Kevins Sipsey Report (3/23/09)

Hi Tim,
How was your trip to Texas?
Nick and I ended up going to Sipsey Wilderness for an overnighter. We hiked about 5 miles each of two days.
Trails:
The trails were not maintained well. We hopped over 200 downed trees and crossed 12-15 streams. Had to walk in a stream as part of the trail going down towards the Sipsey River? The trails were a little muddy in spots but very few rocks and roots. Forded the Sipsey river once and crossed back over on a downed tree (the one downed tree we appreciated).
We had to do a little bush whacking to use that tree as a bridge, but it saved us time and effort not having to convert to shorts and water shoes. We saw only about 12 other hiking groups- 1/2 day hikers 1/2 campers. We averaged 1.8 miles moving the first day and 2.0 miles moving the second day. The trail intersections were marked well. Only a few times did we wonder if we were on an actual trail because some of it looked like a beaten down side path. I suspect once the forest undergrowth springs to life some of those trail sections will be harder to manage. It's definitely a wilderness.
Weather:
Weather was great. 60-70 days and 40 at night. Nick was warm all night.
I was warm at first and just right for remainder. Nick got hot hiking back the second afternoon. No rain to test gear or wits.
Gear:
My pack (Teton Sports Scout 3400) killed my left shoulder (which was still a little sore from a week ago). It's for sale on eBay now. Nicks new pack (Granite Gear Vapor Trail) was good except his back got sweaty.
Each of our loaded packs weighed in at 30 lbs. The MSR Sweetwater worked great! Our new (Hennesy) hammocks worked well for me and pretty good for Nick. He got hot because of the pad he was using. We still have to work out appropriate pads but the comfort level was much better for me than ground sleeping. My GPS worked well - only lost signal a few times but kept us informed of where we were as we double checked our map.
Food:
We had wraps for lunch and Ramon noodles with chicken in a pouch for supper. Nicks stove worked great.
Companionship:
We did NOT bring the dog but could have. Nick is a great hiking companion. He only complained once about the heat, and he didn't push my slow hiking style. He cooked while I tended a camp fire. He hung the bear bag too. He's faster than me at setting up and tearing down camp but slower to get up in the morning so we were about even. He had good suggestions while hiking and listened to my suggestions as well.
General Observations:
A lot of cliffs with shallow caves along the trails we did. 201, 206, 209, 202. Saw a tree growing on a large rock with its roots extending to the ground. Saw a cabin in the woods with a living journal dating back to 2001. So we added an entry. Saw one water fall about 60 feet high. Only saw two water bottles, two wrappers and two cigarette butts on the trial. The Sipsey is a nice river. We saw a few pretty vistas along the trail - we wished we had a camera.
When we got home we showered and hit the local Chinese buffet!
We're still planning something for Easter weekend.
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE