SWHC Receives Certificate of Appreciation from U. S. Department of Agriculture

The Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club received a certificate of appreciation from the U. S. Department of Agriculture on December 10th, at the U. S. Forest Service Christmas Dinner. 

Trail Work on the 210 Trail

Saturday, November 13th 2010 dawned cool and clear. It was a good day for working outdoors. We started on the South end of the trail and stopped for a break after we reached the top of the ridge.

Bart slowly and carefully sharpens the double bit ax.

Heartwood or Duramen is the older, nonliving central wood of a tree, usually darker and harder than the younger sapwood, clearly shown in this photo.

After lunch Mike takes a nap cradling his bow saw.

Gary with a little help from Larry uses the bow saw effectively, pulling and pushing to achieve the goal.

Gary's tool of choice today was his Surveyor bush hook. They are ideal for cutting brush. The blade cuts easily on the "pull" stroke, but it does take some practice.

Fungi are neither plant nor animal but have some characteristics of each. They cannot move about like an animal, but do consume organic matter - yum, like us. They reproduce by spores and in this case with the help of Mike. Can you see the greenish "smoke?"

We managed about 9 miles total, enjoyed the peacefulness of the forest, and can report the trail to be in very good shape up to the halfway point.

December 11th is our next Trail Maintenance day on The Mitchell Ridge.

(Photos and Video by Mike, Larry, and Mimi.  Narrative by Mimi.)

SWHC Member Takes Part in Mississippi Highpoint Dedication

Gary White with Woodall Mountain monument.

Gary White, a Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club member and a Highpointers Club member, recently helped dedicate a monument at Mississippi's highest point during the recent national Highpointers Convention.  This highpoint is the 806 foot Woodall Mountain near Iuka.  The highpoint is on private property owned by the Brown family, but permission was granted to move a 8,200 pound rock to the top of the mountain to mark the exact location.  The rock has a permanently mounted bronze plaque that gives the elevation of the highpoint and some history about the mountain.  Gary acquired the rock, transported it to Woodall Mountain, and helped prepare it for the dedication.

The Daily Corinthian newspaper published an article about the monument dedication and the Highpointers Club.

A video about the dedication of the monument is at this link on the Highpointers Club website.

The monument was made possible in part by the Highpointers Foundation.  This foundation works with landowners to obtain access to state highpoints and to fund necessary improvements such as signage and monuments.

October Trail Maintenance

The club began its eleventh season (October to April) of trail maintenance on the Mitchell Ridge Trail on Saturday, October 9.

The day began with breakfast at Chef Troy’s Talk of the Town Restaurant in Houston, a new club benefit for trail maintenance volunteers. Five showed up – Foster, Charlie, Owen, Mimi, and Larry – on what promised to be a warm day.

Starting from the northern end, we managed to cover maybe a third of the trail, at least two miles anyway, before the heat did us in.

The trail appears to be in very good shape. We had to saw half a dozen small trees and push some others out of the way but cutting back the numerous oak saplings sprouting out everywhere required more time and effort. Since we did not have the crosscut saw with us, we had to leave one larger Chestnut Oak until another occasion.

U. S. Forest Service Restricts Fire Use in Bankhead National Forest

Montgomery, AL (September 28, 2010) ---- Because of the extreme dry conditions that can possibly lead to wildfires, the U.S. Forest Service is alerting all forest users to be aware of specific public fire use restrictions in Alabama’s national forests. Forest Supervisor Miera C. Nagy recently signed an order that prohibits the use of fire in wilderness areas in the Bankhead and Talladega National Forests.

To protect the public and natural resources from the threat of wildfires, the following public restrictions are effective September 24, 2010 and will remain in effect until October 31, 2010:

Bankhead National Forest – Sipsey Wilderness; Talladega National Forest (Talladega and Shoal Creek Districts) - Dugger Wilderness and Cheaha Wilderness

• Building, maintaining, attending, using a fire or campfire (wood or charcoal) at any wilderness area located on the Bankhead, Shoal Creek, and Talladega Ranger Districts of the National Forests in Alabama; except, the use of gas generated fire in a Coleman-type or backpacking stove will be allowed throughout the Sipsey, Dugger, and Cheaha Wilderness Areas on the Bankhead, Shoal Creek, and Talladega Ranger Districts. 36 CFR 261.52(a).
• Violating any state law concerning burning or fires which are implemented for the purpose of preventing or restricting the spread of fires. 36 CFR 261.52(k)
• Pursuant to 36 CFR 261.50 (e), the following persons are exempt from the order: Any federal, state, local officer or member of an organized rescue or fire fighting team or those holding a permit specifically authorizing the use of fire.

Anyone found violating any of these prohibitions might face a fine of not more than $5,000 for an individual or $10,000 for an organization or imprisonment for not more than six months or both.

Forest Service officials advise that if you are planning to spend a few days in the national forest, you should look for changes in restrictions, which could change according to fire weather conditions. Human-caused fires can be reduced during these very dry conditions when everyone work together to prevent wildfires.

For information concerning any public restrictions and closure orders, please contact a U.S. Forest Service district office before visiting: Bankhead District (205) 489-5111, Conecuh District (334) 222-2555, Shoal Creek District (256) 463-2272; Talladega District (256) 362-2909; Oakmulgee District (205) 926-9765; and the Tuskegee District (334) 727-2652.

Winston County Extension Office to Hold Open House at New Office Location

The Winston County Extension Office will hold an Open House at our new office location at 9:00 to 11:00 a.m on Wednesday, March 31st.  This new office is located at the John Nichols Building on Highway 195.  This building is located just south of the Double Springs Post Office in what was formerly the Winston County Health Department.  The new office space is more modern, and it is handicap accessible.  We'll have some refreshments, and you can also meet representatives from the other offices that are located in the building.  You can print a copy of the invitation here.  We hope that you will be able to stop by and see our upgraded offices.

Trip to Springer Mountain

A group of Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club members made a trip to Springer Mountain in Georgia. Springer is the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Foster Parsons was the leader of this expedition. Bomber and Nina Brown came from Russellville, and Bart Seymour and I came from Double Springs. Foster had planned three days of hiking, but the weather did not cooperate at all. So, we had a short hike and an exciting adventure in the mountains. Our campsite was my kind of place-private, free-of-charge, and not overused. I definitely would like to return on my own later this year. Here's a quick video from the trip:



If you have trouble with the embedded video, you can view it at this link.

There's also some more photos at this link.

Trail Maintenance January 2010

Despite the frigid early morning temperatures, a few hardy souls showed up at the Gum Pond trailhead at 8AM, Saturday January 9, 2010, to begin a new year of maintenance on the Mitchell Ridge trail.

Charlie, Owen, Larry and I enjoyed the half mile hike to the trailhead, marveling at the icicles covering the bluffs. We passed over the Hagood Creek bridge and hit the trail to find a Sleeping Beauty like mass of Muscadine vines forming a curtain right over the entrance to the trailhead.

We hiked up the trail passing “Ivan” along the way. Ivan is a three foot chunk of sandstone which fell from the top of the bluff wall during hurricane Ivan in 2004 and henceforth so dubbed by the club. This southern end of the trail has particularly dramatic scenery.

We stopped to photograph the next challenge for our trail maintenance crew and one which will require many more folks to help out. A whopper of a tree had fallen but was hung and frozen in place along a small ridge in the rock face of a 25 foot bluff, which is of course directly over the trail. We took a photo and carefully skirted our way around it and proceeded to the first and only steep climb along the trail. It was icy with powder snow everywhere so we took it easy and safely gained the top of the ridge.

The trail was in good shape, just some small blowdowns. Although the ground was frozen we were able to kick apart and toss the small dead branches aside. We used the bow saw to successfully whittle down and eliminate the rest. Larry swept up after the three of us, hand pruning all the more aggressive briars and tough whippy little shrubs in the path. We managed about three miles in and came across one big pine directly in our path where we stopped to cool down and have lunch. We turned back there and enjoyed the hike back to the trail head with Charlie and Owen scouting out a good campsite near the creek, perhaps for next month’s work day. We sure could use some help.

Come and enjoy the scenery and bring lunch. Our next maintenance is February 6th and details will be posted on the club website.

Thanks ya’ll.