Backpacking the Big Tree Shortcut Loop Trail in the Sipsey Wilderness of Alabama
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ย. 2024
- This is a short, one night, backpacking trip in the Sipsey Wilderness of Alabama, following the Big Tree Shortcut Loop Trail. The trail starts and ends at the Thompson Creek Trailhead and is about 12 miles (19 km) around including a visit to the Big Tree and East Bee Branch Falls.
For this one-night backpacking (#backpacking) trip, we decided to do one of my favorite trails (#myfavoritetrail), The Big Tree Shortcut Loop Trail. We start at the Thompson Creek trailhead on the far western side of the Sipsey Wilderness (#sipseywilderness) and hike the loop in a counter-clockwise direction. This allows us to head down Thompson Creek and visit the Ship Rock and pass through the Needle’s Eye before hanging out for a while at the Sispey Fork rapids.
After that, we continued down the beautiful Sipsey Fork canyon until we came to a rock overhang where I had planned to camp, but the spot was muddy, so we continued on to a large flat camp site right on the Sipsey Fork. There we met a couple of nice guys from Memphis and had a great evening of conversation.
The next morning, we packed up and headed to the intersection with Trail 204A and took that up Bee Branch Canyon. At the fork in the creek we went to the right up East Bee Branch until we reached East Bee Branch Falls and the Big Tree. The Big Tree is the largest yellow poplar (tulip poplar) tree in Alabama (#championtree) and measures about 150 ft (45.7 m) tall and about 25 ft (7.6 m) in circumference.
After exploring the Big Tree area, we headed back down East Bee Branch and then crossed the creek and went up West Bee Branch to take the shortcut trail steeply up over the ridge and then down until we returned to the Thompson Creek. Finally, we went back up Thompson Creek a short distances to return to the trail head.
It was a beautiful trip, with fabulous weather and it is always fun to show people the Big Tree for the first time.
The Sipsey Wilderness lies within the Bankhead National Forest in northwestern Alabama. Sipsey was the first designated wilderness area in Alabama in 1975 and now encompasses about 24,922 acres (10,086 ha). Rivers and streams have carved canyons and valleys in the limestone and sandstone of the local plateau resulting in a wide range of micro-climates in a short hiking distance, some amazing natural features, a few historic sites, as well as endless nooks and crannies to explore. Wilderness camping, building campfires, hunting, and fishing are permitted. Sipsey is a "Leave no Trace" area (lnt.org/why/7-...) with, despite appearances, no designated fire rings, camp sites or facilities. Unfortunately, there are many traces of the hundreds who hike and camp here every year. Please be considerate and do not add to the already extensive damage in this special place.
My custom maps of the Sipsey Wilderness: drive.google.c...
My other videos of the Sipsey Wilderness:
• Sipsey Wilderness
Big Tree Shortcut Loop Trail info: www.alltrails....
Sipsey Wilderness info: en.wikipedia.o...
Equipment:
Camera: GoPro Hero8 Black: gopro.com/en/u...
Title card music by Lobo-Loco: freemusicarchiv...
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#hiking
#backpacking
#waterfall
I wanted to ask the same thing as Abby. We want to do a 2 night. It’ll be me, my 2 teens & adult son. We have been to sougahoagdee falls a couple times. We want to see water & cool rock features. This looks great. But do you have another route suggestion for a 2 night?
Besides the loop I told Abby about (th-cam.com/video/wyCB44uQnVM/w-d-xo.html), you can also make a "grand loop" out of Trail 200 (the Borden Creek trail: th-cam.com/video/1yfQjfG0LBc/w-d-xo.html) to Trail 124 (Wagon Road) to Trail 208 to Trail 206 (Thompson Creek) to Trail 209 (Sipsey Fork). From this grand loop, the only "boring part" is Trail 124 and a short part to of 208, which are just old roads, but they are easy hiking. By using Trail 204 (and 204A to the Big Tree), you can cut the grand loop up in a couple of different ways (this video is an example of that). Use a good map (like these: www.dropbox.com/sh/3r6p4xvfqrx441o/AAASTYEbrWm6L9bsJqPSOTMha?dl=0) and assume you can go about 2 miles per hour and you can plan out a route that is right for you.
You said this was a one night trip, but would it be easy enough for beginning backpackers to spend two nights out here? Maybe by exploring another trail nearby? My husband and I are in Memphis and want to go backpacking, but I have not-amazing hips and have to be careful about not pushing too hard. I can handle some elevation gain and a little scrambling as long as I don’t overdo it.
Very easy! There are good places to camp literally everywhere along the main canyons. You can make a number of different loops out of it. There isn't a ton of elevation gain anywhere and it is all beautiful. In this video (th-cam.com/video/wyCB44uQnVM/w-d-xo.html) I intended to do a 2 night trip, but ended up turning it into a 1-nighter, so that might be a good option. Or, you can just take your time and do the loop in this video, but spend the 1st night near the Sipsey Rapids (or Needle's Eye) and the second night near the Big Tree.
Also, make sure you check out my maps here: www.dropbox.com/sh/3r6p4xvfqrx441o/AAASTYEbrWm6L9bsJqPSOTMha
@@SoutheasternFrontiers thanks so much for the reply and for the time you put in to making the videos and resources! I’m an anxious planner so your videos and maps are super helpful ☺️. I did a 2mi hike a couple days ago with about 13lbs of assorted kid stuff and some water in my pack. Paved urban trail, but I did okay with very little stopping, so I think if I keep it under 20lb and take my time we could totally do a trip like this :).
@@abbypowell1803 You can definitely do it! If you want, you can go in 2 or 2.5 miles to the Needles Eye and Sipsey Rapids and camp there and see how it feels. If you are not comfortable, then just hike back out the way you came in. If you are good with it, keep going the next day and stay in the Bee Branch valley somewhere for the second night. Then take your time going out over the ridge on the short-cut trail the next day. That section is steep in places, but you will have all day to do it.
The Sipsey is my happy place!! And the Big Tree loop is probably my favorite. 🦑
Clearly mine too. I make a pilgrimage there whenever I can. I have a long list of other places I want to explore, but I keep going back to the Big Tree!
Hi Joe. Thanks for making this video. How do you obtain a parking/camping permit for this area?
There are no camping permits required and parking is only restricted at the Sipsey River Picnic Area off of Cranal Road where you pay a small fee in the parking lot.
What to bring and how much to pack with you on this hike? I know carrying drinks weighs your pack down. Any recommendations is appreciated. Love all your adventures and thanks for sharing 👍 ❤️
I pack pretty heavy (my pack is right at about 27 lbs with food but without water; but I like my luxury items). I highly recommend that you get a water filter instead of carrying so much water (a Sawyer Squeeze or BeFree or a Platypus GravityWorks). There is water everywhere in North Alabama, you just need to filter it to be safe. I'm steadily replacing my old heavy equipment with lighter stuff over time though.
@@SoutheasternFrontiers Thank you so much! Definitely putting the water filter on my list
@@christinaisbell9585 Your very welcome! Water filters change everything. 👍
Thank you so much for taking the time to make and share these videos! I did my first foray into Trail No. 206 just yesterday and it was beautiful! (I only went to Auburn Falls.) I feel like it's a silly question but does The Big Tree have leaves in the summer?
It does indeed! There aren't many, but it is still alive. Looking through my videos, it seems I usually go to visit it in the winter though. This video is from October and you can just make out a few leaves way up there: th-cam.com/video/oeeMyu6q3O8/w-d-xo.html
@@SoutheasternFrontiers Thank you for your quick reply! I've only ever done day hikes, never been on an actual overnight camping trip before. This video makes me want to start looking into camping gear. :-)
Sipsey was the 1st place I ever went backpacking about 9 years ago. Before that, I was strictly a day hiker as well. Now I enjoy the freedom of escaping civilization for a few days and not having to put in huge miles in a day just to get to the good stuff though I still mostly day-hike just due to real-world time constraints (day job).
I really like your description of the hike, where it starts and ends. Would like to bring the scouts up there.
Yes. It's a great hike for scouts. Went out there with our troop several times!
That’s always a gorgeous hike. Thanks for taking us along
Thanks for watching! 👍
Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great time was had. Planning to take grandson there someday soon most likely as a day trip. Not sure about the shortcut trail though.
That would be a great trip. The shortcut trail can be a little challenging because of its steepness, but it is the shortest route. There are alternate routes. Besides going around the way we did in the video, you can take Trail 208 from Thompson Creek to Trail 224, to Trail 204, to Trail 204A and get to it that way. That is mostly walking an old road (208 and 224), so the going is easy, but not a lot of scenery.
I have some detailed maps of the Sipsey Wilderness that you can look at here: www.dropbox.com/sh/3r6p4xvfqrx441o/AAASTYEbrWm6L9bsJqPSOTMha?dl=0
awesome video
Glad you liked it! 👍