Big Tree Day hike with overnight car camp nearby

[grillmastertoo]

good evening all--
Im looking to make a day hike to the big tree and then do an overnight car camp near by....
what would be ones suggestion on the easiest yet scenic route to the tree...
also where are some car camping spots people enjoy in the same area...
Im hoping to make this happen over the next couple of weekends...
thanks

[Pathfinder]

How close to the car would your campsite need to be for you to consider it car camping?

[grillmastertoo]

i would like to be able to take my own firewood....but, if there is a spectacular site further away, i would certainly consider it....

[weathermansam]

Brushy Lake seems a popular place for car camping, though I've never camped there myself.  I've heard of some nice waterfalls in the woods around there too.  Fairly low on my priority list to see this winter, though. 

[Pathfinder]

If you want to stay in the Sipsey Wilderness, both ends of Trail 200 have places that have been used frequently for camping.  If you need toilet facilites, then the Recreation Area end of 200 would possibly work for you.  There is a little trail that forks off to the right shortly after you go under the Cranal Rd Bridge on 200.  Take this trail a very short distance and it will take you to a decent camp site above the first waterfalls.  I've never camped there, but I have made note of it, just in case I'm camping with any group in the future where they demand that toilet facilites be reasonably close at hand. 

If you are planning on going to the "Big Tree" via White Oak Hollow, there are nice campsites not too far from the Thompson Creek Bridge and the Trailhead of 206.  White Oak Hollow is not bad for camping.  I figure if you want to car camp, the fact that more people generally will be passing your campsite is just a fact of life that you accept.

Good luck!

[WolfVanZandt]

Actually, there are some nice waterfalls off the bluff in Brushy Lake Rec. area and if you continue on the road past Brushy Lake and up the hill, there's a very nice water fall in the woods. Look for a stake labeled "WATER VALVE".

[Pathfinder]

Wolf, is the "WATER VALVE" where they turn Brushy Creek on or off?

[JC785]

There are several large campsites by the Borden Creek TH, and you could drive to the Thompson Creek TH and hike trail 206 to White Oak Hollow and then explore each bee branch and the big tree. Second Route, Trail 206-Unofficial trail 204-224-208 back to car, that would be a nice loop as well.

[WolfVanZandt]

LOL......naw, it's just where they open it up a little to keep a drip going so it doesn't freeze in the winter.

Y'know, though, I never did see any kind of valve around there - just that post. If you stand at the post, you can hear the waterfall off in the woods, which is the only way I found it. Certainly somebody knows about it because, before we left, the last two campers in our group (a guy from Georgia and I) pulled out a big trash bag full of garbage from behind the fall.