Backpacking the Alabama Walls of Jericho
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- In this video we do a short backpacking trip to the Walls of Jericho wildlife management area on the border of Alabama and Tennessee just north of Skyline/Hytop, AL. This challenging 7.5 mile out and back trail with about a 1000 ft change in altitude, is managed by Forever Wild Alabama Land Trust (#alforeverwild) and makes for a very nice short backpacking destination.
We started this trip at the Alabama hiker's parking area at the top of the ridge right off of State Highway 79. The trail descends steeply into the Hurricane Creek valley. Along the way we passed a couple of sink holes. The boys explored a small cave in the bottom of one of the sink holes adding to the adventure of this trip. At the bottom of the canyon, you cross two nice (and new) bridges across first Hurricane Creek and then Turkey Creek.
Just past the second bridge is the Clark Cemetery and a set of about 8 camp sites. We selected a favorite camp site (a site designed for horse camping that is furthest away from the main trail -- we like the solitude of it when there aren't any horse campers there; but it can have more bugs than the others).
After setting up camp, we hiked past the Clark Cemetery and followed Turkey Creek between massive limestone cliffs to the large natural amphitheater that is the main highlight of the hike. Here we found a large amount of water flowing from a cave and further upstream a waterfall entering the sink hole that feeds the cave. The boys had a great time in the water here both in the amphitheater and at the waterfall into the sink hole (though seeing the video of them entering the water at the sink hole still gives me heart palpitations! VERY dangerous!).
After exploring the amphitheater area and flying the drone around for a while, we returned to our camp site for the evening and had a great time making dinner and relaxing by the fire.
The next morning, after breakfast and getting some amazing sunrise drone footage, we packed up and re-traced our steps, hiking 1000 ft back up to the parking area on the top of the ridge. But the weather was cool and sunny and that made the hiking easy despite the climb.
Amazingly, we didn't run into many people in the valley, or while exploring the amphitheater area, or while camping. I don't think there was another soul in the valley that evening. As popular as the Walls of Jericho has become in recent years, that is a rarity. Usually on a nice weekend, there are a lot of people there. But, on our way out the next morning, we met a steady stream of day hikers and one father-son pair of backpackers flowing in. So, maybe we just got lucky by being early birds.
The Walls of Jericho are as beautiful as any trek through the Smoky Mountains, but be prepared for a strenuous day of hiking. Bring plenty of water or a way to filter the water from the creek and take your time.
Link toTrail info: www.alltrails.com/trail/us/al...
Link to Walls of Jericho info: www.alabamaforeverwild.com/wa...
Title card music by Lobo-Loco: freemusicarchive.org/music/Lob...
Music from TH-cam Audio Library:
Large Smile Mood - Nico Staf
Corndogs in Santa Monica - The Great North Sound Society
Playdate - The Great North Sound Society
#wallsofjericho
#waterfall
#hike
#hiking
#backpacking
Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:22 Map
01:25 Descending
03:52 Exploring a Small Cave
09:31 Valley Bottom & Setting up Camp
13:17 Entering Canyon
15:04 The Amphitheater
21:47 At Camp, End Day 1
23:42 Start Day 2
26:52 Ascending to Trail Head
My favorite video of all of your videos.
Thank you Bonnie! I'm glad you liked it. 😃
Going here end of this month on my FIRST camping trip ever. Very excited. This video calmed a lot of my anxiety
Awesome! I'm very excited for you!! 😃 Glad I could help. Don't expect as much water this time of year, it will be mostly dry. Just take the uphill part on the way out slowly and it will be all good! 👍
Great video. This helped me a lot because I was confused on where some possible camping spots would be. Thanks!
Glad it helped out! Thanks for watching. 👍
Really a gorgeous place. I like the drone footage too.
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. I also really like it when Jon brings his drone along! 😃
Hiking here with the group Girls Who Hike Alabama on February 19th. Cant Wait! Hoping to have some waterfalls to look at. We will be coming in from the Tennesse Trailhead. I have to say...the cave footage was stressful. LOL. Won't be exploring those. Hoping the hike out doesnt kill me. Ive hiked Alum Cave to LeConte a couple times so Im pretty optimistic I'll survive. Thanks for the fantastic video and the information.
You will love it! It's a little longer coming in from the Tennessee side, but not as steep (though still pretty steep). Just take your time and drink a lot of water and you will have a good time. If you can do Alum Cave, you can do the Walls of Jericho. 👍
I was just there 11/5 , when did you film this ?
About a month ago on October 8th. I hear that the water level has really gone down since then. We had a lot of rain the week before, so the water levels were pretty high.