So I had heard of a neat spot to check out and there was a camp site nearby that I had never stayed at as it has always been taken whenever I was in the area. We dropped in at Thompson Trail head in January and proceeded up 206. This is a easy trail and right now one of the best places to start as it is gorgeous. Shortly after crossing Whiteoak Creek we continued on to check out Auburn Falls. It was really going so I decided to have a closer look. I have passed this fall many times by I have never taken the 50 or so yard scramble up to it but it was worth it as there was a nice pool at the bottom to cool off in. Further down trail comes Ship Rock. This thing, especially in the fall / early spring, literally looks like the bow of a ship emerging from the bluff line. We dropped pack and scrambled up the rock fall where we encountered the Eye of the Needle which we threaded and continued to scramble up to Ship Rock. I really wanted to get on top of it but without climbing gear it would be tough and I didn't want to get injured so after playing around for a while we headed back down to the trail and carried on. Now 206 gets a little weird. There is a sign in the woods that says 206 randomly. Its at that point that I think 206 is supposed to cross the Sipsey Fork however the trail continues on in to private property and that is obviously the way to go because the line on the map for 206 ain't in the woods. As the trail continues along the Sipsey Fork which on paper it crossed, you begin to see red paint and boundary markers however I must not be an issue. Just before the only rapid on the Fork, a sweet campsite sits to the left and it wasn't taken so we dropped pack and followed the trail down to the rapid. Now I had heard of an Arrowhead Point and I heard that when you got to the top of it there was an awesome view so it sounded like it needed to be done. Exactly as described which was "go to the rapid and look up to the ridge" which sounds vague but its actually spot on. Keeping in mind the time of the year, I look up and sure enough a point on a bluff jutting out like an arrowhead. We scramble up to the base of the bluff wall and it becomes apparent that the only way to get on top is to go down the far side of the bluffs base as the trail side is sheer wall. As you go about 100 yards along the base the ridge peters out with just a 10 foot climb to get on the ridge line. Now on the ridge double back and head out to the point. I will say that standing on that overhang is a gut check. Check out the YouTube link and enjoy the view!
After that as you can see we were losing light so we headed back to camp where we cooked dinner and had wildly inappropriate conversations. It got pretty chilly that night, 27 was the low that night and we were in the valley by the water so it got cold. The next morning we packed up and went out the same way we came in.
After getting back to Thompson Trailhead we headed back out towards Kinlock but I wanted to take a detour and check out the often spoken of Indian Bluff Shelter. We parked at the Kinlock Spring trailhead and hiked up the road on passed the gate. Now I didn't have this on a map I was just going off of conversation details. I knew that when the road leveled off it would curve to the right then back to the left and in that left curve lied a foot trail down into the canyon on the right. When the foot trail drops it becomes a scramble down the hill. You can see the shelter about half way down along the bluff line to the right. Below is totally stolen info about the cave...
After that we split and left Bankhead with Chicken Fingers from the Free State Chevron in mind! Check out our trip track on Everytrail,
<h2><a href="http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2623484">Sipsey Wilderness & Indian Shelter</a></h2> <object width="400" height="300" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/get/flashplayer/current/swflash.cab"><param name="movie" value="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf"/><param name="FlashVars" value="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAA_7wvFEi7gGngCZrOfos63hSN1xyBy-BzBD--25ZLXpVi3GfbehTQlZCXdpUFII2A5CGeExVTCyX1ow&tripId=2623484&startLat=34.34093486&startLon=-87.47156479&mapType=Map&"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.everytrail.com/swf/widget.swf" quality="high" width="400" height="300" FlashVars="units=english&mode=0&key=ABQIAAAA_7wvFEi7gGngCZrOfos63hSN1xyBy-BzBD--25ZLXpVi3GfbehTQlZCXdpUFII2A5CGeExVTCyX1ow&tripId=2623484&startLat=34.34093486&startLon=-87.47156479&mapType=Map&" play="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></object><br/>EveryTrail - Find the <a href="http://www.everytrail.com/best/hiking-mississippi">best Hiking in Mississippi</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.everytrail.com/trip/widgetimpression?trip_id=2623484"></script>
Have fun, be care full and don't fall off of Arrowhead Point.
