Quillian Riddle Loop Report & Police Visit

[elbowman]

Hello All,

Well, every trip to Sipsey never disappoints, even when the police visit your campsite. But more on that later...

3 of us from MS came over to spend a quite weekend camping off the Arnold Motorway. One of the guys had never seen the Quillian area, and I wanted another trip thru, this time at a slower pace to make sure we did not miss anything. The last several trips we have camped about 300 yards from the road off Arnold. Nice flat spot, right behind the old trailhead sign. Close enough to the road to barely see our truck, and far enough away that most people would not even notice we were camping out there. Plus plenty of down trees for firewood thru the weekend.

Came out Friday afternoon, set up camp and enjoyed a nice fire. The weather was so nice, we skipped the tents and cowboy camped next to the fire. Next day walked down the road to Riddle Creek parking, and made our way down into the drainage. As I mentioned, we took our time. Found the Riddle Hands Up Tree. Looked around all 3 waterfalls, and took a nice break at the Riddle - Quillian intersection.

Staying on the left at the bottom double falls is definitely the route to take. Gives you easy access to the base of the falls, and a easy route to come down off the ridge and meet Riddle where it runs into Quillian. Last trip we attempted the right side of the falls, and was unable to find a safe route down.

Riddle has a really nice bath tub spot above the first falls. Gentle cascade flows into a circle of about 6 or 7 feet and waist deep. If it was hot, I would have jumped in to cool off!

Made our way up Quillian, lots of ice still hanging from the walls, climbed up Big Cascades, Amphitheater Canyon, Quillian Cascades and Hole in the Roof Falls.

So we get back to camp, thoroughly tired and sore and ready for a early bedtime. But as it turned out this was not going to be the case. About 8:30pm we received a visit from a Ranger/Officer and dealt with the consequences for the next several hours. So before I explain what happened, I will state for the record the officer was extremely professional and was doing his job. And I will also state for the record, we were aware of certain regulations we were in violation of, but choose as adults to ignore them, and ended up paying for those choices....

He came into camp and asked the standard questions. Where were we from, when did we get there, how long were we staying, were we having a good time.

He then noticed our large pile of firewood we had split and ready to burn for the weekend. He asked how we could come up with such a large pile of wood, without the use of a motorised chain saw, and of course we had no good answer. We had been using axes and hand saws the last several trips and had used up most of the limbs and easily broken up branches from several large trees in the immediate vicinity. So we thought cutting up one tree and splitting the wood would be all we needed for the weekend. Total sawing time was 20 minutes, and several hours of splitting with the 2 axes we had brought. Strike One.

Then he noticed my buddy had a beer on the ground. They had brought out a 12 pack for the two if them, turns out Lawrence is a dry county. Ouch. Strike two.

Then he asked if we had any hard liquor -

-No-

Any drugs?

-No-

Any weapons on the camp?

Crap, Strike three. I had brought a small pistol that stays in my truck during the day, and I bring to camp at night. And I did not have a carry permit.

So after background and weapon checks, we walked away with $500 dollars in tickets and fines. As I said before the officer was a good guy. Even said he understood the wood and firearms, but the rules needed to be followed. But the alcohol was a definite no-no.

So what did I learn?

1. No one in my camping party will bring any alcohol into the forest with me.

2. Buy a bow saw and have plenty of wood the old fashion way - muscles.

3. Obtain a concealed weapons permit - and then I can bring the pistol out legally.

It was still a GREAT weekend.

Eric

P.S Pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elbowman1/

[MobileBackpacker]

"We had been using axes and hand saws the last several trips and had used up most of the limbs and easily broken up branches from several large trees in the immediate vicinity"

you brought a chainsaw into the Sipsey? Really? I looked at your photos, thats a ton of firewood 

Seriously, if your going to have that kind of impact on the surroundings you should alternate your camping locations. I had no idea it was a dry county either, bummer.

When you say the left side of Riddle you mean heading downstream right? I remember that side being a good route down to Quillan, almost a trail there i think.

[Joshua Szulecki]

A chainsaw in a wilderness area? Add to that a weapons violation and booze...

 

[jaybird]

Hey, as long as you learned from your experiences.  Rules & laws exist for a reason, and your humbleness is honorable.  Great story!

