Sougahoagdee Falls:
August 12-13, 2011
Bankhead National Forest, AL
Distance: 3.75 miles
[View Photo Gallery]

The annual trip to Sougahoagdee Falls on Brushy Creek included my foray into hammock camping. Less of a footprint, but after finding three copperheads and two water moccasins within stone's throw of camp and swimming unknowingly in a plunge pool full of leeches, the night took an uneasy turn on a cool August night.

For weeks I’d been wanting to visit the area because the Rattlesnake Plantain was in bloom, and it’s one of a few areas I know of where they grow here, though it’s not rare by any stretch. Fellow adventurer Dan was looking to scratch his camping itch as well, so we set out early on a Friday afternoon that was cooler, in the low 90’s, and looking forward to a night in the middle sixties. After photographing some of the wildflowers along the road such as Jewelweed, Joe Pye Weed, coneflowers and asters, we made our way through the scrubby first section without a tick, and took note of additional plants like yellowroot and the Oakleaf Hydrangeas, just past their bloom period.

Even with the recent rains, all of the seasonal waterfalls along the route were dry save one or two that sported a mere trickle off the rock ledges. Hopes were high that Sougahoagdee would be in good form, since it’s a perennial performer in Bankhead. Frustratingly, the ‘pink ribbon fairy’ as it’s known had decked out the trail every 30ft it seemed with ribbons on the trees. On a near established path that follows an old logging road near six feet wide at times, they were pointless, and we collected a shopping bag full of them along the way. We also found two groups of Rattlesnake Plantain still in bloom, which satisfies a several year itch of either coming too early or too late to see the flower display.

Reaching the falls, a less than 2 mile hike from the trailhead, we set up camp at (now) the only fire ring in the little canyon that the falls reside in. I made good use of the thirty feet of webbing I brought along for the hammock, which I thought was way too much at first. It turned out a good fit, and after some adjusting, I settled in to the hammock for a while. We ventured up to the falls after gathering a small supply of firewood for cooking, taking a quick swim before discovering the plunge pool was full of leeches! After coaxing one onto a rock and photographing it out of the water, we tossed it back in, and thus ended our swimming for the trip.

Dan decided to construct a couple of cairns, having seen photos of them prior to our trip and liking their looks. I went with the traditional look, where Dan relied on his stone mason days to construct abstract works of art that seemed to defy gravity with their balancing act. Returning to camp, we managed to get a fire going rather quickly despite the storms the night before making everything damp. After a couple rounds of hotdog roasting, we relaxed before deciding to find a better location to look at the moon, which was nearly full, but obscured by trees from where we were. Making our way to where Sougahoagdee Creek meets Brushy Creek, we made a few more cairns and chatting for a while on a narrow sandbar before I spotted a water moccasin swimming upstream, and shortly thereafter, another one not more than 5ft from where we stood. Back at camp, we discovered three copperheads while gathering firewood and decided to call it a night. I’ll admit I was a bit uneasy sleeping in a hammock that was sagging too close to the ground for comfort, while Dan slept in the comfort of four walls in his pup tent.

The morning came with no ill effects with the exception of me getting chilled from opting to sleep using the sleeping bag as a blanket for the first half of the night. In light of all the snakes we’d seen the night before, we made our way back to the trailhead instead of upstream for a few miles. After finding two more water moccasins on the bridge by the jeep, we’d had enough and drove on to Brushy Lake to see the dam and peruse both the paved trail and one that hugged the rocky bluff. Satisfied, and the heat of the day cranking up, we made our way back toward home.