Weekend Blues

Sunday, Sept, 21

After having a really bad case of stuck in the house blues on Sat,which makes me well......... lets say less than nice to be around. My loving headless husband agrees to to get up early Sunday and do some hiking with me.

I wanted a nice long hike,so we planned on taking 200 to 209 then hike up Little Ugly Creek to Hemlock Creek. The day started out on the warm muggy side but wasn't unbearable. 200, had the usual weekend camper traffic headed back. Approaching, the 209 jct I see this sliver triangle poking up out of the trees up ahead. I am thinking to myself what the heck is that?  As we get closer, I see this rainbow sign that said welcome home and another tie died banner that said Alabama something and this huge tent with a setting area and a lone drum in the middle with a few hippies mulling around. Parked right in the middle of the trail. The first thought that comes to mind is %$#@. It was clear that if we wanted to cont on to 209, we were going to have to walk through the heart of this. Taking a deep breath we walked on. After exchanging greetings and petting the dog on the head, We quickly made our down the bank and across the river to the safety of 209.Big sigh

The first stop of the day was Fall Creek Falls. I have never seen this fall with so little water,but I don't get down this trail often. Given the amount of flow I choose not to unpack the camera. After taking a moment to enjoy cool breeze blowing and the sun dipping in and out of the clouds, we head on down the trail  weaving our way through the downed tree and forest undergrowth that is trying and partly succeeding in reclaiming the trail. We passed a few more hikers one asking if I knew the score of the football game. Then finally it was just us and the forest.

After confirming with the GPS we reached the jct of Sipsey and Little Ugly, we picked a spot and made our way down the bank. by this point it had become pretty darn warm so wade across Sipsey and up Little Ugly was refreshing. I was glad to see a far amount of water on Little Ugly,but the further upstream we went the less water there was. Fernglade Creek was bone dry,so we hiked on to Hemlock.

We reached Hemlock saw that there was a very small trickle of water flowing. I said were here lets see what she has to offer. We made our way up, over, and around the bolder field only to find that we were in a U shaped canyon with no way up or around the dry waterfall that blocked our way further upstream. Hot,tired and ready for lunch we made our way on up to shelter area about mid way up the cliff face.  The view we enjoyed while eating lunch was worth the extra effort. I just wish that there had been water on the falls.

After lunch and some exploring we made our way back down, not wanting to head back to the car just yet we hiked on up Little Ugly. Eagle Creek was flowing good and was the just about the only source of water at this point  Little Ugly was just about bone dry past Eagle Creek. Deer Skull Falls was a mere trickle and the side fall was bone dry.

Admitting that to day was not the day for shooting waterfalls, I agree its time to head back to the car. The trip back was uneventful even the hippies were gone by the time we got back.