[angrysparrow]

If you are going to camp like that (huge impact), you should stick to developed campgrounds like Brushy Lake.  The wilderness is not the right place for car camping. 

I'm glad you and your friends enjoyed Quillen and Riddle.  Please leave it intact for the rest of us.

[weathermansam]

If you are going to camp like that (huge impact), you should stick to developed campgrounds like Brushy Lake.  The wilderness is not the right place for car camping. 

I'm glad you and your friends enjoyed Quillen and Riddle.  Please leave it intact for the rest of us.

Ditto. 

I could care less when and what people drink, as long as they pack out what they bring in. 

[McDowra]

Hey, as long as you learned from your experiences.  Rules & laws exist for a reason, and your humbleness is honorable.  Great story!

I couldn't agree more, sorry you made a mistake

[weathermansam]

Hey, as long as you learned from your experiences.  Rules & laws exist for a reason, and your humbleness is honorable.  Great story!

Ditto on this too.  That's a terrible way to end a camping trip.  I agree that the rangers out there are nice people as well. 

[Uncle Wayne]

your humbleness is honorable. 

Agree,  and had you not been, you would have seen the inside of the Lawrence County Jail.  I hate you got in trouble but the way you handled it is an example all of us should follow. 

[Pathfinder]

Eric, I'm thankful that y'all did not get 30 days in the electric chair!

[jamfan]

Damn, that is a tough break.  So basically you can't carry any alcohol into a dry county?  I never considered this since I usually take a flask or nalgene of wine or hg beer with me.

[calicojack]

1)Technically open carry isn't illegal. 2)Sipsey is a national forest right? The laws just changed if it is. You CAN have weapons in a national forest now.3) get a MS concealed carry permit. We share reciprocity with our neighbors to the west, so it would be valid in the state of alabama, if you chose to hide it.

[dayhiker]

Of the $500 in fines, how much was due to the alcohol?  Also, what were you actually written up for on alcohol?  By that I mean, possession in a dry county, possession in a Wilderness, possession in a National Forest, consumption in any of the above, open container in any of the above, etc?  I've always wondered what they actually write you up on.

This goes into a Pulp Fiction type of questioning...it's legal to carry it, it's legal to own it,....etc. 

[elbowman]

Hello All,

The firearm charge was possesion of a firearm in a non-hunting season. The officer was really nice to only charge us with the class B misdemeanor. He could have gone class A, and as Uncle Wayne mentioned, that would have resulted in a night in jail and the possible seizure of my vehicle.

The chainsaw charge was use of mechanized equipment in a wilderness area.

I was not personally involved in the alcohol charge (being a nondrinker). I asked my buddy what the official charge was, but he did not look up the charge number before he sent the ticket back with his payment.

Each ticket was $150 per infraction, so depending on which of the 3 of us was involved in each infraction, we walked away with $600 bucks in total.

But I am glad to say, we have all paid our fines (debt to society), and are free men who learned to follow the rules.

Eric

[calicojack]

Hello All,

The firearm charge was possesion of a firearm in a non-hunting season. The officer was really nice to only charge us with the class B misdemeanor. He could have gone class A, and as Uncle Wayne mentioned, that would have resulted in a night in jail and the possible seizure of my vehicle.

had you had a permit on you he couldn't have charged you period. the "possesion of a firearm in a non-hunting season" is invalid if you were inside the national forest. it is "sipsi national forest correct?"

[weathermansam]

had you had a permit on you he couldn't have charged you period. the "possesion of a firearm in a non-hunting season" is invalid if you were inside the national forest. it is "sipsi national forest correct?"

It is the Sipsey Wilderness Area inside the Bankhead National Forest, which is surrounded [encompassed?] by the Black Warrior Wildlife Management Area.  

"Firearms on National Forests lands in Alabama - Visitors are allowed to carry concealed firearms on National Forest general forest areas, as long as they are in possession of a valid pistol permit issued by a county sheriff.  However, no weapons, concealed or otherwise, may be carried onto a forest Service or any other federal administrative office or site.  Also, if the National Forest general forest area is also a State wildlife Management Area (WMA), state regulation generally prohibits all firearms unless a scheduled hunt is in progress, and even then, there are limitations on the types of firearms that may be carried.  The State Department of Natural Resources should be contacted for specific regulations pertaining to firearm possession in WMAs."
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/alabama/law/