Planning to take a couple of days to hike a 13 mile circuit circuit and ‘rough it’ with the crew turned into a hike that lead us to a campsite literally about 300 feet from the car. Yeah…intrepid hikers we are. How in the heck did this happen? Well, when the blind lead the blind, typically this is the outcome.
Our crew: Benjamin “My Ax is My Best Friend” Lambert, Elizabeth “Benjamin…I really don’t think this is the way” Holcombe, Matthew “I just got back from Alaska and I have a roll-y suitcase on my back” Fitz and Stephanie “Wait…look at these snail shells and mushrooms, ya’ll” Holcombe, all started down the wrong trail, not
seeing the obvious signs pointing us the right way. Plus, somehow we trusted Benjamin when he put a week’s worth of sexual favors on the table as the bet that he knew where he was going. “Whatcha want to bet this is the _____ Creek?” (I would argue Sipsey River National Forest encompasses about 25,000 acres – all of which were at our disposal; however none of which we saw. Driving most of the day to get there only heightened the hilariousness of it all when we realized that after 5 minutes on the trail we managed to miss the entire NF. Old wagon trails and “the arc of the sun in the Northern Hemisphere” being our only guides, Benjamin lead our group through some amazing scenery….sort of. Well, for the first hour it was pretty nice, but 
once we started beating down thick weeds and having to resort to “Look…trees this size would not be in the wagon trail”, we should have listened to our guts and searched for an alternative trail. However, what did we know? Lost in the woods, turned around without any compass, straining to hear the ‘water’ that did not exist we traipsed and tramped our way in the ‘right’ direction.
With the sun quickly setting and no creek in site, we managed to resort to hiking to a road where we were picked up by a nice gentleman that realized we were lost. Piling us into the back of his pick up truck, he took us to his remote cabin in the woods. It was lonely out there and
After we were despondently dropped off at our car by this nice stranger and realizing it was 
already dusk, we compromised on a small waterfall area that had been inhabited before. Hennessy Hammocks were quickly hung, a slow fire starting (Thanks to the petroleum jelly cotton balls!) and dinner on the way. The boys made sure there was meat to cook, so as both of the dogs drooled, we polished off a dinner of smoked sausages, macaroni and cheese and about a pound of cream cheese & pepper jelly. The cold was creeping in and my eyelids were growing heavy, so Buster & I 
crawled into our hammock for the night. We left the boys upe beer themselves, just thankful that the waterfall was there to drown out their chatter all night. to finish off the rest of th
After hot chocolate and fake eggs the next morning, we rolled back to the car to drop off our gear. No need being further fools and carrying it on our backs when we didn’t need to. Benjamin was determined to get us on a specific trail that “was the most popular one” in the forest apparently. After wading a small stream to make it to this trail, we spent the day practicing Ninja moves and talking about Fitz’s adventures at the fishing lodge he worked at in
After a stuff-your-face lunch of wheat berry salad, sandwiches and a few beers, we got back on the road. Leaving the navigating up to the boys was a le
sson learned in keeping my mouth shut. Not only did the map look upside down at one point, but we ended up in small back-woods towns with bridges out and no road signs. I figured it best to chomp on the boiled peanuts as 
my road snack and go to sleep … except that was impossible b/c at the most inopportune time Elizabeth’s window decided to break and remain stuck in the down position. Buster, Monty, Elizabeth and I meshed and molded ourselves around each other to keep warm, en
ding up resembling a pile of human play-doh.
The hike was so fun and I'd totally do it again.
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