Dugger Mountain Wilderness
location: 6 hours from Tallahassee on the east side of the state, I20 to SR9, SR9 to CR55, CR55 to the trailhead (just past King Gap Road)
Hiked: Friday-Saturday, November 3-4, 2000
weather info: Piedmont, Alabama 36272
Maps: Purchase Pinhoti Trail Map 1, which is section 1 and 2 (confusing) $7. There is a gift store with passes to use the campground shower facilities at Cheaha State Park. It is something like $2 or $3 a person, quite reasonable.
The trailhead is almost hidden, but if you know that it is only a couple of hundred yards or so past the intersection of King Gap Road and CR55, that might help. Also, Jones Branch Road is not marked, but there is a metal gate barring vehicle access about 25 yards in. If one could drive past this point down JBR, the number of fallen trees would soon stop them anyway. I left my car at the JBR trailhead (for lack of a better name) and walked to the Pinhoti trailhead, a hundred yards or so away.
This was an essentially uphill trek over about 5 or 6 miles, then down for the last 2 or 3 miles, making a total of 8 miles and 1000 feet up and down. The first day was rather warm (72ºF) and the weather has been dry lately. That meant no water over the course for this trail and the forest service had banned all burning (including sterno, etc.). The hike was a bit strenuous and I wouldn't recommend it for beginners. The scenery was OK. The colors were nice and there are a few dry creek beds to cross. My original intent was to walk from the trailhead at CR55 until I saw the old lookout tower [Lee's Note: they intended to tear down this tower, that must have happened already.] and then loop around the old forest road back to the Pinhoti. But that didn't happen. I never did see the lookout tower, and by that point I was pretty tired anyway. I found a few pools of water in a nearly dry creek bed in the last mile [Another note from Lee, this creek is usually quite large and I've assumed it to be reliable. Apparently this means that it is possible in very bad years to go from Choccolocco to Terrapin Creek Watersheds with no water] from which I was able to filter some drinking water. I walked until I came to FR500 and then backtracked along the trail about a half-mile and found an adequate place to set up camp.
The following morning the temperature was a bit cooler (60ºF) so the hiking was a bit easier. I returned along the same route I came in on so this was uphill for about 2 miles and 1000 feet. This took about an hour of steady walking. After this the trail is mainly a gradual descent. I walked until the trail intersected with Jones Branch Road, about 2 miles from CR55. This really isn't a road, but more of a trail. It is pretty easy to follow, with only a few branches leading away form the main road. I didn't follow them to see how far they went. There were several water sources along Jones Branch Road.
The 2 or 3 miles on either end of this section of the Pinhoti are pretty well marked and easy to follow, but on the middle section I had to do some wandering. It isn't too bad as it pretty much follows the ridgeline. Also, my dog managed to find the trail for me a couple of times.
If one has the luxury of parking a vehicle at each end, this trail would be a much better day/workout hike than camp trip. This would allow for a lighter load and more water to be carried. The lack of water on this trip was the main downside. Also, parking at the head of Jones Branch Road and walking in a mile or so would make a nice overnight camp spot.
Michael
Lee's follow-up questions: what did you think of Jones Road? Was it interesting, worth the trip?
Definitely worth seeing, probably nicer than parts of the Pinhoti. The relative abundance of water helped (smile). Also, like I mentioned earlier, it would make a nice shortwalk/car camping site. Near the intersection of the Pinhoti and JBR is a small section of the rear body panel of an old VW bug. There are some sections with fallen trees that are difficult to get by. Walking around looked more difficult than just crawling under. If these were cleared this would be a very nice trail. It also makes a nice loop for short day hikes.
PS I forgot to include Ember's review. Here it is:
woof, woof
arf, bow wow wow
bark
Michael
