This is a review for the Guide Gear 12′ x 12′ nylon tarp.

Questions or comments? Please visit the forums.

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Questions or Comments? Please visit the forums.

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bsaxon, jbiddle and myself (abradley) went to the Sipsey Wilderness again this past weekend. This trip we decided to park at Randolph Trailhead and hike in to the “Eye of the Needle” area and setup camp. To get there we followed these directions.

While hiking on Saturday we found the Eye of the Needle but we looked and looked for Ship Rock and the Rippy Cabin. We probably saw Ship Rock and didn’t notice it, but could not find the Rippy Cabin anywhere. If someone knows where it is please tell us in the forums.

Our setups:
bsaxon: Hammock Bliss No-See-Um-No-More hammock (dark green) and Eagles Nest Outfitters “Pro Fly” rain fly (gray)
jbiddle: Hammock Bliss No-See-Um-No-More hammock (dark green) and Eagles Nest Outfitters “Dry Fly” rain fly (navy)
abradley: Hammock Bliss Double hammock, Hammock Bliss bugnet cocoon (black) and Guide Gear Nylon tarp (light gray)

jbiddle and I (abradley) went to the Sipsey Wilderness in Bankhead National Park in Northern Alabama last weekend. We had canceled the trip early last week due to bad weather, but on Thursday we decided to go anyway.

We camped out in a large canyon at Parker Falls. Here are directions:

• I-65 N to Cullman/Double Springs exit (308)
• Take Highway 278 west to Double Springs, AL
• At Double Springs, take Hwy 33 north into Bankhead National Forest
• In Bankhead, turn left on County Road 6 (aka Highway 60). There is a sign here pointing toward the Sipsey Picnic Area.
• Follow the road until it ends at a T (about 10 miles), and turn right.
• Follow the road, when the road turns from asphalt to gravel, back up about 100 yards and park at the small pull-off.
• There is a narrow but obvious trail that winds east from there down into the canyon. It will bring you out at the top of the secondary falls just downstream from the larger. Once we hit the stream, we walked upstream about a hundred yards into the canyon area, where we made camp.

We arrived at the camp site around 5 p.m. and setup our hammocks. I had a brand new strap set from Arrowhead Equipment that I was looking forward to trying out. The plan was to loop the strap around the tree and then use a marlin spike hitch, then attach my hammock’s whoopie slings at that point. Unfortunately, after hanging the hammock and climbing in, one of the straps broke. Luckily, I had thrown an extra 12 foot piece of amsteel in my bag for no particular reason. After getting our rigs hung we made a fire and sat and talked and listened to music.

Saturday morning we set out down the Parker Branch. We decided to stray from the norm and actually wade down the stream. For the most part this is a fun beautiful trek, but there are sections with much loose rock on the bottom which really hurt my feet. If someone else wants to do this then I recommend wearing some sort of amphibious hiking shoes with hard soles. We just wore “water sock” type shoes – spandex material with a thin rubber sole. This was a very pretty walk (wade). We came across Parker Cascades, which are a small stair-step cascade about twelve feet tall. These were just beautiful; unfortunately it there was a slight rain at the time so we couldn’t really photograph them.

We didn’t really check out any other major points of interest, we just waded for a couple of miles, stopped for lunch, then turned back. There were sections of the stream where we walked on solid bedrock and those parts were very relaxing and pristine, but then there were very rocky bottom parts where it took a lot out of your feet.

On the way back we climbed up Parker Cascades and jbiddle stood up at the top to find his hands and knees covered in about 20 small leeches. He really enjoyed that.

Sunday morning we packed up and headed out by about 9 a.m.

For the most part, if someone wants to do something similar, I would suggest only going as far as Parker Cascades, as beyond that point everything looks about the same as what you’ve seen before getting to Parker Cascades.

We are making another trek into Sipsey in a couple of weeks. This time I think we are going to trek up 201 and set up base camp near Ship Rock.

Questions or comments? Please visit the forums.

Detailed Sipsey Map

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This is a review of the Trangia Alcohol Stove. It can be purchased on eBay for about $20 after shipping.

Questions or Comments? Please post in the forums.

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I recently ordered Hammock Bliss’s Double Hammock and Mosquito Net Cocoon. I set them up and tested them out.

It should be said that the Hammock Bliss Double Hammock (and probably all of their hammocks) come with 100″ of 6mm rope for each end. I cut about 12″ of it and this is the small loop of black rope that you can see connecting the hammock to the ring on each end. The whoopie sling suspension, ridgeline and aluminum descending rings were all added by me. The only things that comes with the Hammock Bliss Double hammock are two 100″ pieces of 6mm rope.

Questions or comments? Please visit the forums.

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I recently started making my own whoopie slings and was looking for a neat, clean way to finish up the end with the fixed loop so that there were no visible knots when I came across the “locked brummel splice.”  This is a tutorial I made on how to make one.

Questions or comments? Please post in the forums.

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Recently, I needed a quote that referenced the spirituality of camping and nature. During my search, I came across several that I liked and decided to post some of my favorites here. Have any to add? Feel free to post in the forums.

• “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”  — John Muir
• “Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried.” — Frank Tyger
• “If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” — Frank A. Clark
• “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.” — John Muir
• “Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings.” — John Muir
• “I’ve learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” — Unknown
• “Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; You have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.” — Cindy Ross
• “It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.” — Robert W. Service
• “Not all that wander are lost.” — Unknown
• “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” — John Muir
• “Hiking alone lets me have some time to myself.” — Jamie Luner
• “My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing.” — Aldous Huxley
• “Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity…” — John Muir
• “The experienced mountain climber is not intimidated by a mountain — he is inspired by it.” — William Artur Ward
• “Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley. ” — Theodore Roethk
• “There may be more to learn from climbing the same mountain a hundred times than by climbing a hundred different mountains.” — Richard Nelson
• “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” — Edmund Hillary
• “The place where you lose the trail is not necessarily the place where it ends.” — Tom Brown, Jr.
• “The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.  That’s the best thing about a walking, the journey itself.  It doesn’t much matter whether you get where your going or not.  You’ll get there anyway.  Every good hike brings you eventually back home.  Right were you started.” — Edward Abbey
• “Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.”  — Dag Hammarskjold
• “You need special shoes for hiking – and a bit of a special soul as well.”  — Emme Woodhull-Bäche

Questions or comments? Please post in the forums.

A few friends and myself went camping this past Friday night. We tried a new add-hot-water dish: Mountain House’s Chili Mac with Beef.

It tasted just exactly as you would imagine, except it had no cheese taste at all. Maybe I was expecting a cheese taste because of the “Mac” but this just tasted like ordinary chili.

If you were on a long trip and were looking to diversify your meals then I’d suggest trying this dish, as it is not bad at all, but for a one or two night trip there are many other better tasting meals that only require adding hot water.