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First off, Id like to thank alatrails for all the information in the past year to help me get started with kayaking and hiking in Alabama. So here’s the trip report. Sorry for its length, it’s a long one.
Both my girlfriend and I had an amazing time. The views of mountains and creeks was nothing we'd ever seen before.
As a last minute decision, we decided to hike the 17 mile loop we've been wanting to check out for a while. It took us approx 5 hours to drive to Adams Gap on Tuesday May 10th, and since we arent early risers, we didnt arrive until almost 4pm.
For the most part, we are complete beginners to hiking. I knew it'd be challenging for both of us, but you just really dont know how you're body will perform until you begin.
So Day 1, we make it to the very first campsite at mile 3 in time to cook and relax and adjust for what Day 2 was going to bring. In order to finish by thursday morning, I figured we had to hike 10 miles Wednesday, camp at Hubbard Creek, and hike 4 miles Thursday morning, so we could get back to Mobile at a decent time.
We break about 9:00 the next morning and make our way to Stairway to Heaven. For people who have only hiked once, in Pensacola, this was a daunting challenge. We made our way up, in awe of our surroundings. The water breaks were plentiful
. Once we reached the top, we took a break to snack and take in the views. All we kept saying was "wow". Neither of us had ever seen anything like that, and it just amazed us. We made our way to Little Caney Head Campsite soon after, and was a little worried after taking a left at the sign, that there weren't any other markings to indicate Chinnabee. The descent was alot harder than I expected. We were very careful not to go plummeting. It wasn't until mile 7.6 that we came across some water. The water was so fresh and clean. We chugged straight from the creek. All the other springs between 3.1 and 7.6 werent running enough to scoop water out of. We stopped here for some red beans and rice and to catch a well deserved breather.
We continued our trek pass Turnipseed's and finally reached Cheaha Falls. It was such a blast getting in the water (our feet) and just relaxing by some falls. It was definitely flowing well and it was much enjoyed. We wouldve loved to camp here.
As we were crossing the creek and heading uphill, we ran into our only encounter with a hiker that stopped and talked to us for 15 minutes. He was very nice and very talkative, however scared us a little bit with the mentioning of his .44 pistol in his pack and having to almost use it while around Cheaha Falls. He seemed harmless though, and we continued on.
From here until reaching Skyway, we had a blast stopping along the creek, taking pictures, and gazing from Devil's Den at everything below us. But the day had really worn on us, and i knew we had a little over a mile before we reached Hubbard Creek campsite. So we crossed the creek at Lakeshore, and followed this trail until the end. We questioned if we were going the right way the whole time and ultimately realized how stupid I was for leading us down it.
So after wasting an hour, we finally find the Skyway/Adams Gap sign we missed. At this point, I am gassed. Im cramping all over, but we were determined to get to Hubbard Creek. Note the time crossing the creek to Skyway was 6:30 after hiking for almost 10 hours.
As we're just willing ourselves uphill on skyway, and as the sun is setting on us quickly, my legs are continually giving out. We'd stop for a second, Id drink some water, and Stacy would help me back up. We finally reach an easier portion of Skyway, and I knew we were just a hair less than a mile before we reach Hubbard Creek. We keep pushing and finally, I start to hear a stream. Almost too dark to see, we pick up pace and finally, exhaustingly, reach camp.
WE WERE NOT PREPARED FOR WHAT WE SEEN NEXT. Stacy notices some pink no crossing tape with two signs that say "Trails closed for burnings", and as I glance up the hill, I freeze. I swear, at 7:30p.m. on May 11, it looked like armageddon was here. A long wall of blazing fires appeared to us. As two 20-something kids from mobile who'd never seen anything like this, we didnt know how to react. On the brink of full blown panicking, we turned around. We were pretty much in shock, because this was the first sign we'd seen of burnings going on. Along our trip we had smelled smoke, but just assumed that was far far away. So we hike back in total dark (using cellphone for light) and stop right at the dirt forest road, mile 12.3, whip out the tent, and jump in. We had no water to cook anything, and was just scared on what to do next. We settled down and decided at the crack of dawn, hike back to Lake Chinnabee and use Bob and Sue's shuttle service. We were ready to go home after such a long day. Most uncomfortable we'd ever been, and I didnt sleep a wink.
EDIT: I wrote this back in May, and looking back, its funny how scared we got, as if the fire would get us in our sleep or something lol.
So Day 3, or today, we hiked back to Lake Chinnabee and realized there wasn't any phone service to be had and noone around since it was only 7:20am. Lucky, thankful, and grateful, we walk to the camping area of Lake Chinnabee where an older man and his wife are outside of their tent cooking breakfast. I let the gf do the talking telling them what happened. Without hesitation, the man tells us to jump in to give us a ride back to our car. He was extremely nice and I hope he has some type of favor returned to him soon. There is no telling how long we would have been stranded there if not for them.
All in all, it was a great adventure for us beginners. We survived. Sore is an understatement for how we feel at the moment. Everything looked amazing, no troubles along the way. I'd be hesitant to recommend this loop for beginners though. I can definitely see why Skyway isnt much traveled. Or maybe it just caught us at the wrong time. I appreciate all the forum help, including Wirerat for almost all of the equipment needed!
Pictures!http://www.flickr.com/photos/62771828@N07/
