1st Time Camping in BNF or Sipsey - Recommendations Please

[AlabamaDan]

Hi everyone,

This weekend my son and I wanted to go camping and I thought BNF or Sipsey would be a great place since we've never been.  I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on exactly where to go (it's a big place) on our first camping trip there.  We're comfortable with primitive camping, but this time do need to essentially car-camp as I sprained my ankle pretty bad earlier this week and it's still healing/tender.  So....where to go with a 9 year old tent camping?

Thanks ahead of time.

Danny

[weathermansam]

Borden Creek Trailhead is my suggestion.  You get the bluffs past the tunnel, maybe a waterfall before, some scenery change over a short distance and you can camp reasonably close to where you're parking.  Terrain is flat and pretty manageable. 

[AlabamaDan]

Thanks weathermansam.  Let me also ask this.....I'm coming from Birmingham.  Are there any more on the southern/eastern side of the wilderness/forest?  To get to Borden Creek Trailhead I have to drive nearly to Decatur then go East don't I?

[AlabamaDan]

How about Brushy Creek Lake?

[Bankheadboy]

Some folks turn at Cullman Exit off I65 on to Hwy 157 towards Moulton and then take Hwy 36 to Wren and up the mountain. Brushy would be a Great place to camp!

[weathermansam]

You could take 278 up to Double Springs and then up. 

.....Jaybird knows a shortcut from B'ham up to the Sipsey area....


...there are also recreation areas further south near lewis smith lake that are technically in Bankhead, but I know nothing of that area. 

[toph]

Brushy Lake is exactly what you're looking for.

[jaybird]

Quickest route (a little over 1.5 hours) to Sipsey from B'ham:

Take I-65 north to the Daniel Payne Drive exit.
At the bottom of the exit, go Left back under the interstate.
Go about 3/4 mile to the intersection of Coaling Road and turn Right. (there is a redlight & large FedEx facility on the corner here).
Go about 1 mile to the intersection of the end Corridor X (future I-22) and turn left onto the interstate.
It's only about 35 minutes from here to Jasper.
In Jasper, you'll want to get off at the 2nd Jasper exit (Hwy 269), and turn right.  Go about 1.5 miles to the 2nd redlight before turning right.
Immediately after turning right, be prepared to turn back to the left onto 9th Avenue. This is a nice neighborhood with a couple of stop signs.  Continue about one mile and go straight over the top of old US 78.
This becomes Hwy 195 which takes you all the way to Double Springs in 20 miles.  Sipsey is just north of Double Springs accessible by Hwy 33 or 195.

[jamfan]

Quickest route (a little over 1.5 hours) to Sipsey from B'ham:

Take I-65 north to the Daniel Payne Drive exit.
At the bottom of the exit, go Left back under the interstate.
Go about 3/4 mile to the intersection of Coaling Road and turn Right. (there is a redlight & large FedEx facility on the corner here).
Go about 1 mile to the intersection of the end Corridor X (future I-22) and turn left onto the interstate.
It's only about 35 minutes from here to Jasper.
In Jasper, you'll want to get off at the 2nd Jasper exit (Hwy 269), and turn right.  Go about 1.5 miles to the 2nd redlight before turning right.
Immediately after turning right, be prepared to turn back to the left onto 9th Avenue. This is a nice neighborhood with a couple of stop signs.  Continue about one mile and go straight over the top of old US 78.
This becomes Hwy 195 which takes you all the way to Double Springs in 20 miles.  Sipsey is just north of Double Springs accessible by Hwy 33 or 195.

I took this route last time.   It's really fast.  One thing to watch for, when I took it there was a police check point in one of the small towns along 195.

[AlabamaDan]

I appreciate everyone's input.  We're gonna have to put this off till next weekend.

[kimism72]

Just be aware that hunting season officially starts tomorrow. There will be a lot of shooting going on in the Sipsey/Bankhead areas. I have a map of the hunting zones but that doesn't mean that some hunters will wander off of the prescribed territories.

[JC785]

Keep in mind once hunting season starts you have to have a permit to camp overnight. Call the ranger station and they can fax you the form to fill out. 205-489-5111

http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/a...ests/bankhead/index.shtml

[AlabamaDan]

Well we ended up going last weekend after-all.  Nice place up there.  It's odd seeing all those people living there however.  I guess I just don't think of living in a national forest.

Anyway, great time at Brushy Creek lake.  I think we ended up camping in the wrong place - I dunno.  We pulled into the first place and put the money in the drop box, chose a picnic table to camp at and pitched our tent.  We noticed there weren't fire rings at all the places, but there was one by us.  We had a great time and enjoyed outselves.

The next morning we broke camp, clean up ours and others messes and attempted to leave no trace.  As we left we took a different route and a few 100 yards up the road was the Brushy Creek Lake Campground!  This place you were able to pull up and park in the places, every spot had a fire ring and a lantern pole.  Makes me wonder if we camped in the wrong place?  I think the ranger came through the park about 10PM - I say ranger because it sounded like he opened the steel money box.  He must have seen our truck and tent.  If we were doing something wrong I'm sure he'd have said something.

I don't feel bad because we actually left the place better than we found it, fire ring included.  But I might like to go back with a larger group of boys and camp in the same spot.  It was much better suited for tent camping than the "campground".  That looked like more of a place for pop-up campers and such.

[toph]

You camped at the Day Use Area...surprised the ranger didn't have anything to say!

[Uncle Wayne]

You camped at the Day Use Area...surprised the ranger didn't have anything to say!

Yeah, me too.  I believe the sign says there is a hefty fine for doing so.  So you were lucky.

[asmith001]

That's hilarious!  We did the exact same thing on our first trip to Bankhead.  We arrived at Brushy Creek Lake at about midnight coming from MS, and we didn't see the actual campground until the next morning.  Only difference was that the park rangers did have something to say.  They pulled up to us at about 2am.  They were very stern, but nice enough to let us stay til sunrise.  They asked that we not be there when they came back.  haha.

Later that next day, we ran into boy scouts headed to the big tree.  Having never heard of anything in this area, that sounded interesting and we decided to make a day hike to the tree.  Needless to say, we've been back to Sipsey every year since.