of the premier features of the Sipsey -the Big Tree. The only issue is the down trees on 204A but it's not bad unless you are trying to hike a lot of miles. Day two camping recommendation would be around the Eye of the Needle which would leave only a couple of miles back to the vehicle.

sipsey.jpg

Thank you. I like the sound of that. Do I want to start clockwise or counter clockwise from the parking area shown on the AllTrails map?

**soul embrace** · 03-11-2019, 11:48

Originally Posted by Spickus

Thank you. I like the sound of that. Do I want to start clockwise or counter clockwise from the parking area shown on the AllTrails map?

if I'm reading that map right it starts at Thompson trail head I would go counterclockwise wise using trail 206. if you go clockwise taking trail 208 is basically all up hill from about 2ish miles I think and is a boring trail (save that for the end)

**soul embrace** · 03-11-2019, 11:50

also there is a group hang at the end of April: https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/...en-Spring-Hang, if you went to that you would probably get to do some off trail hiking to areas that you probably wouldn't get to see on your own

**TrailSlug** · 03-11-2019, 12:10

Originally Posted by Spickus

Thank you. I like the sound of that. Do I want to start clockwise or counter clockwise from the parking area shown on the AllTrails map?

I personally would go clockwise as it is uphill at first but to hit the two camping spots it works out better to go clockwise and camp at the falls at big tree the first night ~ 4.5 miles and then another ~4 miles to Eye of the Needle camp site night 2 and then ~ 2 miles back to the car.