Sipsey River Trail, Bankhead National Forest

Two days ago, before the rains came, we drove about an hour to the Sipsey Wilderness to walk some of the Sipsey River Trail which we were told was well worth seeing.  We only walked about 4 miles roundtrip because I had to take a few pictures;)  When we got back to the trailhead we found out that, had we headed the opposite direction on the river we would have seen bigger falls!  What we did see was just lovely.  We will have to go back!

 

The river is pretty clear and the color amazing!

rock shelves with hanging gardens everywhere!

walking toward a waterfall at the end of this wall

waterfall through the trees

Tishomingo State Park, Mississippi

Before this nasty winter storm set in to Red Bay, Alabama, along with a good portion of the normally warmer south, Mike and I managed to get in a couple of good hikes at nearby parks.  We are just a half mile from the Mississippi border so Tishomingo State Park is only about 20 miles from here.  High 40's with sun is great hiking weather (what we are having now, not so much;) and we really enjoyed the walk partially around a lake and through the forest up along and in between  boulders on a rock shelf. The hike ended up at a pretty stream.  Very nice!