Club Picnic at Houston Recreation Area

The club held it's annual picnic at the Houston Recreation Area in the Bankhead National Forest on Saturday, July 18, 2009. The weather was unseasonably cool, which made for some great picnicking and camping weather. Click here for some photos from the event.

Our Travel Bug

The lastest entry from our travel bug:

This is an automated message from Geocaching.com
You are receiving this email because you are the owner of this listing. Location: Minnesota, United States.

dlgps retrieved Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club Bug (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from A Bridge to the Past at 7/12/2009 Log Date: 7/12/2009 This little tb is just down the road from a great wilderness area. We have a few caches there that are on our "to do" list so we will see if we can get him in a good cache in Rice County, Minnesota Cannon River Wilderness Park.

Visit the Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club Travel Bug web page:
http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=77bed2b6-0b8d-4929-a0c7-d1eef9ac3fe5

Our bug is stuck up North, and has been for some time. Maybe someday it will return to the South.

Club Picnic

The Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club will be holding its annual Club Picnic on Saturday, July 18, rain or shine, beginning at 10 AM at the Houston Recreation Area in the Bankhead National Forest.

We have reserved the (only) pavilion for the whole day. Follow the signs to the beach or boat ramp and the pavilion is located just past the beach.

We can swim in Smith Lake and should have a couple of boats and kayaks available. The picnic starts at 10 and we will have the food around noon. The club will reimburse members for the $4 per day vehicle fee imposed by the rec area.

Houston Rec also has a campground. Some club members are planning on staying over on Friday night and probably Saturday as well. Foster expects to arrive by 4 PM on Friday and will leave a note somewhere obvious with clues as to where we are camping.

The club will provide paper plates, cups, napkins, plasticware, and fuel for the grill but everyone should bring their own grillables, drinks, and maybe an extra something to share. In the past, people have brought chips, salsa, beans, salads, fruit, and cookies and so far we have avoided the situation where the only choice was seven different kinds of potato salad.

Directions to Houston Recreation Area from Double Springs:

• Travel about 9 miles east on US 278 to County Road 63 south. There is a gas station/store on the corner.
• Turn south on CR 63. After 1.8 miles, by the post office and old jail, the road forks.
• Take the right fork which is CR 61. The access road for the rec area is another 1.6 miles on the right.
• Turn right and the entrance is about another mile.